We are loving summer – Newport is a magical place. The weather is perfect, the people are wonderful. We are lucky to have a strong, connected “land life.”

With Cortado out of the water getting some minor TLC (New Rubstrakes! Varnish! More Shelves! ACDC Inverter?) and other improvements, we can be totally focused on terra firma.

This summer has been rife with baseball/softball, backyard slip and slides, loads of company and beach beach beach. Sophia joined a running club in the neighborhood, the kids have sailed, surfed, scootered and swam. We love our home of BBQ’s, porch parties and endless summer nights staying up way too late… it has been glorious.

In the photo above, Oliver was invited to get a taste of the big-leagues. I caught this great photo of him in between the players lined up on 3rd base line.  He loved being out on the field during a Newport Gulls game (before the start, of course).

Baseball was a big focus for us this summer, as Oliver’s 9-10yr old Little League All-Stars team made it to the final championship for their age-group. This was a big deal, as it has been many years since a Newport team has made it this far.  Oliver loves the game. He plays catcher, 2nd base, center field and closing pitcher  — not at the same time, as Tony reminds me to specify :-).  He IS a rock-star though.

We take the opportunity of being home to continue to give back to our small community. We still volunteer weekly at the MLK Center Food Pantry as well as planning boards for the Jamestown Art Center and the Norman Bird Sanctuary. Staying connected with our local community is always important to us. We also participated in the annual “Wet Paint” fundraiser for the Newport Art Museum by painting canvases for their auction.

Sophia playing at the beach with friend Reese and Laura, our Spanish cousin.

Tony has continued to be busy racing – eight trips to and from Europe this summer – which is par normal for us.  In August, he was asked to participate in a community sailing fundraiser in Nantucket by participating in their annual “Celebrity Regatta”. We thought it a perfect time to take a few days for a romantic getaway. Nantucket is so beautiful and a perfect locale for Tony and I to have some alone-time. Living on a small boat together for seven months of the year would never happen if our relationship was not rock solid. We take a lot on, but we are an excellent team.  As we love to say, Teamwork makes the dream work!

It is one of our many challenges, as we Travel-School our kids, to achieve balance between travel, boat and home-life.  We work hard during the school-year, so our summer break feels well-deserved…  although both kids kept fresh in math by attending weekly Mathnasium classes and of course, summer-reading. We had both kids independently tested again on their core studies (Math, Language Arts, Reading and Writing) so we know how they compare to the national average and what we might need to work on in the coming year.  In every subject, Sophia and Oliver were either at or sufficiently above their respective grade levels.

No Newport summer is complete without a lemonade stand!

In the meantime, fall planning is well-underway and the new school books have arrived. I am beyond excited for our school year. I feel confident and prepared. The kids are growing in leaps and bounds and very busy with friends, but we are all getting antsy to get back into our nomadic travel and most importantly, the boat.

Truth be known, we are hooked on our simple Cortado life.

More beach with Sophia, Oliver and Laura.

What is next for the CORTADO crew?

For 2016-2017, we have decided to begin our studies in the American West. In September and October, we will travel to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. We will see the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Muir Woods – all loosely planned around Tony’s fall race schedule. We will study western migration in the United Sates and the Great Depression.

For class reading, I have chosen “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse (a novel about surviving the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma) followed by the epic “Odyssey” by Homer. I have high hopes to also read either Treasure Island or Anne of Green Gables, but we will see…

We have in hand our new books on poetry, math, science, grammar, history and art.  As summer rolls into fall, we will embrace the change and happily move on to our next adventure. In November, we fly to Florida, move back onboard our 40′ Huckins and head further south for the winter… stay tuned!

2016-2017 will be a great travel, work, family and school-year and we cannot wait to get started.

Sydney and Dan were guest stars in a play of “Harry Potter” in the back yard. Also starring Eleanor and Maria Hallisey!  (above, see Sydney as “Hagrid” talking to young Harry Potter and Hermione (played by Oliver and Maria).

Laura making her “internationally famous” spanish tortilla for the family. ¡Estaba perfecto!

*At this time, Laura has already returned to Spain to spend the last weeks of summer with her family and get ready for school. We already miss her.