Our kids are getting bigger, making our boat feel much smaller.   Our current boat – an American Tug 34 – only has one stateroom and one head.  Skylar sleeps on the convertible salon settee while Ava sleeps on the hard floor of the pilothouse.  There is almost no privacy, both of the kids are extremely cramped, and sharing one head has gotten more difficult, especially with Skylar going through……. well you get the idea, he’s just about 14.  From a short 1-night cruise, to a month long summer cruise to Desolation Sound, we use our boat quit a bit.  Spring, summer, fall and winter it doesn’t matter, any free time we get is usually spent out in the boat.  Our kids have grown up on boats.  They love it and it’s a bond that really keeps us together.  There’s nothing like the responsibility they (and we) must learn around boats.  The closeness our family shares stuck on a boat with no place to hide cannot be replaced.  We want it to last as long as possible.

So after much debate we are getting a new boat!  The American Tug 48 fits exactly what we want.  Problem is there are no used ones, so we have to build a new one, a process that takes about 8 months.  If all goes well she will be completed sometime in January 2016!!  We are all so excited!!   Photos courtesy, Steve Scruggs/American Tugs

After our big summer cruise of 2012 we had some great fall/winter cruising.  The most memorable was taking off on New Years Day for a 5 day run up to LaConner for some work at the factory.

The weather was beautiful but super cold.  Skies were clear with almost no wind.  Highs during the day were just over freezing and every morning we woke up to a frozen boat.  Ice and frost covered the docks and beaches, is was an awesome sight but slippery!  Our heater got a serious workout.  I don’t think it ever turned off the whole time but it did keep us warm.

We had a great time at Deception Pass where we stayed a Cornet Bay (TYC outstation).  We played on the beach for a few hours in the freezing cold all bundled up in our winter clothing.

We are currently preparing our new to us 2006 American Tug 34 for our first long cruise.  Getting our new boat organized and ready to go is a lot of work!  Sometimes I wish we could just throw all our crap onboard and take off with no worries.  My brain doesn’t work like that I guess!  Everything must be organized and in its place.