Peter and Jennifer Come Aboard Seas the Day
Peter and Jennifer Come Aboard Seas the Day
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Peter has been taking a vacation for the last few months, first spending some time in Columbus, OH, visiting old friends, and then coming to visit his father and Jennifer in Merritt Island, FL. They came to visit us this week. Unfortunately, due to commitments at home they could stay for only three days.
Still, we had a great time. On Wednesday, we went to Ft. Lauderdale Beach, which was a two block walk from our last marina, but now is about a 15 minute drive. The waves were high and Peter spent most of the time diving into them and body surfing. Jennifer swam “laps” as she always does in a pool. She swam 40 laps, not across the ocean, however. Years ago at my parents’ house on Pike Lake outside of Duluth, she tried to swim laps across the lake and we quickly explained why that wouldn’t be a good idea. So, now in a big body of water, she maps out a pool length in her head and swims her laps. Afterwards, we took a drive around Ft. Lauderdale.
We had a nice meal of steak, shrimp, baked potatoes, fresh fruit, and corn on the cob for dinner, all grilled by Mark.
Thursday morning, we awoke to storms. The forecast was for them to continue all day, so we gave up on going for a day sail. Instead, we visited the Museum of Science and Discovery, which is a short walk from our slip at New River. We saw an iMax movie, “The Ocean in 3D” and walked around the exhibits. Shortly after we decided to go, the storms stopped, but not knowing what would happen next, we went ahead with our museum plans. In retrospect, I wish we had at least motored out to the ocean when the weather cleared at the end of the morning. It was clear for most of the afternoon, and we are only 15 minutes from the open water, so could have quickly turned back if we saw gathering clouds or storms on the radar.
We don’t have our TV installed yet, and Jen is a bit addicted to TV, especially game shows. Luckily, she is also addicted to YouTube, so she spent much of her time on the computer and listening to music on her iPod or CD’s played on the saloon/cockpit speaker system.
Thursday night we to dinner at Pazzo’s, an Italian restaurant we have enjoyed. We took a stroll on the River Walk after getting back to the boat.
They left for Merritt Island around noon on Friday. As they got into their car, I found a dime on the ground by the passenger door. No doubt my dad was telling me he would watch after them and keep them safe. (My dad, who died five years ago at age 95 leaves me dimes in unusual places to let me know he is my guardian angel. For example, on a recent trip to Columbus for a very stressful event, I unpacked my suitcase and found a dime at the bottom.)
Jennifer and Peter will have many other opportunities to come aboard Seas the Day. This was the first time in several years that they were able to visit at the same time and it was great to have both of my children with me, even though the time was short.
See more photos of Peter and Jennifer in Ft. Lauderdale.