Back in Ottawa

We returned to the Mara Beel for the weekend- we hate being away from our boat! This time we brought Mara, our almost 4 year-old granddaughter, with us. Mara is convinced the boat is named after her, which it is and isn't. She loved everything about the boat. We woke up at 6:30 Saturday morning to find her sitting in the salon patiently waiting for us to wake up! She progressed in her "swimming" in the pool and announced she wants to be a scuba diver when she grows up. She will have to master the art of keeping her mouth closed (i.e.- not talking) to succeed in that career path!

Mara and Grandpa

On Saturday Mara's parents (I forgot to take their picture) and younger brother James Nathan came to visit. We cruised for a couple hours. No one enjoyed the heat, but JN (11 months) seemed to like driving the boat!

 James Nathan at the helm

WAY too hot!

Earlier on Saturday Mark helped  Dennis install a new antenna on Reunion after a bridge ate the original. (Those darn trolls!)The 15 minute job turned into a couple of hours or so, but they guys had fun. Carol and Dennis treated us to dinner at Tracy's Boathouse, the restaurant at Heritage Harbor, and an after-dinner night cap. They headed south the next morning- we will miss them! We saw two other Loopers pull in Saturday evening, but we didn't have a chance to get acquainted before they left early Sunday.

Dennis and Carol

Our younger son Brandon and his wife Caroline came to visit on Sunday. Caroline is a born boater, and was happy, happy, happy as soon as she set foot on the Mara Beel. Somewhere down the line they will cruise with us for awhile. Now all of our kids have been on the boat, since daughter Caitie stayed on board with us in Sturgeon Bay last summer. We appreciate that they are interested in something that is so important to us. At least they are humoring us!

Caroline and Brandon

Now we are back on land for a short while.... Can't wait for the next leg of our journey.