We took time this past week to visit the final contenders for marinas. Come spring, we will get a call that Goblin is going into the water. When the call comes we need to be ready to drop everything and move her to her summer home. Our summer home. Our new home, eek!

Since the plan is to live aboard in Massachusetts for the next year or so, we wanted to be sure that we found a marina that would be comfortable for the long haul. We’ve loved sailing out of the Marblehead/Salem area but it’s super quiet over the winter and you can’t easily walk to anywhere. Two kids in a small boat with nowhere easy to get out to doesn’t sound like fun. We also talked about finding a marina on the Cape but unless we can travel back through time three years or so and get our name on a waiting list, there’s just no availability. We talked and compared and tried to clarify our needs.

First you make a list, then another list, and next thing you know you have a list of your lists.

Our list of lists keeps growing, we have a list of boat work we need to do, a list of jobs to hire someone for, a list of items to find on the boat, a list of things to buy, a list of topics to learn about, not to mention the ongoing list of things to sell, donate, or otherwise dispose of. At least we’ve started to cross the first few lines off the lists.

Despite many, many delays, we got the kids to Catamut for their first visit to Goblin. Climbing a ladder with an almost two year old strapped to your back is entertaining, though nerve wracking. Kins was a good sport about it. Good thing Zoe is old enough to climb on her own.

It’s ridiculous how much stuff one house can accumulate. I’m blaming the house, it’s easier than admitting that 12+ years of 2 packrats and 2 kids living in the same place have expanded to fill every bit of the available space. New furniture comes in and the old never seems to go out. It just makes its way into less and less visible areas of the house. Hobbies are started, grow, and we’re sure will one day be returned to. Projects are completed and leftovers are saved “just in case.” One way or another, things pile up.