Preparing to Leave San Diego

It is 6 am. I took the minivan that we have until 2:30. I am at Starbucks. Sipping a very hot Grande half-decaf/half regular Americano with cream. To get the dreaded "internet fix" and try to finish up some loose ends and to blog one more time before leaving the US of A. Tomorrow. Trying to focus my eyes. Why so early you ask, dear reader? Because today is our last day before we leave the comforts of San Diego and head into Mexico on the Baha Haha. Because at 7:30 I am picking up Shauna from Sand Dollar and we are heading to Von's and Trader Joe's for provisioning. Taking advantage of the car and wanting to get the freshest food possible meant going at the last minute. Those of you who know me know also that, next to getting gas and homeschooling, there are few things I like less than grocery shopping. Even with lists, I get in there and my brain goes blank. Scrambled. I start grabbing and then I get home and have no meals. EVERY time I leave a grocery store I say, "Well. There goes another 1/2 hour of my life WASTED". But today, I can't just go a few days later to fix it all. Today, Brave Jen is going to earn her American Provisioning Badge. It is my biggest test ever. Buying food to fit into a small boat that will 1. adequately feed 7 people (Pete and Ilse included), 2. keep and not spoil for the next 2 weeks, 3. on a boat, 4. that fits in small, potentially wet places, 5. that will satisfy the voracious and various appetites of my kids, their father and my in-laws and meet their nutritional needs, and 6. impress everyone. Impossible, you say? YES!!!! But I am going to triumph over this task! (Brian get my badge ready!!) How you ask? I have NO IDEA. I have a list. Partially in my head and partially on paper. And I am hoping Shauna, who is one of the more prepared people I know, will have some good ideas! And, once again, Dear Lee came to San Diego yesterday to see us and Pete and Ilse and brought us our first dinner... Spinach Lasagna! What an amazing woman. Just having that first meal has given me strength. I am also following some advice from "The Essential Galley Companion" by Amanda Swan-Neal. She has some great recipes and suggestions for storage and provisioning. When we leave tomorrow on the Haha race, we have just two stops between San Diego and Cabo San Lucas -  Turtle Bay and Mag Bay. And there is very little shopping available at either place. And there are over 160 boats traveling with us so competition. And we leave on the 28th of October and arrive on the 9th of November. Think of me with each bite you take during that time, will you? OK. Enough self-pity!!! We'll eat canned food and LIKE IT. Since my last post, we've been busy. We went to SeaWorld. TWICE! I loved both times. I love SeaWorld. I love the Orcas, I loved the Beluga whales, I loves the polar bears, I loved the dolphins, the Pilot whales, the Bat Rays... I loved it. We went with my mother on Wednesday with my mom and then decided to go again with our friends from Sand Dollar on Friday since they had not been yet and Marcus wanted to go with us this time. I would even go again, I liked it that much.

Ben, "Dora" and Shamu

Bat Ray tank

Elmo and Cookie Monster

The underside of a Beluga whale!

At the show "Pet's Rule" that we loved!!

On Thursday, the day in between, my mother flew home... it was sad to see her leave. She is having such a hard time with my father... I hate leaving her "on her own".

After she left, we hung out with "Uncle Pete" and tried to take out that $2.5M Azimut but someone had hit the wrong button and the darn thing shut down completely so we couldn't. Marcus and Max did some errands with JC and Nate from Sand Dollar while Ben and Easton played with Shauna on their boat and Kaley, Sam and I hung out on our boat. There was a Baha Haha party in the evening. We met some really nice people and found another boy named Ben D. from Sea Otter who is 12 and the kids had a great time together. Ben and Easton are like two peas in a pod. Such great friends already! So sad how few kids there are this year. I am disappointed about that. I think Samey is the youngest Haha-inian. Max had fun throwing Easton and Ben into the pool there for a long time. He is such a trooper. SUCH a great person already and I am so thankful that he is with us. He helps tremendously with the boat, with sailing, with the kids. He is easy and fun. The other night, with my mom, we went to Jimmy's and the waiter, who was from Delaware!, was shocked that he was only 16 and said he wouldn't have carded him if he'd ordered a drink! Crazy...

And Samey, fell asleep under her towel.

Poor thing. It has been a tough week for everyone in a lot of ways. Basically, no school has happened since we got to San Diego. Lots of people. Lots of shopping. Lots of swimming. Lots of stress. Late nights, little sleep. It'll be nice to get underway. With food. Lots of food. Last night we had fun with Lee and John, Pete and Ilse and Pete Jr. and Betty who took us out on an absolutely gorgeous Zeelander for a tour of the San Diego superyachts and the air craft carriers. Gorgeous. Ben got to drive again and so did Max and Marcus and even Samey!!! Gorgeous boat. Lovely friends. We went to Joe's Crab Shack and parked the boat right there and had an amazing dinner... thanks to Opa Z. It was a lovely last "hurrah" of luxury. Gorgeous boat. $1.3M. Today is the big Baha Haha costume kick-off party... We're all going as pirates! This is our pirate princess:

I've got to sign off now and go get Shauna. Wish me luck. My next post will be from Mexico. Who knows where from!?? We do have a sat phone if anyone needs to reach us, call my brother. We get free texts. From that point on, not sure what else. Our friends, Chuck and Marge who are down there already sent us a long email with tons of "insider tips" for internet there. The email started with, "Hi Jen, You all seem to be internet junkies, so I thought I'd pass on Mexican internet 101..." I had to laugh!! Withdrawal here we come!!!! I'd post the entire tutorial here, it is so helpful, but that would bore the most of you... Just very thankful to them.