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6/29/2005 5:00:00 PM
San Diego, CA
Shelter Island, Kona Marina

Busy, busy, busy,...

The last few months have been really busy here with lots of visitors, small boat projects and short trips. Lawur is finally a sailboat again and we are extremely happy with it.

Hallo everybody,

Unbelievable how fast time flies, a half a year is already over... The last few months have been really busy here with lots of visitors, small boat projects and short trips. Lawur is finally a sailboat again and we are extremely happy with it. We did decide to not participate in the Newport-Ensenada race since it was too close to the mast stepping and we still had quite a few things to get done that would have pushed it to the limit. As it turned out the weather was not very cooperative this year - light winds and no sunshine - so that would have been a long and unpleasant sail, specially after last year's wonderful experience. Our friends Frank, David and Melanie were supposed to join us for it and since they all were looking forward to coming they did anyways, just on separate weekends.

Frank (our sailing teacher/friend who came with us in November 2003 from Santa Cruz) came the original race weekend (April 21-24). He was wonderful helping Robert with some projects that had to be done in order to take her out. On Saturday we DID - finally after 10 months!!! Our boat neighbors Dan, Monica and Jack came as well and we had a great time. It was wonderful to have her under wind power again and she feels great. We all enjoyed having Frank here and sure hope he can manage to come again before we set off (planned in November) He has/is such an important part in this adventure!

Two weekends later David (he came with us last year on the race), Melanie and baby Hayden (1 year, he would not have come for the race...) came for a visit. We were all eager to take Lawur out and so we went up to Mission Bay (still in San Diego) a nice 4 hour sail up North and anchored there for Saturday night. The boys had a lot of fun, the weather was perfect and on our sail back on Sunday (Mother's Day) Sebastian said: "I think sailing is my second favorite sport after soccer!" Well that was a perfect mother's day present. The Kusmik's left that afternoon back for the Bayarea and the four of us drove to Idyllwild (about 2 hours NE) where Maura and Bob visited her cousin. Since they did not have enough time to come down to San Diego during their one week vacation they invited us  for a night up there and it was great to see each other. They boys especially enjoyed Broesel. Idyllwild reminded us a lot of Boulder Creek - lots of woods, an artistic little mountain village and a few left over hippies... It was a great Mother's Day ending.

In the middle of May I had the luxury of spending 5 days up in Santa Cruz by myself. Melissa (Maura's daughter) and I attended a women's retreat with a lot of mediation, yoga, dance, etc. We had divine 3 days where I was able to relax, recharge and enjoy a lot. My first and last night I spent at Maura and Bob's where I had never been without the boys or Robert and even though it was a bit unusual I had a wonderful time having them all to myself. The three "boys" had their own fun doing all the things that "men" are supposed to when the "Cat is out of the house". I am sure cleaning up was done right before I came back....

I had only been home 2 days before I packed up again to go up to Temecula. Barbie and Jimmy had their silver wedding which we celebrated to the fullest. Jimmy's daughter Mimi with her husband and 3 boys as well as Jimmy's son Jim, came the whole week from Ohio. Needless to say the house was full but the kids all got along so well it was amazing. The ceremony was held on Saturday afternoon at my cousins garden. We all helped to decorate it very festive and the weather co-operated too. With their family and friends around they renewed their vowels and it was beautiful to see their love for each other. Afterwards we had a delicious dinner, music and lots of fun. The whole day turned out perfect and I am sure they will have lots of memories from it for a long time.

June was rather busy too with last weeks of school, Lego projects for the San Diego fair - both boys have a piece at the kids exhibition: Sebastian a "Mega space shuttle" and Benjamin a "Basketball Court". They each got 1st place and are quite proud. In between we still continue with our cooking days with Ted, Palin and Kataya which we all enjoy a lot - from the fun and learning prospective. The soccer season had a 4 week brake which we filled with some Kung Fu lessons. Benjamin had won a voucher for a month free training during the Chinese New Years Celebration. They both enjoyed it a lot and I have to admit being apprehensive about martial arts I really liked it too. Unfortunately there is not enough time to proceed it but at least we know what it is like and maybe well do it at a later time. We also had a few weekends filled with little boat projects as well as sailing. On my birthday, which this year was on Father's Day, Barbie and Jimmy came and spent a night and then joined us for brunch the next day. It was nice to have them down here again and hope they'll soon join us for a sail, knowing how much they like it.

Last week we had Sebastian's Kindergarten teacher Ms. Cowie (Barbara) come and stay with us for 3 days. We are still very much in contact with her via e-mail and visit her whenever we are up in Boulder Creek. One day we went to the zoo and on the other once more to the SD fair so that she could see their Lego and go on a few rollercoaster rides with them, since I don't do those.... She was also nice enough to test Sebastian for me again and make sure we are on the right track. She assured me that he is definitely within the standards - his reading level at the end of 3rd grade and can concur 2nd grade math problems with no problem. So we've got nothing to worry about and it made me happy to know that he is learning well. She also checked on Benjamin and he too is at the right learning level and ready for Kindergarten. We hope to see her again in a few weeks back in B.C. And are very happy she came to stay with us.

To wrap up the month of June and come to an end for this report - Robert and I took a weekend off and went to Palm Springs again. We must admit we do enjoy a few days to ourselves every couple of months and also the boys like to be without us for a while.... Barbie and Jimmy were so nice to have them over for the weekend and enjoyed it a lot, specially because they hadn't had them since September!

The next few months are going to continue in the same speed - starting this weekend with Hemma, Christoph and their kids coming for 5 days, then the boys and I are going up to Boulder Creek for a week and another week camping, in August my 17 year old nephew is going to come for 3 weeks from Munich and it looks like we'll be going to Austria at the end of September for 3 weeks. There are a lot of plans and fun things ahead of us and when everything goes according to it we should be off on our adventure by the end of November. No more information is given out on that subject, all we can do is planning and hoping.

I hope your head isn't spinning with all our latest news and activities - mine is... We certainly hope to hear from you what's going on and with finally an internet connection at the boat I will be able to reply to you a lot quicker. We hope you all have a nice, enjoyable summer -

With lots of hugs and kisses The 4 Schmids - Niki, Robert, Sebastian und Benjamin

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