We've been fitting in lots of fun in between the boat work and errands. We are very near to the Atlantic coast so we spent a day in Beaufort, NC, at the Maritime Museum. Just off the coast of Beaufort is the "graveyard of the Atlantic" including the recently-found wreck of Blackbeard's pirate ship Queen Anne. It was great fun to see the maritime history of the area and the artifacts from the ship! The museum library was open to all - we could have spent hours there looking at the books on sailing, the ocean, and creatures of the sea. There is also a strong history of whaling on the Carolina coast so the museum had a whale skeleton and heart on display - amazing to see up close. There are a string of islands just off shore - some with wild horses - but the weather wasn't cooperating to see them across the channel that day. Ava was bummed but we will hopefully see them when we pass that way again on Night Music. Both kids are still swimming daily and Reed is becoming a great ping pong player - he still can't beat his Mom, though. All that practice in her grandparent's basement while growing up is paying off! For the past several years we've made and decorated holiday cookies - the kids run the show! The good news about still being in the marina condo is we have a bigger oven and table to set up the decoration station. They turned out pretty good using just spoons and knives to decorate. The "bad" news is we decorated way to early this year so the cookies have already been eaten. Batch number two is underway today! We attended a lovely holiday choir concert at the historic New Bern Presbyterian church. Built in 1817, the old wooden two-level structure was in beautiful condition with wonderful acoustics. It has a rich history, including being used as a hospital during the civil war. The choir was small but wonderful. They also have a hand bell choir - it is on our list to hear them play before we leave town. We did get a small tree for Christmas - having to consider limited boat space and boat battery capacity, we opted for a self-lighting tree that we could store for next year and maybe use for other holidays. We ended up with a pretty "bare branches" tree that we are excited to decorate for Valentine's, Easter, birthdays, etc. And one of our favorite holiday traditions is playing lots of family games. Settlers of Catan is great fun - but there has been lots of complaining about the roll of the dice not following the expected percentages - so last night's game included a tracking histogram of the numbers rolled. That's about all the homeschooling we got in this week! There will be no Seattle Sanderson holiday card via snail mail this year - so we are wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! | |
3 Comments
Rachel
12/23/2014 12:57:11 am
Sounds just lovely, Sandersons! I particularly love you ride of a tree for any occasion. (:
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Nancy
12/27/2014 02:40:28 am
What a wonderful East Coast Christmas! And looks like you're all set for the next holiday season. Missing those cookies of yours. We have both "kids" home and it's been very joyous. Sail on!
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Maureen
12/29/2014 08:03:34 am
Oh, love the update and really love the photos! What a beautiful church! And I must say, Ava you keep growing! Those long legs! Wow!
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AuthorsWe are Karrie, Eric, Ava, and Reed Sanderson. Our house is in Seattle but our home is wherever the four of us are...and for the next two years, our home is Night Music, a Tartan 37 Sailboat. Archives
June 2016
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