Water We Thinking

Memorial Day Weekend is what many of us wait months for.  It's the beginning of the summer season, and in the northern climates, like here in Chicago, it signals the beginning of the boating season.  Sure, many boats are in the water as early as April and Cygnet was in all year, but it's the time when the weather is usually warm enough to get out and wear shorts, or better yet a bikini.  This Memorial Day Saturday we set out in the evening to celebrate a birthday and just get Cygnet out on the water.  Kevin's mother turned 70 this week so we invited her and her boyfriend along with her brother and nephew out on the water for the first Navy Pier fireworks of 2015. The Playpen in the shadow of the John Hancock Building We started the day in the mid afternoon, just hanging out in the marina, and departed about 5PM for the lake.  We had perfect timing through the lock and made it through in record time.  We love going through the lock for many reasons. ...

I came across this similar blog called Luv'n the Regal Life  which originally was written about a couple's adventures on their weekender Regal 3760 boat.  The blog is now about their life aboard a Carver a bit larger and quite a bit newer than ours.  They have just crossed the two year mark of life aboard and as we are at the one year mark we thought it was interesting that this couple who we don't know is experiencing many of the same things we are at nearly the same times.  They got a one year jump on us, but many of the experiences, frustrations, projects, and joys are the same as we have.  I find these folks interesting because judging only by a couple photos on the blog they seem to be about the same age as us (Kevin just crested the hill and Colette is a ways behind him).  You can find thousands of live aboards with silver (or no) hair but trying to find ones under the age of 50 isn't as easy.  Sure we are around, but it's not like we always run ...

We've tried to give you all a peek behind the curtain to see what it's like to live aboard a boat in Chicago.  Many of the posts we've written have been about our troubles, and since there is no shortage of work to do on Cygnet there have been many posts like that.  Overall we are still enjoying living aboard, and now that the weather is getting warm we are realizing how great it really is to be on a boat in Chicago all the time. Well, now it's time to brag a bit. We had the first party of the year on Cygnet and it was great.  We decided that the Kentucky Derby was a great excuse to have some friends over for a some mint juleps and conversation.  Kevin had a procedure done the day before so most of the prep work was done days before since he was pretty well out of commission the days of the surgery and the party.  We didn't realize just how dirty Cygnet had gotten through the winter.  We cleaned, wiped, scrubbed, and polished almost every inch of the aft ...