Our search for a new boat took us back to the great white north (again) last weekend.  And this time, I’m happy to report, there was a successful ending!!  We planned to look at 4 boats over 2 days and we just knew that one of these babies was going to be THE ONE!

 

 

So let me start at the beginning… our trip started EARLY Saturday morning, the day after we got about 9″ of snow, 36 hours after Mike rolled his ankle so bad playing soccer he was sure it was broken (it wasn’t), and about 20 minutes after I realized I set my 5:30am alarm for the wrong day (apparently I don’t learn from my mistakes).

After a long, slippery, snowy drive, we pulled into an equally snowy boat yard where Boat #1 was waiting for us.  There was a plowed path leading to the boat and giant snow hills everywhere.  The kids loved playing in the snow while we explored the boat–it was a great diversion for them after 4 hours in the car!

 

We love this boat model (it was the 2nd one like it that we saw) but the long ladder down the back just doesn’t seem like the ideal set up for our family.  After an hour of checking it out (and drooling over the big sundeck) we were frozen (some of our hats and mittens were literally covered in ice) and we headed toward boat #2.  Anticipating another 2 hours in the car, we were treated to a beautiful snowfall that extended that drive to about 4 hours.  Good thing the kids are pretty patient (usually…kind of…) in the car!!

 

 

 

 

Boat #2 was in HEATED storage, so that was awesome!!  It was the first of 2 boats that we would see of this particular model.  We knew ahead of time that it had a lot of great features, and we were right!  We loved this boat!!  There was just enough space inside and outside, as well as an open cockpit in the back (as modeled by Hay-lady) that would allow our kids to get on and off the boat safely.  Not to mention it has a HUGE swim platform, as well!

 

 

After that, we saw one more boat–also a great contender and also extremely buried in the snow!  I thought we might lose poor Toby looking for the boat, but he seemed to love the adventure.  The drifts were definitely taller than him, but most of them were partially frozen underneath, so we didn’t quite fall all the way through!

 

 

 

We topped off the night at the Play Place at McDonald’s.  These kids needed to burn off some energy and the adults needed some time to think!  The night ended pretty quickly for the littles while the rest of us watched the Olympics and dreamed of floating off in a new boat!!

 

 

 

On Sunday we started our day with a delicious breakfast.  The kids’ menu said SMARTY PANCAKES so we just had to get 2 orders of the smarty pancakes (and one of the standard–chocolate chip pancakes).  INNTW!!  The conclusion was that they are very good, but Smarties in Canada are actually like pastel colored M&Ms–not exactly what we were thinking, but still delicious!!

After that we saw one more boat, but it wasn’t quite as impressive as the others, so we were anxious to start our long drive through the snow to get home.  Yes, I said snow.  More snow!  They predicted another 5-8 inches for that day, so it was a SLOW GO heading home and we were thankful for 4-wheel drive!!  But again, it was so pretty!!  The kids talked the whole way home about wanting to stop and go sledding, but Mike and I were pretty focused on wanting to make it home safely through all that snow.  As soon as we crossed into the US we found a hot-and-ready pizza and a sled hill!!

 

 

 

After a lot of discussion, our decision was actually pretty easy.  One boat just seemed made for our family and the plans we have in mind.   We have done A LOT of boat searching since August…this was actually the 18th boat that we looked at!!  After seeing 20 boats total, we feel confident that this is the right boat for us–a 43 Carver Cockpit Motor Yacht.  The sale is pending until May when she will undergo a mechanical survey and a sea trial to complete the sale.  We’re so excited!!

 

We can’t believe after all these months of searching and hours and hours of pouring over internet listings, we finally have a boat under contract!  We’ve got big plans for where this boat will take us, but while we’re still figuring out some of the details, it is such a relief to know this boat is just waiting for us (and I guess for the snow and ice to melt, too)!  INNTW!