Thank you Thank you Thank you for all of your interest in our journey, the good wishes, and the love and support we’ve been feeling!  We had 11 nights after our journey to Hubbard Lake before we took off and you all made us feel like ROCKSTARS!!  Here is a brief overview of the visitors and parties we crammed into those 11 days (this is already a whirlwind, so stick with me!!)

 

We held our renaming ceremony for the boat with Mike’s brother Brian, his girlfriend Kayleigh, and our friend Courtney (along with our lovely children).  Now some people have never heard of such a thing and let me tell you that it is all very formal and specific.  I once referred to it as “witchcraft” and I have yet to live that down, though it seems pretty accurate.  I will post screenshots of the script we used to give you an idea.

First you start with a name purging ceremony:

You can see these ceremonies require drinking champagne (as well as sacrificing!!), so of course we needed friends and family to help us celebrate such a big step!!  We didn’t have a metal tag, but improvised that part just fine with a champagne cork.

Next comes the renaming ceremony.  Colin read this part and did a pretty good job, considering how obscure it is.

 

Mike lead the appeasing of the gods and it was quite a show.  I hope the gods will be good to us and enjoy all that champagne we shared!!

Here are pictures from the occasion:

 

We had lots of fun with the whole thing.  I think my favorite part was at the beginning when Courtney told Mike he should go get his captain hat, and of course he already had it tucked away in his back pocket.  Afterwards we went to North 42 at MacRays Marina to celebrate some more because…INNTW!!

 

 

The next night we had a pool party for the kids and their friends at MacRays.  The kids are definitely going to miss (already missing) their friends, so we wanted to make sure they got one more chance to see everyone who could make it (and everyone we had contact info for!).  It was a blast for kids and adults!!  I think we would do it weekly if we were going to be home all summer!!  Thank you to everyone who joined us!!

 

 

Ohmygoodness, Toby and his bestie girls are just so cute!  He remembers so many stories the kids tell at daycare, it just shows us how much he loves his friends (and teachers!!) from The Learning Nook.  And watching all those South River kids play together was great!  Our kiddos sure did get lucky in the friend department!!  Email us often, friends, and I’ll have the kids email you back!!  <3

 

The next night my Aunt Sherry took us out for dinner and celebrated Hayley’s birthday early!  It was great to visit with her and my cousins Kim and Scott at the restaurant and back at the boat.  Aunt Sherry said she feels a lot better about our adventure after seeing the boat, and she has a better understanding of what our quarters will be like.  Lots of you have said that after seeing the boat so maybe one day I’ll get around to taking a video…  😉  Thanks for dinner, Aunt Sherry!  Thanks for the snacks and wine and toys Kim and Scott!!   Hope to see you all along The Loop!

 

Who knows why Toby didn’t want to smile for the picture…?!  I mean what is he?!  4??!  🙂

 

 

We made a connection on Facebook a while back with a family that finished The Loop just over a year ago with their 4 daughters.  They are a wealth of information and have been so generous to message with us and answer all kinds of questions about their experience.  Lucky for us they set out on their 2nd loop just a week ago and even LUCKIER for us is that they decided to come and stay near us at Markley for a couple of days!  It was so great to get to know them and ask a million more questions.  It was also super great for our kids to play with their kids and make some connections and hear about life on The Loop from other kids who have experienced it.  We are hoping to catch up with The Wilsons again soon!!  If you haven’t heard of them, they are amazing, so you should check them out (if you like reading about great family adventures, of course!!)  Wilsons on the Water on Facebook and www.wilsonsonthewater.blogspot.com.  Here are our 6 adventurous kiddos playing at the pool (they are looping with 3 of their kids currently).

 

 

We appreciated that Aaron and Janelle Beck drove all the way across metro Detroit on a Friday night to bring us pizza, see the boat, and let the kids play together.  It is so great to visit with old friends that we just don’t usually get to see as much as we would like to.  We really loved your visit, guys, and we’re so glad you made the trip over to see us!!  It was great to see the kids play together so easily!  (The kids are cute and all, but that’s our boat in the background with the black top–super convenient pool access!!)

 

Thank goodness for those Goldfish Swim School Lessons!!  Thanks, Miss Chrissy and Miss Ariyah!!

 

 

Saturday July 14th we held a Bon Voyage Boat Open House so anyone who was interested and available could come out and see the boat.  It just so happened to coincide with a concert at MacRays that made for a fun night!!  We appreciate everyone who came out and visited with us!  We had a blast!  Also, I took exactly 0 pictures until my dear friend Tammy started snapping away for me, so thanks, Tammy!!

We are super crazy for leaving the best neighbors ever, but we’ll be back in a year!  Thanks for the great basket of goodies, Contesti’s and Shewell’s, but mostly for celebrating with us and supporting us like you do.  You are a special group of people!!  <3

 

Proof that Toby DOES smile!!  🙂

 

Thanks to Hayley’s 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Elliott, for coming out!  It made Hayley feel so special that you came to see her boat!  Thank you for everything you do!  (Teachers are awesome, aren’t they?)

 

Hayley decided to get the dancing started a little early with the worm.  😉

Thanks to Greg and Marie, Tammy and John, Noel, Linda, Amanda, Nora, Alexa, Larry and Cheryl, Nick and Laurel, Phil and Family, Beef and Megan and their girlies, John and Bette, Curt and Sheri, Mrs. Elliott, Jeff and Chelsey and sweet Sloan, Max, Miss Ashlie, and Adam and Melissa for coming out and checking out the boat!!  We appreciate your time and interest in our adventure!!  We also appreciate all the kids’ crafts, beer, wine, and champagne you brought…you sure didn’t have to do that, but THANK YOU!!  Thank you also for dancing the night away with us!!

 

 

ONE MORE PARTY…..and then a few smaller ones.  See why we couldn’t get anything done?!  😉

 

Sunday we met up with friends out in Munchies Bay for one more play day on Lake St. Clair.  I’m interested to see how people socialize and enjoy their boats in other parts of the country, but I sure do love rafting off and letting everyone play the way we do here at home!!

We had 14 adults and 12 kids between these 4 boats (I think?!) and ALL the toys!!  The kids had a blast!  And of course so did the adults!!

 

 

 

We even had a visit from the ice cream boat later in the afternoon when all the kids were downstairs in the boat playing.  All the adults got ice cream and the kids still have NO IDEA there is such a thing as an ice cream boat!  HAHAHA!!  😉  We felt so sneaky, but we also asked the ice cream boat not to play his music again until he got further away from our boats!!

 

 

 

By the time we got all the toys put away and headed in we had this beautiful sky and smooth water.  We used our autopilot for the first time and Mike is absolutely convinced it was a great purchase for our trip!  The end of a great day!  Thanks for all the fun Lipskis, Schusters, Czerwinskis, Larry (and especially for washing the boat down!!), Courtney, Golas, and Karen and Ernie!!

 

 

Thank you Roncelli for the awesome care package of goodies!  The kids love the flashcards, Mike (obviously) wears the captain hat regularly, and we sure get a lot of use out of the Captain and First Mate coozies!!  Thank you so much!

 

 

Thank you to Jordan and Tati and girls for coming by the boat to check it out.  Thank you Gino Roncelli for stopping by and sharing our excitement.  Thank you Carla and Don Kling for your enthusiastic support and goodies for everyone.  Thank you Darryl Amoe for coming to see the boat and sharing tips from your adventures (as well as that delicious champagne we enjoyed tonight!).  Thanks to Tom Fisher from US Coast Guard Auxiliary for doing a vessel safety check and giving us some helpful pointers.  Thanks to Courtney, Adam, and Melissa for the plentiful amounts of pizza–you guys are awesome!!  If I missed you, I apologize.  We had fun with you, too, I promise!!

 

Obviously we had a blast during those 11 days, but they were also filled with work and coordinating and errands and pressure to get stuff done.  We finally pulled it all together and pushed away from the dock on July 19th.  I will be updating about our first 3 days on The Loop tomorrow during our travels.

 

Thanks for reading (and for all the fun!!).