Balancing family (especially those adorable grandkids) and cruising is sometimes a no go dilemma for a lot of cruisers.  But it can be done and we've seen cruisers that actually enhance their relationships with their families and grandkids by including them in their cruising experience.

Does that mean we'll get to see every soccer game Rowan plays or get to see him every few days?  Nope, unfortunately cruising generally precludes that type of relationship.  But when they get a bit older and can come spend a week aboard the boat or at the lake, exploring our world - beaches, snorkeling, fishing, sailing, skiing - maybe they'll enjoy something different that will enhance all our lives. 

So if you're debating whether you should go cruising ... and miss  months spending watching the little ones grow up, be flexible, maybe you can have it all (or at least most of it!).  Since our family is spread across several states, we don't get to see every soccer game anyway.  So we make the most of what we have and don't regret the rest. 

By the time these two get old enough to spend a week at the lake learning to ski & play in the water or sail out to a barrier island and stay aboard the boat for a week learning to drive the dinghy, finding treasures on the beach and furthering relationships with their grandparents, we're confident it will enrich all of our lives. 

In the meantime, we'll miss them when we're apart and treasure the times we have together.  

I'll write a commuterCRUISER post soon with suggestions on how to enhance relationships with grandkids and still keep the cruising dream alive.  

Obviously, we're now back on land and starting the "other" side of our adventures.  The Winterlude Fall 2012 - Spring 2013 Adventures blog will be coming to an end.  But stay tuned, we have lots of FUN stuff planned for the next few months before we return to Winterlude in October...  first up, getting in shape for our month long adventure to Alaska in August!  Getting (or staying) in shape is critical to all cruisers - and it enhances your relationships with the grandkids - so maybe it's not off topic after all!  New Adventure blog coming soon! 

And so we start the transition to the CLOD (cruisers living on dirt) portion of our commuter cruiser/part-time cruiser lives.  Adventuring cross country in our Beverly Hillbilly truck - who else drives across country with 2 kayaks and 2 boat bunks for the new ski boat lift - we encountered strong cross winds, making the truck less than easy to steer.  On the drive back to the lake in Illinois we make a couple of important stops. 

First we stop to visit my almost 92 year old Dad in Lakeland.  All is well and the Euchre tournament ended with split results - the first day, the girls beat the boys but the next day, the boys beat the girls ... oh well.  

On to Atlanta to play with the grandkiddos!    We'll stop at "Hotel Kostka" - and enjoy a few days in the melee that happens when there's a 2 1/2 year old hurricane living in a house with a 5 month old baby.   :) 

As we were packing up the truck to head back for our commuter cruiser/part-time cruiser summer, we were distracted by the dolphins having a feeding frenzy around the stern of the boat & our dock.

That's one of our stern lines on the post and here's our dolphin distraction.  Every time we carried a load of stuff to the truck, we had to wait and watch the dolphin feeding frenzy for awhile longer.

Here's the reason for the dolphin's feeding frenzy...  so many fish swimming under & around our dock.  Unfortunately, the dolphins don't understand being photogenic yet, I'm still working on it.  So every time I'd point the camera one way to get them tossing one of these fishies in the air and flipping their tales with a humongeous splash, playing ... they'd swim off to an undetermined next fun frenzy. 

Where will he resurface next?  David finally interrupted my fun saying ... we gotta go.    :(