FELIZ NAVIDAD from the BEGONIA!

Fort Lauderdale, FL - Happy holidays to all!  During this time we are remembering those who are no longer with us, but also feel incredibly blessed to have our family and friends.  The support for us and our plans for this trip has been huge and for that we are very grateful.  Hope you all were surrounded by loved ones...

It was nice talking Dad in AZ, Max and family in CA, Andy and family in IL, Gaby, Renzo in IL and skyping with Dani and Pablo in Ireland.  Makes us feel a little less far away and gives us hope that we won't lose touch during this trip.

We were delighted to celebrate on the Begonia here in FL last night.  It still felt like Christmas.... we held onto our traditions by having a nice dinner (BBQ!), a nice holiday toast (mucho vino!) and a visit by the bearded man himself!  We also had the additional celebration of our friend Eduardo's birthday.  We spent the day at the park and baking Christmas cookies.  We had to modify the process a little since the cookie sheets I brought do not fit in Begonia's oven! Thanks to Isabelle for the oven mitt she made as a gift and stitched with a sailboat on it... really came in handy for the baking.  Prior to yesterday, I had envisioned baking my own bread throughout the trip on the boat... but now wonder if I am going to have to modify that plan too!  We will see...

Karla and the kids have been on the boat all of 5 days already, but we really feel like we're getting settled in and the Begonia is feeling like HOME.  We had a great visit by Ellen and Laib, our dear friends from IL.  It was very nice to have a slice of Evanston right here in the Begonia.  We are glad the kids had a friend on board to proudly show their new home.  Sebastian took the three kids on a dinghy ride and Benjie learned his first lesson on life vest and dinghy safety... Apparently he was leaning way over the side and despite Sebastian's warnings that he would fall in the water - he fell in!  After his initial shock of falling in... he recovered and Sebastian was able to pull him back in.  It emphasized our rule of wearing the life vest always... but also, to listen to Papa when he says not to lean over the side of the dinghy!!!  Lesson learned.

Benjie has really been practicing his rowing skills and proves to be a fantastic helper and Sofia has been practicing her dancing skills, listening to Hannah Montana's new CD and "Dave's Fav's" (shout out to the Victorsons and the great Carlos Vives CD we were given by David!).

We plan on staying in FL until the first of the year since we are still waiting for our little pup Martha to make it down to FL, and will fly to Argentina on the 31st with Eduardo. 

Hola todos!! Feliz Navidad!!

     Aca estamos, dia 25 de Diciembre, preparandonos para ir en un pic-nic con la familia. Pasamos una Noche Buena muy linda y diferente en nuestro nuevo hogar, hicimos un rico asado, brindamos sin sidra ya que nos olvidamos, y recibimos los regalos de Papa Noel que dejo los regalos en el cockpit, una version nautica de esta nueva vida.
     Festejamos el cumpleanios de nuestro amigo Eduardo como podran ver en las fotos. Muy lindo dia navidenio!!
     Seguimos en FLL esperando a nuestra perra Marta que llega el 28 a Orlando, donde iremos con Eduardo para buscarla. Por fin terminamos todos los tramites para que ella pueda irse a Argentina con Eduardo. Hubiese sido mucho mas facil que se quedara en Evanston, eso seguro!!
     Recibimos la visita de Laib y Ellen, un companiero de Sofia de escuela, que estan visitando parientes aca en Florida.
     Benjamin aprendio su primera leccion de hombre al agua desde el dinghy, despues de varias advertencias de Papa. Creo que de ahora en mas va a tener mas cuidado.
Abrazos!!