Changing up your life’s scenery is good, but kids need to feel stable. Check out my new guest blog post.
Read MoreLearning to Let Your Children Go
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My husband was an architect, and then he wasn’t. I was supposed to become a famous journalist, but I didn't. Our choice to live and sail on a sailboat with our two children for 10 years had us hopscotching and dancing around our careers during that chunk of time....Could we, should we, have expected more of our two boys?
Read MoreA Gaggle of Cruising Kids
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They were one grand, wet, rambunctious, laughing amoeba of towheads, redheads, arms, and legs. They cackled in accented English, French, and Spanish, swimming and jumping helter-skelter.
Read MorePortrait of a Bilingual Marriage
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Two Languages, One Family: Portrait of a Bilingual Marriage.
Read MoreO Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! The Eternity of Papy
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It has to touch the ceiling. Always. Every year. That's our criteria for a Christmas tree. Our living room ceiling is 8 ft. high, so that is a feasible reach, but our son's tops out at 15 ft., presenting a little more of a challenge—especially since his living room/kitchen area makes up a large part of the second floor of his house. During the ten years we lived on a sailboat, we were occasionally able to put a tree outside on the deck, and then, literally, the sky was the limit.
Read MoreWe Banned Nintendo, and Now It's Back!
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The latest craze, fad, and craziness that has burst upon the pop culture scene is Pokémon Go, brought to us by, once again, Nintendo. I thought this company was dead! Well, at least in my mind it was. I had buried it years ago.
Read MoreNo, No Life Jackets on Those Kids
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"No life jackets on those kids?" Yes, that's right. No life jackets on those kids. My Huffington Post blog entry "We Sailed Across the Ocean…" from November 11, 2015, recounting our 30-day trans-Atlantic crossing on our sailboat with an infant and a toddler, featured several photos of my children onboard, "sans" life jackets. Some readers were taken aback and posted a comment of surprise and concern. This is not the first time I have had such remarks from—and here's where I must remind myself—amateurs, weekend recreational boaters, non-sailors, or at least non full-time "cruisers."
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Cowabunga and the Camino, Kindred Spirits
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Blisters gone. Swollen ankle—subsided. A few items lost, some new friends found. Satisfaction guaranteed. Thirty-five days for an adventure. Thirty-five days powered only by my own pedestrian momentum, only my feet pushing me from Point A to Point B, beginning to end, 500 miles across a country—just because.
Read MoreHis Gorge(ous) Life
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My son, Sean, has found his peace and piece—of paradise—in a tucked away valley of the great Northwest. He thrives in the great outdoors and it is, literally, right at his front doorstep. All he has to do is step outside.
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