Recently I was on the paddle board and Mom said it was time to come in and do school work. I said there is more to life than just school. For example, there is the environment and spending time with family.  What I meant was I wish I could have more time to do other stuff that doesn’t involve school. Things like playing with the dogs, swimming, paddle boarding and connecting with friends on Snapchat, Instagram or in person. I also like to collect shells, swim off the back of the boat with Caper and go into town because it means I get to get off the boat and be on land for a while.  I will keep doing school because school is very important. I also want to go to college someday, get a job, and go off to live with a friend or on my own.

PS: This is not the original version of this entry. When I first wrote this blog entry my interests were not as wide as they are now. For those of you who know me, you can appreciate that I did not mention time on my IPad. My Mom and Dad say maybe I am coming out of the teenage funk?

Don and Mel came to stay on the boat for a week in January. This was my Birthday week. I turned 16. We picked them up from this really cool fancy marina called Yacht Haven Grande. It had a really nice pool and shops. Mom and I got to have a “girls day” before Don and Mel came on the boat.

On their first morning we went to the pool before we left the marina. The water was really cold. They said they needed it because of the night before? Our first stop was Caneel Bay, where we went snorkeling and sat on the beach. For dinner we went to ZOZOs and had a progressive fine dining meal. It was great having Cheesecake again. I missed having Cheesecake.

Next, we went to Maho Bay. I went paddle-boarding with Mel, where we were looking for turtles. We did not see many turtles though, or sharks. We did have a lot of fun.

We went to Coral Bay for my birthday. Dad made me a big birthday breakfast. I got to have a day off of school and play on my IPad instead. When Mom, Dad, Mel and Don went to the taco boat, Limeout, I stayed on the boat and watched the dogs. I don’t like tacos and that’s all they have. Dad made my favorite for dinner – Shrimp Fried Rice.

We went to Hanson Bay for the night. The next day we went to Dittlyf. When we were at Dittlyf we went snorkeling and had a beach day twice because Don was working.

We then went to Little St. James and had pizza from Pizza Pi (it is a boat where they make pizza). The next day we went snorkeling in my favorite spot for the week which is on Little St. James.

Then it was back to the marina. The four adults went out and I watched the dogs. When I was watching the dogs, Caper got up on the table even though I was sitting on the couch beside him.

The next day we had to take Don and Mel to the airport to say goodbye. We were sad to see them go, especially Caper and Chance. They really enjoyed the extra attention from Don and Mel.  We are looking forward to seeing them again.

We had dinner with Kent and Kathy who made Chinese food from scratch. We had Egg Drop Soup, Egg Foo Young and Fried Rice it was a treat for me because we were still celebrating my birthday. Kent’s secret ingredients for his fried rice are bacon and ham. It was really Good! I had not tried Egg Drop Soup or Egg Foo Young before – it was great getting to try new things.   I also liked getting to celebrate my birthday with them.

Recently, Caper and Chance met their long, lost cousin. Mom and Dad’s boat friends, Jake and Stephanie (Dreamcatcher), adopted a puppy. Parker is a Portuguese Water Dog. He is 11 weeks old. When Parker came on our boat Chance was jealous of him because he was stealing all the attention. When Chance got jealous of Parker, Caper was having a deja vu moment. He was  remembering when we brought Chance home and how he felt when he first came into his life. Caper was like, Whatever, about Parker and didn’t care or notice him as much as Chance did. Caper is not as threatened by other dogs and knows how to find his own spotlight.

One night before I went to bed I thought of five things that make me happy. I wanted to share with you the 5 things that make me really happy. They are: 

1. Playing with the dogs especially swimming with Caper

2. Spending time with Mom and Dad and their boat friends

3. spending time with my boat friends and mountain friends

4. Eating my favorite foods which include bacon, eggs, sausage, any type of potatoes, pancakes and orange juice

5. Diving into a different world by book or by screen. 

It was really interesting to think about five things that make me happy. I challenge you to do the same.

I went to Kent and Kathy’s boat, WindEnsemble, for game night. Kent and Kathy had Kathy’s sister Barbara and brother in-law Jeff visiting on their boat.  I am trying to do other stuff besides getting on my iPad like interacting with other people, trying new hobbies, learning new tricks, getting involved in more boat chores, projects and spending more time with the dogs. We played Mexican Train Dominoes. Kathy didn’t understand how to play Mexican Train Dominoes; so I figured I would make a version called Mexican Boat Dominoes where the playing pieces are boats and the dominoes make their way to different anchorages. Turns out I can have a really good sense of humor, can get drunk on life and I am really fun to be around.  I had a fun time last night playing Mexican Train Dominoes.

I also learned to play the Cups game. Thanks Kathy.