Marshmallow gets prepped for take off!

Two weeks ago, Trav and I were driving a Land Rover Discovery and a 2013 Toyota Tacoma.  Today, these are our wheels.  She's a 1995 Chevy van with a blue velvet interior.  She's got a TV/VCR unit that plays VHS tapes and she smells like a former smoking room at the Days Inn. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet "Marshmallow"!!  (Naming credit goes to Vivian). Every single item we are taking with us to start our new life fits inside (or on top) of Marshmallow.  The plan is that Marshmallow will take us to Maine, and then in October, to Florida.  We are about to become very well acquainted with Marshmallow.  I hope she likes us.

In typical Julia fashion, the launch that was supposed to happen on Monday is happening today (Thursday), but it's 9 am and Trav is still emailing clients and finishing billing and doesn't look like he'll be done any time soon.  At this rate, we may still be here when our renters arrive.  (We'll all bunk in together, I bet they'll LOVE that!)

The house is an echoey shell, everything packed and stored away.  We've been sleeping in sleeping bags because I washed the bedding and put it all away 3 days ago. We have signs on 3 out of 4 bathrooms that say DO NOT USE because I scrubbed them to an immaculate shine and they're going to stay that way.  Last night was our last night sleeping in this house we love.  I was expecting to have some sort of ceremony or special moment or family hug or something but we were all so exhausted and stressed out there was none of that whatsoever.  The kids tumbled like dirty zombies into their sleeping bags, Trav worked on property management stuff until super late, and I made a disgustingly sweet bowl of oatmeal mixed with a packet of Swiss Miss dry instant cocoa and ate it while watching Orange is the New Black, the episode where we find out why Crazy Eyes is in prison, and it seriously upset and disturbed me.  It was not a good night.

Now it's the morning, the supposed morning of our departure, and I keep creeping into Trav's office, asking him if he needs any help and when he thinks he might be done.  I know I am not actually helping when I do this, but I can't stop.  WE NEED TO LEAVE TODAY!!  We absolutely, positively need to be in Maine by the 10th because Trav has an important family thing and we have to be there. It's a 40 hour drive to Maine, and if we don't leave today we'll have to rush there and we'll be miserable the entire drive.  I'm also trying not to think about the fact that Marshmallow's AC isn't working and Trav fixed it himself using some kind of epoxy, a technique he learned on YouTube.

 I think that I'd be sad about leaving Telluride and all of the people and things we love here but I'm too stressed out to think about it.  Maybe that's a good thing.  SIGH. Until next time friends, we send heaps and bucketloads of love and appreciation and gratitude to everyone who has helped us, hugged us, and wished us well on our journey.  Thank you, Telluride. We love you so.
(Now cross your fingers for us! xo)

       

Here's what the back of our boat will look like!

Boat names are so much fun.  On every sailing trip we've ever taken, we always take the dinghy around all the marinas and harbors we sail into, just to check out the boats and read their names and where they're from. A lot of boat names are sailing related (kind of obvious and boring) like "Wind Traveler" or "Sea Breeze". My favorite are the cheesy puns: "Reel Knotty" or "Ship For Brains" or  "Bi-yahtchhhh" (that one was our second choice after Moxie- just kidding).    
Under the coast guard's regulations, your boat has to display the name of your home port (even if your home port is landlocked, as in our case).  Our boat's name and port will be painted on the transom, the "rear end" of the boat, and it will look like what you see above.  My brilliant sister, Sarah Nyman designed it for us, and we couldn't be more excited that a piece of her artistry will be traveling with us wherever we go.
Right now, as we speak, our boat is being sailed from the BVIs to Florida,  We have only 15 weeks until we leave Telluride and begin our journey.  It still doesn't seem real.  Every single day, we are working towards leaving (boxing up belongings, planning for homeschooling) while at the same time living our normal lives (running for the bus and directing plays).  It's a weird feeling-- like we've got one foot in Colorado and the other on the sailboat, balancing between them, only somewhat gracefully.
Stay tuned for an update from Captain Trav as he prepares for his first big sail on our boat (Nassau to FL) in 2 weeks.  It's a big long sail in open ocean-- out of the frying pan and into the fire, baby!  
 

When I'm scrubbing various nasty surfaces in my house I like to visit a happy sailing  memory, like this one (Hud & Viv conked out in the cockpit after a day of  adventuring) to keep me motivated...eyes on the prize.

Song lyrics for my upcoming musical.  I still write the old school way-- on paper.

I love lists.  I REALLY love to-do lists.  I have a notebook of lists that I keep with me at all times that is filled with lists of things I want to do, things I should do, things I have to do.  Crossing things off lists is like a drug to me.  Trav is the same.  We are List Geeks.

As Trav and I prepare for our sailing adventure, we would keep thinking of things we need to do and then immediately forgetting them and saying to each other, "What was that really important thing we should do right away?  I JUST said it, what was it?!?"  After that happened a few times we we realized we needed to have a really big, really visual to-do list to keep us on track.  There is SO much we need to do, and other families we have read about who have left their homes and jobs to go sailing usually take 2-3 years to plan and organize themselves.  The Julia Family has 9 months until we leave Telluride and one single jam-packed year until we set sail.  Can we do it? Well, yes of course we can.  (Positivity is power, baby.)

So here's our giant to-do list.  It's a year-long timeline, decorated with waves (my amatuer artistry) mounted on a vintage map of the world.  We hung it on the wall of a big landing on our stairwell and we all walk by it about 1,000 times per day.  Notice that at the top it says "Giant War Map"-- it was produced during WWII so people could keep track of battles.  Since we are hippie pacifists, I prefer to think of our map as a war on time slipping by.

So what's on our to-do list these days?  Well, there's crazy-big stuff like "BUY A SAILBOAT" and "RENT OUR HOUSE".  There's little stuff like "DOWNLOAD BOOKS, MUSIC, MOVIES FROM LIBRARY" and "SELL GEAR AT SKI-SWAP".  There's stuff we don't feel like doing like "MOUSE-PROOF OWNER'S CLOSET".  And there's really fun stuff like "MAKE AMAZON WISH LIST AND SHARE WITH FAMILY MEMBERS".  There's also a lot of exciting/daunting/interesting things on the list such as "LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY", "LEARN HOW TO CUT HAIR, "TAKE WILDERNESS FIRST AID COURSE", "LEARN DIESEL ENGINE REPAIR" and "MASTER THE UKELELE".  Does it sound to you like we're going to be busy over the next year?

Two of the sticky notes on the map that I think are the most important are at the top, in the center.  They read, "LIVE IN THE MOMENT" and "ENJOY TELLURIDE".  With all of this planning, dreaming, and excitement for the future, it might be easy to lose sight of the here and now, and we are determined not to do that.  After all, it's not like we're going sailing to run away from lives we don't like. We LOVE our lives here, and we're committed to living this year to the fullest, doing Telluride right.  That's why we also added to the list, "MAKE TELLURIDE *FUN* CHECKLIST."  Do you see what we did there?  We added "MAKE A LIST" to our list. That's what I'm talking about...List Geeks.  

      

This is our handsome Captain, "Dad" (or Travis).  A true Maine boy, Trav has been skiing and sailing with style since he was knee high to a grasshopper.  A serious goofball (an oxymoron, but intended as a high compliment), this amazing Dad keeps all of us laughing and is the inspired instigator of our new life plan.  He has successfully transformed his family into a boat-loving, water-obsessed, nature freak gang of wanderlusters.  Lucky us!

This is Hudson: expert dingy-driver, sick mogul skier, talented artist and fish taco enthusiast. (According to Hud, the lionfish tacos at Hatchet Caye, Belize are the best he's ever tried, and he's tried a lot,) At ten years old, there's no adventure too large or small for Hud.  He's also a super loving, very protective and wonderfully fun big brother.

This is Vivian: passionate traveler, ballerina, ardent student of the Mandarin language (really), and asker of deep questions.  Viv is a seven year old with a true appetite for adventure and learning.  She loves snuggling and refers to Hud as her best friend.

This is me, Mom (also known as Jen).  I'm a children's theater director and playwright, but currently full-time first mate and homeschooling mom.  I love life and am natually curious about just about everything.  Spending time with my family is what I love best.

This is a diagram that I studied for the online sailing course I took last March.  It was the first time I had taken a test since 1999.  I have to be honest and tell you that I actually put off taking the the course's final exam for an entire YEAR.  Why?  I was terrified that I would fail.  And being terrified of failing made me wonder...since when am I THAT kind of person?

After all, back in the day, Trav and I used to take lots of risks, the kind where failure was a distinct possibility.  Moving to Telluride, 2,470 miles from our family and friends, was a big one.  So was buying a house.  And having kids.  And starting a business.  And sailing alone for 2 weeks with a 5 year old and a 20 month old. At the time, all of these things were scary to us.  Each time we took one of these risks, there were a million reasons we could come up with why we shouldn't or didn't have to do it. But EVERY SINGLE TIME, we have found that taking the risk was the right choice. (I can also add learning to mountain bike, skiing Spiral Stairs at 7 months pregnant, and parallel parking to this risk list).

So, what has changed?  Why am I scared of risks all of a sudden?
Maybe I'm just out of practice.

Eventually, after a year of fearful procrastination, I screwed my courage to the sticking place and took the sailing course final exam.  I chewed my nails.  I sweated.  And I got an 84.  (A respectable B -!)

We have decided to make risk taking part of our lives again, starting now.    We are giddy and goofy and excited and it's all we can talk about.  All 4 of us are challenging ourselves in different ways (after all, "risk" means something different to everyone), and to get my feet wet, here the ways I've decided to challenge (and scare myself a little) in the next 2 weeks:
1.   Start learning a musical instrument
2. Hike a fourteener (I've never done one- slacker!)
3.  Draw one quick sketch every day

Small steps toward being more of the me I want to be.
Ok Jen...go!

The word "Moxie" means something to my family.  First of all, it's the name of the lake that my husband grew up exploring and passionately loving as a child.  His family owns a camp on it, and it's Trav's favorite place on this earth.  Second, the word Moxie is defined as:
Force of Character, Determination, or Nerve.
These are characteristics we aspire to as a family.
(It probably bears mentioning that Moxie is also a rather spicy, "accquired taste" kind of soda that you can only buy in Maine. We don't drink soda, but if we did, I guess we'd drink Moxie.)

We are starting this blog so we can sort out and share and explore the exciting/scary/crazy question-asking phenomenon that is happening within our little family of four.  More on that later.

First, I should tell you a little about us.  We are Travis and Jen, grade school (4th grade to be exact) sweethearts raised in Maine that now live and raise two energetic children (Hudson, 8 & Vivian, 4) in the idyllic ski valley of Telluride, Colorado.  We've lived here happily for 16 years.  I am a children's theater director at a historic Opera House and Travis owns a property management company.  We own a nice house, we are active in the community, we ski and mountain bike and hike and the boys play hockey  and Viv is in dance and gymnastics and I and perform in plays once in a  while.  We have a loyal Chocolate Lab named Sadie that we adopted the same day I found out I was pregnant with Hudson.  We travel.  By many people's definiton, we are living the "good life".  

Four years ago, we began sailing as a family on our  two week spring break vacations.  When I try to pinpoint where the change began in our family, I think that was when it all started. Sailing hit a nerve in us that I didn't even know we had. It's hard to describe, but the expereinec of sailing and all that goes with it-- the spontanaeity, the steep learning curve, the lack of technology, the togetherness, the minimalism, just...fit. To put it simply, sailing woke us up to our own potential, desires, and dreams.

Summer is here in Telluride and it couldn't be more beautiful.  There's so much to do and see- bike rides and festival performances, and weekend trips and visiting friends.  We have weekly adventures with the kids, we work hard, and we love what we do.  We are comfortable, we are content.  And yet...we find ourselves wondering, "What else are we capable of?"  "What else is there out there?" "Is there MORE than this kind of contentment?" and "Should we be finding that out?"

I'm not sure where our lives or where this blog will take us, but this I know--- we are asking questions!  And lots of them.