So, uh... hi? It’s been a few months. For those still here waiting for updates, thank you for your patience. We’ve been busy trying to stay afloat—literally and figuratively. Turns out, life had other plans for us, and it looks like we forgot how to update a blog in the midst of the chaos. Whoops!

Let’s rewind for a quick recap of the madness:

The ACL Saga: Brandy kicked things off by rupturing her ACL and tearing her meniscus in February. Surgery followed in April. While Brandy was benched, the kids were in school, and our amazing friends stepped in with food, chauffeur services, and the general gift of sanity. We were ridiculously spoiled.

PT 2x a week until we depart. Getting that leg boat ready @ Arpella Physical Therapy.

June: Moving and Stuffing Our Camper: Fast forward to June, and we officially moved out of the house we’d been renting for the past five years. If there’s one thing we’ve learned after 19 years of marriage, it’s that we’ve somehow become professional hoarders. We had so. much. stuff. But don’t worry—we weren’t alone in this epic endeavor. Adam’s Coast Guard Academy roommate, Sean “Saint Peterson,” schlepped boxes, helped pack out and then into storage, and even slept on an air mattress in between. Other friends, like the Schumms and the Barnes, also came through, offering kid-wrangling and storage space for our ridiculous amounts of crap.

Last picture of the kiddos in front of the Old Turkey Point rental. Harbor has spent the majority of his little life in that house. A lot of big feelings.

Full day of schlepping boxes to and from

After donating, storing, and dumping half our lives, we managed to just fit into our camper. It’s like living in a game of Tetris, moving bags around daily just so we can collapse the Murphy bed at night. But hey, we’re living the dream, right?

And as if moving wasn’t enough, we were also prepping for Aria’s fifth grade promotion, hosting friends from California to celebrate Adam’s retirement, getting ready for Harbor Reef turning 7, and welcoming our friends who moved from Germany to Edgewater so we could reunite for a few months before our eventual departure. Because, why do one thing when you can do all the things at once?

Retirement Bash: June 9th marked the epic celebration of Adam’s Coast Guard career (which deserves a separate post). Spoiler alert: it was incredible, and yes, there were shenanigans.

Boat Projects: Or, How We Became DIY Experts Overnight: Once the party was over, we hauled our beloved boat out of the water at Anchor Yacht Basin in Edgewater, MD. Watching that boat come out was equal parts awesome and terrifying—like a very slow, aquatic rollercoaster. Adam, being Adam, befriended the folks at the marina and geeked out over their new lift from Italy (because who doesn’t get excited about a giant boat lift?). Our buddy Keith from Adam's rugby/Coast Guard days helped us wrangle the boat into the sling, and soon the boat was on the hard and ready for a million projects.

Headed for Anchor Yacht Basin for haul out

Since then, it’s been a flurry of boat work: new solar arch, six solar panels, bottom paint, engine room soundproofing, new bilge paint, chasing mysterious leaks, and even installing underwater lights because why not add some flair to our chaos?

Successful haul out

Removal of rudders and sail- drives.

Removing the engines -

Both engines were removed by Full Keel and taken down south to McKenzie’s garage for a rebuild

And let's talk about the fridge debacle—our old one died, and Adam is currently McGyvering the space for a new one. Did I mention we’re also homeschooling while all of this is happening? Kids get their math and science done, then run around the boatyard for P.E. Not exactly what we had in mind when we thought of “boat life,” but here we are.

The Ever-Growing To-Do List: Remember how we thought we could finish all this work in a month? Three months later, we’re still at it. Adam's been wiring, re-wiring, chasing more wires (seriously, is there a boat made entirely of wires?), and prepping the solar arch for wiring and dinghy davits. The man is a machine—but it’s tough being a one-person boat project crew. If only we could clone him.

Removed old soundproofing, added new soundproofing which required boat yoga - while also trying not to get impaled by soundproofing nails.

Adding tape to the seams of the new soundproofing

Big beautiful new solar arch from Victory Customs in Deale, MD.

Big thanks to the McKenzie, Huggins, Barnes, Hannum, Rawlings, Peterson, Wilkins, Lynch, Martinez, and Stringfellow families, and last but not least, the Schumms, for being our village/second home. And a shout out to Vosbury Marine, Victory Customs, Anchor Yacht Basin, East Coast Marine Rigging, Total Boat and Young Cruisers Association for making this wild ride a little less crazy.

Today’s mission? More boat work and trying to get back in the water. Counting down the days until we finally sail south—if we ever finish this to-do list.

Stay tuned. We’ll be back… eventually.

For more frequent updates, follow us on Instagram (@svkaikoa), where we post to our stories regularly—mostly because we’re too tired to keep up with the blog. We’re hoping to turn that around soon!

Cheers!

Months of Madness

Farewell Chesapeake

Downsizing and Knee Surgery