We got snow!!!

For our first snow fall we got close to 10 inches of snow! That's a pretty big deal here in Door County, especially this time of year. This area isn't known for lots of snow, so we will take what we can get and enjoy it as much as possible. We knew we had bitter cold coming with strong winds so we played as much as we could beforehand.

Ben trying the disc down the back hill

Crocket, in his boots today, on our daily morning walk down the driveway

Snow selfie

Ben's second snow plow of the day!

Crocket in the woods!

This dog kills me, he loves to go for rides on ANYTHING that moves!

Crocket and Ben going for a ride on the Phazer

Keeping busy here in Door Co...

When we first moved here, one of the locals said he was worried about us as the winters are long with few people around. Well, we seem to be doing just fine so far. We love the quiet, we love the snow, we love the slow pace of life, we love that there aren't a lot of people here, we love the fact that there isn't any traffic, we just love it here. 

I've been cooking up a storm, decorating for Christmas, baking, cleaning, getting myself certified to substitute teach in Wisconsin and still organizing our lives in the new house. 

We got our tree!!

Baking while Heidi was visiting

Ben has been busy restoring our in-floor heat in our garage. The pipes froze between the house and garage and the clever Ben ran a smaller pipe through, then with the help of the heating/cooling guy our garage is now officially heated! Woot Woot! 

Ben had to cut a hole in the plaster to get to the in-floor pipes. These run from our basement across our breezeway and into the garage.

Pipes coming into the garage...

We have heat!! The day before this read 43!

Ben also has been busy getting my new 1986 Yamaha Phazer in working condition, it is now running like a champ...AND we are going to be getting more snow!!! Yay!

We are also looking forward to the water freezing here so we can spend time ice fishing (my favorite!!). But in the meantime, we will be embracing this time of year as last year we did not see any snow. 

Ben and Crocket getting ready to move a pallet of wood close to the house for use in our fireplace

The Phazer! Crocket loves it!

I love the old Phazer!! My husband spoils me! He made me a trail around the property, so fun!!

I thank you for your part in my journey

So, I had a birthday this past week...AND my best friend flew in for 5 days to spend it with me!!! 

OMG! How lucky am I????!!!!

What more could a girl ask for? Heidi and I have been friends since we were 4 years old. She is one of a select few who know me better than I know myself sometimes. When we get together there is usually lots of laughing and relaxing. We just enjoy our time together. 

Growing up Heidi was always taking care of me and anyone else who was close! If my room wasn't clean (which it never was) I was not allowed to go out, Heidi would clean it. The days she drove me to school she included a chocolate doughnut for breakfast and a thermos of coffee. She is always doing for others so to have her here and see her relax...it was the best birthday gift for me!! Of course she still spoiled me with tons of special treasures and YES, she cleaned!

It was a very special birthday!!!

Crocket loved getting treats from Aunt Heidi...and ear and back scratches too!

Matching PJ's

Great times with great people!

Great friend Max came for an overnight visit...so we bought them PJ's too! Poor Guys!

We took this picture as we were leaving to take her to the airport, only to bring her back for another night because of snow.  Yippee! 

Fun times being crafty with Aunt Tamara and Heidi

Yay! We got snow!! 

We had Loopers in the house!!!

Loopers don't stop hanging out once the Great Loop is over...!

We had our Looper buddies Bob and Liz (from the boat Knot Sew Easy)visit from Grand Haven, MI! What a blast visiting with our friends! It was like we never were apart, we just picked up where we left off and enjoyed our short time together.

While doing the Great Loop, we met Bob and Liz on the Rivers (only a month after we began our trip) and traveled with them for 80% of our 13 months of travels. They were the couple we shared our good and bad times. Not only did we spend most meals together, they helped us with our dog Crocket, Bob was there to assist when Ben needed to go to the hospital and Liz was my go-to for girl talk. After spending so much time together, they became not only our buddies but family. The friendships you make along the Loop are pretty special. Not many people can say they traveled over 6,000 miles on a boat and we shared most of those 6,000 miles with Bob and Liz.

So we were thrilled, anxious and honored to have our buddies visit us here in Door County.

We spent our time sightseeing, eating, catching up, playing cards and ping pong and just some good-old-relaxing. Time went by way too fast and before we knew it, we were waving (maybe a few tears also) 'see you later' in the driveway. Our Great Loop travels brought us more than we ever thought, it brought us our dear friends.

Crocket was so happy to be with his boat buddies in a car!

I think Bob is excited for some Ribs...Liz feels the same about the twice baked potatoes!

Notice the print of our boat on the mantle...Thank you Skinners! We love it!

The experiences we participated will forever be lovely memories.

We have too much fun together!

We had our first guest!!

Our buddy Kenny, aka K2, earned the forever distinction of being our first over-night guest in our new house.

K2 at our old house with dirty shoes...not allowed to get the floor dirty

K2 not only allowed us to borrow his truck and car hauler for our move a few weeks ago, but he also let us use both to drive all the way to Ohio. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and picked up Ben's new 1957 Ford 800 tractor. My dad gave Ben the tractor as a birthday gift (WOW! Ben was way excited) earlier this year. Ben is itching to get started on restoring the old girl this winter.

Ben on his new tractor!

K2 then drove Ben's truck up to our new place in Door County so we didn't have to bring his truck back down to Illinois and back up again. What a guy that K2 is!!

Kenny and Ben on our boat last winter

We had dinner out and after unloading the tractor and another load of items from our Illinois house, we enjoyed our first guest and then called it a night.

Of course the next morning I had a million questions..."How did you sleep?" "Was the mattress ok?" "Could you hear me when I got up this morning?" "Was the temperature ok?" "Were the sheets comfortable?
...Poor Kenny! He was a gentleman and answered all my questions! Best of all he said he slept like a log! I think that's good!

We found it!!!!

This is the front of the house, it looks south

Before we left on our Great Loop travels, we decided we wanted to move up to Door County, WI.
We reached out to a few realtors while we were traveling, Ben had been looking and studying every home that came onto the market close to meeting our very specific wants.
We wanted at least 15 acres of land (we got 18), we wanted it to be a log home (it's a log and timber frame home), no cookie cutter house for us! We were looking for a first floor master bedroom (got it!), we wanted the open concept layout with a nice size great room (we call it the lodge room!), we were hoping for a wood burning stove for heat and enough room to have visitors (no wood burning stove but a double-sided fireplace satisfied). One of the musts was a barn for Ben to store all his toys (there are a lot of toys) and finally but most important, a place where we both "felt it". You know what I'm talking about...a place where you can't stop picturing yourself and your furniture, a house that speaks to you. Well, this one yelled at both of us and we listened. The only downside is that the house is a lot bigger and more expensive than we were planning. As big as the house may be, it is a very cozy one-of-a-kind home with everything we were hoping for!!! And now we have the room to have all our friends and family visit and enjoy this beautiful place we have been calling home for one full week!

This is the west side of the house

Looking at the back of the house which is east 

Back of the house (really its the east side) 

The stone area is the foyer, one of my favorite rooms 

The lodge room (we are still unpacking and haven't really hung many pictures yet)

My favorite room! The kitchen was the first thing I unpacked. If you look close where the EAT sign is hanging is the pantry

Dining room looking from kitchen... 

If I were a guest here, this is the room I would pick. The wood beams are beautiful and it has huge windows looking out over the barn and pasture.

Ben and I wake up pinching ourselves! This is our second home together and I think this one may be the last!! We now live in an adorable town (2013 census says 203 residents live here, this number jumps to over a few thousand when summer arrives) complete with great shopping. AND we have LOTS of room for guests...hint hint!!

Why does it smell musty in that corner??????

The source of the musty smell...

Our corner cabinet started to give off a bit of a musty smell. I may have noticed it the other day, but I brushed it off as Ben's stinky feet. I was wrong...
This is another reason why it is important to know your boat. Know the sounds, smells and creaks it makes. Ben had mentioned he smelled something musty in our corner cabinet in our saloon. We have a rather large area that has a good deal of storage in our corner. Under this cabinet happens to be where our air conditioning unit is located as well. After pulling everything out of the cabinet to access the air conditioner, Ben noticed that there was water collecting in the corner, which means its coming from somewhere...but where?

This is the part Ben enjoys...the investigation, the ruling out of possible issues, the conquering of the problem. This is where Ben excels! This is also where I excel at pretty much standing nearby holding a towel/rag with cleaning product in hand. I wait until Ben needs to get a tool or something and I sweep in to clean. This particular area has not seen the light of day since we have owned the boat. Lots of dust! But not anymore!

Ben discovered that there was a hose that was not properly installed. Rerouting the hose allows better water flow which will prevent water backing up in the tray that sits under the air conditioner unit (the cause of the evil smell that Ben's nose found). I am very happy that this was all the smell was. Easy fix for Ben and there is no longer a musty smell or dust bunnies in our corner cabinet!

It is crazy how much stuff you can cram into a small corner cabinet...

All put back together and clean!

First In!

2 years ago Ben and I were approached by a local artist wanting to know if he could use our boat as the subject in a painting. We happened to be the first boat in our harbor for that season and it was a beautiful day, he wanted to title it "First In". We were thrilled, "Of course you can paint our boat!!" I exclaimed but, "Can I buy the print?" I continued. "Why yes, the print will be for you." said Jim Leatham, local outdoor painter who specializes in oil.
We came home and within days were pulling up to the Jim Leatham art gallery picking up our treasured painting of our beloved first Grand Banks. Jim captured our boat Jammin Jane, on a perfect day in the harbor with our little boy, Crocket, sitting in his usual spot waiting for someone to take him for a boat ride.
This painting hangs above our bed on our new Grand Banks, reminding us of all the memories we had traveling with her.

One week home & still on the boat!!

Nothing compares to the sunset views we have here 

In all the months we have been traveling on the Loop, I never woke up wondering where I was. UNTIL NOW!!!
This has happened twice since we have been back in our home port. I'm guessing that is because on the Loop I knew exactly where we are at all times. We planned our stops several days in advance, I would call the marinas to confirm our reservations (we never just pulled into a marina looking for a slip), Ben routed our course and I would document the locations in my notes. I always knew where we were located. So it has been a crazy feeling to wake up wondering where we are, then I look out and remember...we are home!
So, how has life been this past week?? Pretty awesome!! We have family near and friends close so we have been enjoying our time with everyone. We have a vehicle to drive to the store WHENEVER we want! That has been hard to get used to. I'm so conditioned to have everything I need on hand to make dinner that when I realized I forgot an item for our meal, I started to get all worked up. Ben brought me back to reality, "Um Babe, you have a car and the store is up the road." he shared as if saying duh, what's wrong with you?
We have been enjoying our time in our harbor, grilling out almost every day and visiting all our favorite spots here in Door County. Ben's mom, Cathy came for a wonderful few days and our friends Bob and Liz sent friends of theirs to our boat for a visit as they were vacationing here in Door County.
Crocket is in his glory! Every time he goes potty he gets to go swimming! He is free to walk all over the harbor off his leash (he didn't like having to be leashed 80% of the trip), he loves our walks in the woods, gets to visit all his buddies, ride around with the dock master on the golf cart and go for car rides. We have family living close by so visits to them have been fun for us as Crocket gets so excited he starts talking and shaking the closer we get. I think he is thrilled to be back!

All in all we have adjusted pretty well, I still miss the adventure and the travel. But I'm savoring land life for now!

My walking buddy

Look close, that's Crocket swimming with his toy 

Dinner with Cathy (Ben's mom), Aunt Tamara, Uncle Kevin and Ben

Loved meeting Jack and Phyllis

Car ride with the dogs! Crocket on the left and Hogan (Cathy's shitzu) on the right

We will be spending the next month here on our boat, looking for a house and enjoying all things Door County. We are excited to stick around for October Fest here in Sister Bay. We will take our boat over to that marina making it our last hoorah for the season!