We're home from the latest regatta (did you miss me? I love the ability to now schedule posts on blogger!!). I didn't take many pictures ... I meant to, really, but got sidetracked with all the socializing, child chasing, and, oh yeah, sailing.

The oldest three kids sailed and the first issue we faced was getting the three boats up there. Here's where I need pictures and don't have any. C.'s boat, a laser, went on top of the van on roof racks, her dolly on top of the boat, and her mast bungeed on as well. So far so good. I.'s boat went in someone else's van. M.'s boat went in the van ... with the 6 of us and everyone's sails, blades, gear, two dolly's, our cooler, and our travel bags. I so wish I'd taken pictures of it all! Her opti fit sideways upright along the passenger side and most of the gear fit into the boat. I could not, for the life of me, see out the side window so C. became the looker ... making sure I could change lanes.

The sailing itself was decent. None of the kids did terribly well, but all did well for themselves. I. was in a new, more challenging fleet and hung in there. His coach said he did as well as expected and he was pleased with the results.

M. was at the bottom of the fleet the first day. She doesn't like wind and as the wind picked up she got more and more nervous. The second day I hoped she move up just a bit but was pleased with her sticktoitiveness (she finished every race). The third race of the day M. starts her race kind of off on her own. We're all wondering what the heck she's doing. Suddenly she tacks and heads to the first mark and rounds it in 4th place (out of 41 boats)! Wow! She rounds the second mark in 5th, the third in 6th, and then loses a lot of ground heading towards the finish line ... but, oh my gosh, was I excited and proud! That was certainly the highlight of the day! Her fleet raced right in front of the sailing center so we could see it all .... so awesome.

The other "interesting" moment happened when I was walking up the sidewalk to take the boys to lunch. I was looking straight ahead, perhaps even up as I was about to climb stairs, and suddenly was tangled in a branch of some sort. I wasn't sure if someone was messing with me or if it was a branch. After a second I looked down and it was a snake! By that time he was slithering away to a bush. I moved along and then looked at my leg, which was dripping blood. Hum, I thought. I'm still not positive that it bit me ... from the looks of the marks I may have rubbed against his scales backwards. The area itself didn't swell, or burn, or ache, or, well, anything. I saw the snake quickly and I'd say it was a basic garden/grass snake. The sailing center has a history of rattle snakes so other people were far more excited about the whole thing than I was. By the way, I fear snakes, a lot! All seems to be well and the marks are small and healing really quickly ... had there been any out of the ordinary symptoms I'd have gotten it checked out, but there weren't.

I did realize that I can't do the boat and gear loading anymore, at least not until after the babe arrives. I was exhausted and so quickly out of breath. I've told Jason that he'll have to do the early fall regattas next season.

And now we get ready for sailing summer camp ... C. will be teaching, I. will be assisting, and A. will learn to sail this summer. M. decided after we got home that sailing really isn't her thing and she wants to try something else. We're ok with that ... what she has learned in the last year will allow her to sail a boat as an adult and, really, that's pretty dang cool.