Well I wish I was writing of some grand adventure full of crazy excitement, but instead I am writing to fill everyone in on our further transition from the summer.

We are super glad to be home and visiting with family and friends, even though we would love to have spent more time exploring the beauty of the North.

Since we've been back though, life has felt like a bit of a whirlwind. From the tons of boat projects, to the preparation for Burning Man, my back surgery, and getting the children ready for school... the last month flew circles around us.

The weekend after getting back I took the day detaching our sewage system from our beloved Coqui and throwing it out. This left our boat smelling 95% better, but without a holding tank which has been a little inconvenient.

We have had many other things preoccupying or thoughts however, firstly getting ready for Burning Man (a week long festival in the desert we have gone to for the past three years). We built a yurt made out of canvas and framed using bamboo poles, and pine slats. It was really awesome and worked super well.

The Burn was a blast as always, but we are glad it's over and are equally glad to not be going next year. Four years in a row is good for now and we are looking forward to going somewhere next year for our honeymoon that requires very little planning and even less preparation. I'm thinking like the tropics in seclusion, with a small backpack, a cook stove, a tent and a sleeping bag. With no agenda other than to melt into each others lives and to get lost exploring a beautiful island we have never been to.

Anyway, I'd better not get to ahead of myself right now. There is going to be a lot happening between now and then. And as it stands I'm laying on a couch right now recovering from having had back surgery last Wednesday for two pesky herniated discs in my low back that have been afflicting me off and on for the past 10 years. Although I was anticipating having the surgery it came a little sooner than I had thought. I called to make the appointment on Tuesday after returning from the Burn and the soonest they could see me was October 20th. That seemed really inconvenient since I would just be waiting for surgery at that point. So I asked the receptionist if she could call me if there were any cancellations. Well she called me back about 20 minutes later and asked me if I could go in the next day. Although that put us in a bit of a rush it really worked out better in the end. I had very little time to think about it and it all happened so fast that I'm just glad it's over.

The procedure consisted of the surgeon going in and removing a small amount of bone and scraped away the portion of the disc that was bulging. Our hope is that the surgery will relieve the pressure from my sciatic nerve and therefore stop the pain and muscle spasms that have been bothering me forever.

I'm recovering well so far and am a lot more mobile than I anticipated. I am however not capable of getting in and out of the boat right now. So once again our amazing, supportive community is here for us and has been very generous in providing places for us to stay and houses to watch while in recovery. Thank you all again we are truly blessed and thankfully I should be in normal function within a couple of weeks.

We got the kids signed up for a new school which we were really excited about since the last school they were going to had major problems with the kids being under challenged and a principal that wasn't involved enough to respond to a letter. I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed in how brave the kids were to start a new school. Not only did they have to go to a new school, but they are for the first time ever not in the same building. For some strange reason the Hollywood district has separated their campuses between 1st and 2nd graders not between 5th and 6th graders so they can't even visit for lunch and recess. They were both a little distressed about this and I was sure there was going to be some kind of meltdown over it, but when the time came they both marched right on in and and came home telling us how much they liked their new schools!

Cuba and I were so proud of them both, but especially Asher. He has grown up so much this summer. For the longest time he's been so deathly afraid of change that his anxiety would consume him and constantly get the better of him. We would have to watch a totally different creature come out because of his fears. Leaving us the struggle of how to help him recognize, acknowledge, and overcome his fears while not allowing his bad behavior at the same time.

It has felt really great and amazing as parents to watch this new strength emerge in our son. I have to say that I am totally convinced that a great deal of this newly found courage and strength has been the product of a loving, stable father and a summer of facing the challenges of the unknown.

Before we set off on this endeavor I held a small family meeting (very informal) where I asked Asher and Liberty to tell me their fears, hopes, anxieties, anticipations, and everything they were excited or nervous about in terms of living on the boat and sailing. What I got in response was a wide variety of baffling honesty with everything from them being anxious about falling out when the boat tips over, to feeling like they might not be safe in the dinghy, and being nervous that they would feel stuck in too small of a space and get bored... to being excited at the opportunity to see lots of animals they have already learned about. I was amazed at how easy it was for them to tell us all the things they were feeling. I thanked them for their honesty and tried one by one to offer a little bit of reassurance, but not to over do it.

Instead I mostly just took inventory in my head of their concerns. About a month into our trip when I was noticing how well they had truly adjusted I asked them very casually how they felt about the various issues they had been previously concerned with. The great thing about this was that I already knew what their answers were going to be. I watched with joy as they both were in amazement with themselves realizing that the things they had been previously afraid of they hadn't given a second thought to. I felt really blessed to watch their sparkling little faces look at each other with a new sense of self empowerment. Too cool!

Thank you all for your support and love. We will keep you posted with upcoming events and can't wait to see those of you who we have not seen yet.

Love you all.