The Catalina Crew

It has been a crazy few weeks! We can hardly believe that Tristan is already 2 months old. He is growing quickly and putting on the pounds. After surviving a month of pretty serious hardcore colic that drove us to the brink of utter despair (especially Suzanne because Jared has to be away from the house for work way too much), we made some changes to his diet and now we are sailing through what could be an “average” infant temperament. Though sometimes Interspersed with fussy/colicy moments here and there, it is like he is a completely different person.

Tristan is a wonderful child. He demands his meal about every two hours like clockwork but when he is in a good mood he pleasures us with never ending smiles and rather intelligent sounding coo’s, goo’s, and N’gaah sounds. He will even sit still on occasion in his bouncer, swing, or play gym for an hour at a time, watching the action around him. (Something that number one NEVER EVER did!)

We went “overtown” for the weekend a while ago and spent some time with Grandma & Grandpa Parrette. Jacob LOVES G&G Parrette and is constantly asking if we can go over to their house for a sleepover. Whenever we go overtown, he asks if we are going to see them.

Any excuse for a beach day is a good excuse for a beach day, so that same weekend we hooked up with the Neff’s (Sue’s sister Stephanie and family) who just happened to be in the neighborhood and hit the beach. Jacob was, of course, overjoyed to get to spend some time playing with his cousin Gabe. The thing he misses most about Salt Lake City is playing with his cousins.

Jacob loves his little brother beyond belief and the two are obviously developing a special bond already. One of the first things Jacob does each morning is search out Tristan for a hug and nuzzle. His 4-year-old enthusiasm scares Mom & Dad sometimes and we are constantly having to tell him “be soft”. Jacob is always eager to help out with his brother and is quite active in making sure that spit-ups and crying are brought to Mom or Dad’s attention and dealt with rapidly.

Jacob & Dad went out to the pier to do a little fishing the other night. They arrived to find several old guys muttering about how poor the fishing was and complaining about not catching anything because the tourists were throwing too much fish food in the water, spoiling the fish. Well, we put a couple of “magic” green beans on Jacob’s hook and tossed it in the water. Within about 15 second, Jacob had a fish on the line! With Dad shouting in excitement and a crowd of onlookers gathering around, Jacob calmly reeled his line in and pulled the lucky Calico Bass up onto the deck. At about 8 inches, it wasn’t a monster, but it was just pan sized and Jacob decided then and there that we were going to have “Fish & Chips” for lunch!

And last, but not least, to finish up this post with the “cute factor,” here is a quick shot of Tristan enjoying a bath in the kitchen sink.

Well, after all the excitement of the Flying Fish Festival, we decided that it was time to get out of town and have some time for ourselves. So, Sunday after the parade, we packed ourselves into the skiff and motored out to our sailboat for our first overnight sailing trip!

True to form, we got off to a late start and the evening westerlies had already begun to pick up. This meant that the wind would be against us and if we wanted to make it the 12 miles west to the isthmus before dark we would need to motor most of the way. It wasn’t the most romantic way to embark on our first overnight adventure, but at least we were going! Sue got the kids settled and the cabin set up while Jared transferred all of the gear and the outboard onto the boat. Once the preliminaries were out of the way, we dropped our anchor rodes and headed out! Right on cue, Tristan resumed crying and while Jared piloted the boat up the coast, Sue bounced back and forth between the cockpit, cabin, vee-berth, and points in-between, keeping things together on the youngster front. Jacob had packed his own set of toys to keep himself occupied and raced his matchbox cars up and down the cabin, occasionally popping his head out of the hatches to say hello. It wasn’t long though before the rocking of the boat put Jacob to sleep and luckily for Mom and Dad, Tristan eventually napped as well.

The ride out went smoothly, but with our somewhat sluggish skiff, the “J.T. Draggin,” (Jacob & Tristan’s Dragon) in tow and a stiff breeze to our face, we were only able to make about 4 knots headway. (If anyone is thinking of a Christmas gift for next year, a more powerful outboard would be nifty!) Once we rounded Long Point, (almost half-way) the wind and waves increased a little and after another 30 minutes, we had to make an unscheduled pause to bail the water out of “J.T.” before it decided to become a sea anchor! Soon after that we could see the outline of Bird Rock, marking the entrance to Isthmus Harbor, come into view and at 8:00 sharp, we pulled into the harbor under a beautiful Catalina sunset.

Because it was late, rather than cook dinner on the boat, we sent Jared ashore to get fish & chips at the only restaurant on the isthmus. However, much to both of our disappointment, Jared forgot to check the order and it wasn’t until he was back on the boat that we discovered a definite lack of lemons, tartar sauce, ketchup, or malt vinegar. The loud aaaarrrrggh! that was heard on the harbor that night was definitely not the ghost of some long forgotten pirate. We munched on our battered fish for a while and then, after losing several hands of UNO to Jacob, we turned in for the evening

Tristan was no more fussy and awake that night than he normally is, but in the tight quarters of the vee-berth, it was just that much more tough. By the time morning rolled around, we were all ready to get out of the boat for a little while, so we hopped in the skiff and headed in to Two Harbors for breakfast. Our friend Jesse is the head morning chef at the Harbor Reef Cafe and served us up the best breakfast one could ever hope for. Heaps of French Toast and Pancakes piled with strawberries, eggs Benedict, breakfast potatoes, bacon, and biscuits with gravy. (Sure beat fryingpan pancakes on the boat this time around!) Once breakfast was finished, we made a short detour to the playground in the town where Jacob demonstrated his skill at tether-ball and had Dad and Mom push him on the swings, then headed back to the boat to begin our return trip. Jacob helped Dad get the sails out and secured and we headed out of the harbor, hitting a dead calm as soon as we left the Isthmus! Are we ever gonna get to do any sailing on this trip?!?!?

Once again, Jacob lasted only about 30 minutes before going below and taking a nap. Then, as luck would have it, a slight breeze came up and Jared scrambled to hoist the sails. We motor-sailed the west wind all the way downhill back to Avalon, shaving nearly an hour off our travel time. It was a beautiful, sunny ride home and the breeze kept us at just the right amount of “cool.”

We can’t wait to do it again… with a few minor modifications and a little more time to spend. We learned a lot about what to expect and some things to do differently, particularly in the realm of gear organization on the boat, child management, and so on. And we especially learned that we may need a slightly bigger boat when we embark on a global circumnavigation with a family of four!

Punxsutawney has Phil the Groundhog, Yarmouth has Steamy the Clam, Quingdao has Chin the Beer Pig, and Avalon has Gill the Flying Fish! Gill is the mascot of the Catalina Flying Fish Festival, a four day non-stop barrel of fun and games, culminating in a Flying Fish Parade down front street and discounted evening trips out to view the flying fish themselves.

Gill, the Amazing Flying Fish

Well, OK. Maybe it wasn’t all that exciting, but it was a good excuse for some festivities. The festival began on Friday with the “Taste around Avalon” where local restaurants and bars opened up to compete with each other for best drink and entree, continued through Saturday with a merchant street fair and then Sunday’s Flying Fish Parade. Mixed in between were sandcastle scuptures, fishing tournaments, nature displays, bands & performers, and so on. Jacob’s pre-school had the honor of heading up the parade. Jacob was in top form, riding astride Dad’s shoulders waving like a champion parade veteran!

No, Really… He WAS excited, I promise! We just didn’t take a picture at the right moment!

Well, the much anticipated event has occurred and we are now a family of four!

Tristan William Ruplinger
7 lbs, 6 oz. 20.5 inches

Because there are only limited medical facilities in Avalon, the majority of children are born in Long Beach rather than on the island. After a single false alarm, many trips “overtown” for checkups, and several weeks of waiting, the doc said we had best prepare for an induction as the baby was getting to be somewhat overdue and the risks associated with going back to the island to wait were too high. We checked in to the hospital guest house on the afternoon of the 22nd, took a swim in the pool, and ate some dinner. Jared’s sister Danielle was fortunately able to come up from San Diego to watch Jacob while we were at the hospital. So they went to sleep around 9:30 while Jared & Sue began to get ready to go in and “have a baby.”

It appears that Tristan, like his big brother, is not about to be forced to do anything, so at around 10:15 he decided to get things moving on his own and Sue began to have mild contractions. By around 12:00 midnight when we were walking over to the hospital for our “appointment” to begin inducing, the contractions had gotten much more intense and it was obvious that no induction would be needed! In the 20 minutes it took us to walk the hundred yards from the guest house to the hospital doors, the contractions had increased to only 5 minutes apart and becoming more powerful. We hurried as best we could up to the maternity ward and by 1:00 or so were checked in to a very nice and cozy delivery room. Contractions increased rapidly and were beyond powerful. I was amazed when Jacob was born, and I was even more amazed this time at the strength and endurance that Suzanne possesses and the unbelievable pain that she had to go through to deliver these boys. Although Tristan’s labor was shorter than Jacob’s, I have little doubt that the combined intensity of all 30 hours of Jacob’s labor were packed into the two hours that Sue was laboring for Tristan. Whenever I think about it (many times each day right now!) I am in total and absolute awe. But then, before you could scream the word “epidural” twice, Sue was pushing, Tristan was crowning, and then there he was! (About 5 minutes later, our Doctor made it to the hospital!) We had an absolutely incredible nurse, Evelyn, who was there with us for the whole time and helped with the delivery along with two other nurses who rushed into the room just as Tristan was emerging. It all happened so quickly that even the attending physician did not have time to get to the room.  Suzanne and Tristan are both healthy and doing great, and we all made it back home to our island together.

Yes… It is I… This is my first entry on our blog. Yay, for me.

I can’t believe I am actually writing a blog post. It’s soooo crazy. I have the free time now, since I stopped working, but not quite the energy I would like to have. The simplest things take it out of me. But it is very nice to finish a few things before I have the baby and the real exhaustion starts.

I am surrounding myself with good energy and love these days, and focusing on a healthy and loving birth. My emotions have been up and down, feeling full of love one minute and then crying and upset the next. It’s a good time for me to focus on being thankful for everything. I am thankful for my husband who is a constant support to me and always shows me love. I don’t know how he does it. I am thankful for my son Jacob who makes me laugh every 5 minutes and asks me to read him stories every night. I am very thankful for the emotional support I have been getting from loved ones these last few weeks, it has been crucial to my well being. Thank you.

This post is about being thankful and paying it forward. There has been a “Pay it Forward” blog-chain going around the blogging world lately. In December, I made a promise to my cousin Val on her blog that I too would pay it forward. Well, I am finally making good on that commitment.

So this is my promise:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, which is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

Since we hardly update our blog these days, it may take months to get 3 takers, but I will wait happily. I send lots of love your way. And…Thank you!

This photo taken by Jacob!