The Catalina Crew

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!

Everyone keeps asking to see a photo of our new sailboat so I thought I would throw this one up on the blog of Jared readying the anchor…

Just Kidding!!!!

Maybe this is what Jared would have looked like had he not met Sue and been made a civilized human. Thank heaven for Sue!!! But stay tuned and I will put up some real pictures in the next day or so!

Merry Christmas everyone! What’s that you say? Christmas is old news? Well, not if you are keeping up with the Ruplingers! Three month old postings are our specialty.

We expected things to be a little different having Christmas over here. No snow, 70 degree weather, and only one Toy store within 90 minutes of travel time! Jared barely made it through that first item, we all reveled in the second, and made due as best we could on the third. We did miss seeing family over the Holiday season, but at the same time it was really nice to spend time enjoying ourselves as a family without all of the other distractions. It made for a very intimate and memorable Christmas experience.

It was interesting ordering our Christmas Tree sight-unseen at the local community church around the middle of November. All of the trees were shipped over during the 2nd week of December when, on an appropriately chilly Saturday morning, the entire town saddled up their golf carts and headed out to Descanso Beach to pick them up. We were relieved to discover that we could pick and choose a little bit and eventually decided to upgrade to a slightly larger model.

All of our Christmas decorations were still in our storage unit in Salt Lake so we weren’t quite sure what to do. However, as we are the luckiest people on earth, the Neff Gang had us for Christmas gifts on the Holt side of the family this year. We received a huge box in the mail from them stocked full of the most wonderful Christmas decorations a person could hope for! The result is one of our best trees ever. Thanks guys!

As I mentioned about Halloween, one of the really neat things about living here is the small-town feel to the holidays. There is a lot going on, and everyone is involved. From Jacob’s school Christmas concert (Which was broadcast on the local cable channel) to the tree lighting ceremony down at the harbor (With Santa arriving on the back of a fire truck) to the open house at the old Wrigley Mansion on Mt. Ada, it seemed as if the entire community together was a part of things. It is also pretty neat when the exact same Santa is at every function throughout the season and knows most of the children by name already. It makes the experience much more real and believable for the kids. By the time Christmas got here, Jacob was on high-five friendship status with the “Real” Santa Claus.

We also had the excitement of getting to see our first ever school performance featuring one of our children! You wouldn’t believe how giddy we were when Jacob’s Pre-School class had their Christmas Music Concert at the City Hall. It was lot of fun and the kids did a surprisingly good job! Jacob sang as loud as everyone and always had a proud smile whenever he caught out eyes. (If you want a copy of the DVD, let me know!)

Before we knew it, Chrismas Eve had come. We feasted on a plate full of fresh from the ocean California Lobster that a friend had caught for us, yummy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and the best Creamed Beans known to the human race, topped off with fresh fruit and a few melt-in-your-mouth Cheese Biscuits. My mouth still waters thinking about it!

After dinner, we sang carols and opened a few family gifts, then settled down for our long winter’s nap.

Jacob usually comes in to our room around 6:00 to make sure we are awake but on Christmas morning he surprised us and slept in a bit. Lucky for Mom & Dad! Eventually, went downstairs to open stockings and see what Santa had brought. Jacob’s Christmas wishes came true when he found his very own skateboard under the tree, complete with helmet and pads.

Because both Sue and I are closely tied to Catalina’s tourism industry and a cruise ship was scheduled to be in port, we would have to finish up presents quickly and go in to work from 10 to 2. But as luck would have it, around 9:00 we got the call that the cruise ship would be postponing its visit until the 26th! Loud cheers were heard across the island as people returned home to spend the day with their families. As soon as all the presents had been opened and our Pop-up Pancakes eaten, Jacob informed us that we needed to head out to the Skate Park to try out his new skateboard. So off we went. We capped off the day with yummy street tacos at Pete’s Cafe and the requisite round of mini-golf. Merry Christmas!

OK, so the paparazzi aren’t exactly breaking down our door, but a few of you have wanted to see the photos of Jared in the Triathlon. So, here they are. If you are faint of heart you may want to avert your eyes lest you be blinded by the splendor of what you are about to see!

In the staging area before the race.

I’m in the middle of the pack. (yellow shoulder)

Out of the water - Dead Tired,
And wondering how I am going to manage the next 10 miles!

Halfway through the third hill-climb!
Time for some GU!

One mile left to go and feeling great!

The BEST part of the race -
Crossing the finish line with Jacob!

Enjoying the afterglow.

What a fun day! I can’t wait for the chance to run another triathlon. It is definitely something that everyone should try to do. Every time I finish an event like this I am amazed at how great it feels and how I don’t want it to be over. Wahoo!