Feast of Lanterns

At the end of summer, our town holds the Feast of Lanterns. It is an annual celebration, over 100 years old, of the legend of the Blue Willow, a fabricated "Chinese" story.
From the Feast of Lanterns site: 

"Long ago in far off Cathay, a land now called China, there lived during the reign of Emperors a wealthy Mandarin named T'so Ling. His land holdings were vast and fertile, and his treasures beyond counting. His palace was built of fine woods and rich lacquers with a roof of blue tile that gleamed in the sun, and a handmade fence that ran below the palace. Behind the palace grew an orange tree, and beside the palace ran a river with a graceful willow that gave shade in the heat of the day.

Of all T'so Ling's possessions, his beautiful Princess daughters with their jewel names were his greatest joy. The Mandarin delighted most in his eldest daughter, Koong-se, who he named Topaz, so named for the golden lights that twinkled from her eyes. Topaz passed her days in a summerhouse that leaned over the rippling water, where she did elegant embroidery on silk while listening to tales of old Cathay as told by her faithful nurse, Chun Soy.

T'so Ling thought Topaz so lovely that he wished to crown her as Queen. A coronation ceremony was planned, and all the princes, potentates, maharajahs and lords of the realm were invited to attend the coronation. One of the old Mandarins brought a chest of gold so impressive that T'so Ling thought this rich man would make a fine husband for his daughter Topaz. T'so Ling made plans to combine the coronation with a marriage feast.

Topaz heard this news and became quite despondent, for she had fallen in love with a poor, young scholar called Chang. Hearing of this, T'so Ling forbade his daughter to marry Chang. Topaz wandered off into the dark to drown herself. T'so Ling alerted the villagers to search for Topaz with lighted boats and lanterns. During the search Topaz and Chang reunited. In a final burst of lights, Topaz and Chang were illuminated as they changed into Monarch butterflies and escaped into the sky.

The pageant, which takes place on the last night of the Festival, tells the story in pantomime and ends with a burst of fireworks overhead as the lovers are seen for a brief moment departing in the guise of Monarch butterflies."

We love to anchor out in the bay to watch the show and lovely display of fireworks. Also, to avoid the huge crowds that cram themselves onto the beach. We often bring out friends, food, and have a lot of fun. This year, we truly had a boat load of people on board! =)

Fun times!

Glow sticks are lots of fun! Plus, a great safety hack for keeping track of the kiddos.

View of the shore.

Sleepy time. The kids were worn out after a fun evening out on the bay!
The wagon in this pic is AWESOME. We use it for just about everything (walks to the grocery store, hauling beach or boat gear, and even sleeping kiddos!)

Busy Times!

We are in the middle of construction! Working on the home addition, while working full time and maintaining our sailing preparation to-do list has kept us pretty busy. Hence, lack of posting on the block. Believe me, I have a few posts in the works, but have to find the time to get them all completed!

Yesterday, one of my students brought me a bouquet of pencils. In type on each pencil was a different saying. The one that I took out to use had this on it: "GET IT DONE". I took that as a sign, I had better start getting posts up on the blog! =)

Just some of the things we have been up to (beach time, horseback riding, school, etc):

The First Step

   

Family Christmas photo from about 6 years ago.

We have our passport photos in hand and will submit the paperwork for our family passports tomorrow. It is the first step of many, however, it feels nice to have this checked off "the list".
     Make that two items, as I created this blog.

We have not told many about our plans, as we won't leave for another 18-24 months. There is so much to do between now and then, most importantly, find a boat for our family! We are in the middle of our search and have decided upon a catamaran. We currently own a mono-hull, but with five of us, we really need the extra space a cat provides. The second major thing is to sell our house. We have finished construction, putting on the finishing touches,  and are waiting the mandatory two years before listing it.

 So why not tell everyone of our plans? Well, its' not like we are leaving tomorrow. We've got awhile to go and many things to cross off "the list" first.

When did we decide to sail around the world with our three kids? Before we were married, Jared owned a Hobicat16. We loved taking it out on the lake and did many sail-camping trips on that thing. Right before our wedding, Jared built a beautiful kayak out of mahogany. A few years and three kids later, found us moving to the Monterey area, where Jared sold his beloved kayak. After all, we couldn't all fit inside it, so we decided to look at sailboats.

We joined a local sailing crew and raced twice a week, starting about 2010. We both received our ASA certifications in 2011 and leased our own boat that same year. We leased until about 2014, when we purchased our own boat, going in with four other families to split the costs. We sometimes take the kids out on races, but usually, it is just Jared or I that go (mostly Jared these days, as I am home with the kids, chauffeuring them around to sports practices, play dates, etc).

We definitely love going out sailing as a family and go as often as we can. The kids know basic terminology and sometimes help with the sails or manning the tiller.

We are often found sailing around the bay with our dog, Sunny. She's a perfect sailing pup!

 

 planning...