Leveling up

An interesting phenomenon about learning about bigger boats is that the little ones get a lot easier.  We took our Hobie Cat out for possibly the last time this year.  And what a piece of cake that sweet thing is to handle now.  I wonder if that progression continues so that if you learn all the way up to a 70 foot yacht that then tooling around in a 40 foot cat is a breeze.  Here's our 18 foot Hobie on Red Rock Lake in Minnesota. 

Meanwhile, things continue to get real.  We have found renters for our homestead.  Not my niece and her fiance as we initially thought.  Instead, the renters we have had in one of our town homes for the last couple of years are going to move in.  We estimate that move to be in August of next year.   Getting rid of, giving away, storing or selling our mountains of stuff is the next big hurdle to overcome. I'm going to start sending boxes home with my mother when she visits. There is some furniture that we'd definitely like to keep in the family as well, but we'll save that until the Spring.   A few friends have stepped up and offered to store things like art work or Christmas decorations.  But that really doesn't make a dent in a 2200 square foot home. 

We also have started the kids in semi-private swimming lessons. They're not completely incompetent in the water, but they're not as strong as I'd like. 

I think the biggest question on our minds now is how much boat we'll be able to reasonably afford.  Do we go for the biggest one we can?  Or the one with the most amenities?  I think some tough choices are in our near future.  "Tough" being a relative term.  lol