I haven’t been everywhere yet, but it’s on my list.Susan Sontag
I will never forget the day we decided to turn our lives upside down.
Mid-June camping in the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains, over a few beers and splashes of bourbon, my husband and I made the decision.
We were going to sell our dream home, our camper, and most of our possessions to buy a 40ft catamaran and take our family sailing around the world.
The Why, The How, The When
The dream was born in 2008, somewhere between a whiskey and coke, the dark corner of our favorite local bar, and us - a new couple yearning for adventure.
Kevin
He is originally from Philadelphia where he grew up spending the summer on his family’s 42ft Irwin in the Chesapeake Bay.
As an adult he had sailed across the Atlantic, from St. Thomas to Grenada then on to Venezuela and back again. He had lived in the U.S and British Virgin Islands.
Sailing and skiing were his two passions.
Lacey
I was born in Montana and raised in Sun Valley ID - a mountain girl through and through. I was the sous chef at the restaurant we both worked at.
Become a Couple
My husband Kevin and I started dating ski season of 2008.
Kevin was getting ready to go on a sailing adventure in the British Virgins Islands. He invited me. I happily accepted, and the ideas for the future went rambling on all night long.
The BVI Trip that Set Our Dream in Stone
In February of 2009 we set off for the British Virgin Islands. We chartered a 31 day bareboat cruise on a 38ft. Lagoon Catamaran with a group of friends.
We:
- Listened to Captain Jack and Eminence Front
- Danced
- Drank
- Cooked
- Were a family
I remember sitting off of the back of the boat with a cocktail and headphones on completely speechless, zoned out on what I was experiencing. Was the world really this big?
Could life really be this incredible?
The answer was absolutely.
The day we took the Lagoon back to Road Town BVI, I cried the entire way. The trip was ending, and for me this wasn’t going to nearly be enough.
The Dream House, The Cars, The Stuff
Fast forward to 2015 in Ketchum, Idaho.
We owned:
- A 3,000 sq. ft. dream home with awesome kitchen
- Enough posessions to fill the house
- A truck
- A Jeep
- A camper
And we now had two little boys - Sinjin (5) and Lennon (5 months).
We lived at the base of a gorgeous ski hill.
My husband was a server at a fine dining high-end Italian restaurant and I owned my own catering company.
We had everything we could want or need and even though we were thankful, we were bored.
We were longing for something we now had both tasted.
We never let the dream of moving onto a boat die once we had children, but we were guilty of pushing it back constantly. We knew what we wanted and needed to do and that June camping trip was the beginning of making it happen.
The Day We Pulled the Trigger
The day after our camping trip that June we sat down and make a list of steps to take.
First, we had to move to the coast. It’s hard to plan to move onto the water when you live 5,000 ft up in the mountains.
My husband is the youngest of five boys. They all live on the east coat and one lives here in Charleston, SC.
We had been to Charleston visiting a few times and we both really liked it. There was an opportunity for Kevin to get his Captains license and work at one of the marinas while we lived and planned for the next move.
Two months later we were living in Charleston. The excitement of it all along with a little luck finding a renter for our home and finding a home to rent in Charleston made us move quickly.
Yay! So happy for you 4 and I can’t wait to hear about your adventures!