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Near the end of March, Auntie Phoebe, Uncle Dave, and my cousin Katy came to visit us as part of their trip around New Zealand.

They stayed on board with us for 5 nights. It was their first time on a sailboat, and I thought — how brave of them! They were so easy to host, super laid-back, and also willing to try new things, like steering the boat or jumping off the side for a swim.

Auntie Phoebe was so sweet with Tomu, Jade, and Luz. She spent hours listening as the kids showed her their Pokemon cards, asking questions about the different cards. She also would tease the kids with her trademark sense of humor. Tomu would tease back.

I made pizza and Caesar salad & sushi on board.

They treated us to several meals out at restaurants and bought a bunch of groceries at the start of the trip. So kind!

And on our way back to the marina, Uncle Dave tried his hand at the helm. We were motoring through a narrow-ish channel and he kept turning the wheel too far, so instead of going in a straight line, we were making many zig zags. I was laughing, and so was he. At one point I said, “Uncle Dave, we are a little too close to those rocks for my comfort. Can you steer back the other way?” Later, once we had our sails up, I asked Uncle Dave if he wanted to steer again. He said, “sure”, which surprised me after his first go-round. The wind picked up to about 18 knots, and we were doing 7-7.5 knots with full sails up, and pretty heeled over. Uncle Dave crushed it!! He steered for about an hour, and kept us right on course. He completely redeemed himself.