Thanksgiving Day 2012

We have a lot to be thankful for here on Silver Lining. We are so blessed to be where we are, doing what we are doing. We have not forgotten all of you who helped and encouraged us to follow our dreams- we are so thankful to have you in our lives!

Although we are out of the country, don’t think for a second that we’d miss the opportunity to celebrate the other half of Thanksgiving too – the food! We teamed up with Lee and Serena from Solent and went on a Thanksgiving Day hunt… hunting coconuts, that is.

Choosing our prey and giving it a yank.

Success!

Not sure what is happening here…

After a sloppy french kiss with a coco… (aka a drink of coconut water straight from the source)

The boys hacked open the coconuts to get at the meat and we mixed the coconut water with Malibu and pineapple juice. Not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving drink, but we had to have some tropical touch with our meal. Mid-way through our drizzly hunt, the rain really started to coming down. Our manly men decided to build us a little palm hut to keep the women folk dry…

Soaked to the bone, and muddy too, thanks to the sandy palms being piled over our heads.

After the coco hunt, we decided to wash the mud off ourselves with a swim although it was still pouring rain. We usually swim out past the small breakers so we can float atop the nice easy rollers farther out, but our leisurely float got a little rough when the waves suddenly picked up and started breaking over us. We were still having fun, but one wave in particular gave me a nice full-body exfoliation as it smeared me across the soft sandy bottom.

An interesting view of a breaking wave, looking towards the beach.

Run Elan, run!

Once we’d recovered from our swim, we began the cooking.

There’s Lee… always playing with his food!

Stuffing our “turkey” on the dock.

I made homemade bread!

Thanksgiving Dinner! Complete with roasted chicken, cornbread stuffing, mashed potato, gravy, veggies and homemade bread. Not bad considering it all came from two little boat galleys!

Admittedly, Elan and I were feeling a little nostalgic about being away from our families on this holiday. Thanksgiving is always a big family affair for both of us, and this is our first major holiday away from home on this trip.

Aside from our real families, we couldn’t have asked to spend the holiday with better people. This is our cruising family!

Ta-da!

The Engels took on the Moretons in a lively game of Cranium. I think Lee was trying to get Serena to guess the phrase “Flight Attendant” in this pic.

In other news…

Speaking of being thankful… I have just finished putting together a new page on the blog dedicated to Silver Lining’s restoration process. I’ve been promising pictures to some of you for… about as long as we have had the boat. Although we are never truly done improving the boat, I am thankful that it has come as far as it has! I hope you enjoy seeing the fast-forward version of the transformation.  The page is located here.