Get Outside, Kid!

Here's one of the great parts about raising kids on a boat - they spend lots and lots of time outdoors.

Even with the up-and-down weather that we've been having over the last week, the boys have gotten ashore every day - to swing on the swing, or for a quick bush walk...

 
... or to turn over rocks at low tide to find crabs.

(Eric's scared of the crabs.  But he would throw rocks into the water all day long if we let him.)

We get lots of "outside" time when we're on the boat too, since we're up in the cockpit so much of the time.  Here Alisa and Elias are taking a look at the head of a squid that we caught - Elias is taking notes for his "show and teach" presentation at school this coming week.  We'll make a biologist of him, no problem!

We ate the mantle of the squid for dinner - delicious.

Basically, kids are wild animals.  They need to be outside, getting into stuff, if they're going to turn out normal.  If they spend too much time being sedentary and staring at screens, they turn out weird.  Even though our 45 foot boat is relatively palatial, we still have a LOT less inside room than most house-dwelling families.  So the kids have to be outside, just out of necessity.  It all works out perfectly.

And being outside is good for the adults, too.