After three weeks in Florida we're getting more settled. All the things we've been worried about since we made the USA plan the last couple of months all fall neatly into place and turn out well. Mira was especially worried if we could find a nice school for the girls. Toine sometimes worried if I (Mira) would have enough to do. All those uncertainties play after three weeks here are no more. From figuring out and arranging all kinds of things we gradually switch to just living here and that's a wonderful feeling.

Eline is getting through her first week at school. Every day she has fun stories about everything she goes through. She makes her first tests for the subjects US history and American Government. Only the box Advanched Statistics don't like it and we'll trade that in for a mathematics subject that's more in line with the Dutch VWO fabric. Contacts with other students are good and are developing further. She would like to do a sport and it's just a matter of finding out what that could be. The coming weeks she will try out two sports ... lacross and swim. She has to make a choice in three weeks. Only for the tryout of lacross we already have a whole bunch of forms to fill out and sign. We're getting pretty adept at it and easy now that we know that neighbor Lisa can 'notaries(with a stamp and cunroll IDs and guarantee that the signatory is actually that person). We already needed that when we enrolled at the school and then we went looking for it and finally we were able to arrange it via a UPS-store.

Marinthe is coming through her second week at the tennis school. She gets used to the rhythm and enjoys playing tennis so much. The whole week there is an ITF tournament at the tennis school with nice matches where Mira sees some of them especially in the beginning of the week. There are mothers who are at the tennis school every morning and afternoon when their daughter is there as well. It's fun to watch, but I really don't plan to be there all day. And I don't think it's good for mother and daughter to be so close to each other. Marinthe is looking forward to starting school in the free hours in the afternoon when the rest is busy with school as well. Tomorrow she will start World School. Unfortunately on Friday afternoon she gets some trouble with her knee, a bit overloaded we suspect. And that's actually not so weird when you see what she has been doing for the past two weeks in sports. Rest well this weekend and chill with ice and hope she can train again next week, maybe a little less intensive.

Toine is until Thursday morning a few days in the Netherlands with a busy program. The picking up of the boat papers and the books of the Wereldschool has worked out well. Furthermore, his week is full of business appointments and the last evening he has a nice dinner at the Indian Summer. The whole travel logistics is going well. With the Tri Rail from here to Miami and back goes very well. Much better than taking the car and picking it up in the busy traffic here. Flying with a stopover in Madrid is also going well. When he sits at a business dinner on Monday evening he already has six different means of transport on it. The train to Miami, the plane to Madrid, another plane to Adam, the train to Tilburg, the taxi home and with his own car to Utrecht. He is briefly in our house, Monday afternoon to get the car and some stuff and Wednesday afternoon to bring the car back. Unfortunately no time to see Erik and Jeske. For Toine it is a strange mix of experiences now that it is exactly the other way around that he is in the Netherlands for a business trip instead of abroad when we are not there.

For Mira it's very good to experience what it's like to be here without Toine. That will happen more often in the coming period. In the beginning it will take some getting used to. What things can I do while the girls are at school and Toine is at work? I pick up information at various gyms and language institutes for learning advanched english or maybe spanish. Eventually I end up at a nice small gym with lots of different group lessons in small groups including running outside and training for a faster 5 km race. In addition, I'm going to sign up for three months of serious English classes at an advanced level, in a group where the emphasis is on speaking a lot with each other. Two things (doing a lot of sports and learning a language) that I really like to do and that will probably result in some social contacts. I also started as webmaster of the Hallberg Rassy Connectie association in formation. That's what I'm going to make the website for in WordPress. Very nice to put some time into it in the coming period, especially with the good help of colleague Ralph 👍. And I don't exclude that I will also rebuild this site in WordPress afterwards. You can do a bit more with that than with Blogger. I expect to be able to bring and pick up the girls in the coming period. These are also nice family moments this week when we catch up in the car.

All three of us will be very happy when Toine gets back Thursday night. Full of stories from the Netherlands and we with stories from here. On Friday we buy a second desk for the computers and convert part of the living room into a study. A lovely place with a view of the boat where the two of us can sit. And where Eline can also do her homework.

On Saturday we make our first short trip by boat. Toine first gives the engine a good turn, that is badly needed. The wind blows quite hard, so we don't go to sea. But around high tide we sail up and down the ICW to the Hillsboro Inlet, a therapeutic trip with a good working engine and clutch 😉. Mooring at our house is a lot easier with a working reverse and the lines already at length. We think that in terms of draught we will be able to reach the ICW 2 hours before and after high tide. In two weeks time it will be Thanksgiving weekend and then we have the plan to take the boat out for 4 days. On Saturday evening we will have a nice dinner at the 'Outback' ... an Australian steakhouse.

On Sunday morning Eline goes with a group kids from school to the beach for an hour.beach cleaning'. In order to succeed, she has 20 credits needed for 'community service' and with this cleaning action she already has 4 points. After that they swim for another hour. Sunday afternoon we were invited by Lisa (the neighbours) to football to come and see. And we're also supposed to stay for dinner with a 'early dinner' (4:00 p.m.). It is a very pleasant afternoon, with some glasses of wine, delicious food and nice conversations. Her husband (Steve) is not at home, but the sons (Jake and Hunter) are and her mother is there too.

It's a lot of fun here in the beautiful weather and we are happy that we still have a whole period ahead of us. On to a next week! The picture at the top of this post was taken by Toine from the mast.