Written by Joellen

Right now we are in Georgetown, Exumas.  This is the most crowded place in the Exumas but we love it.  This is the most south we will go on our trip.  There are lots of kid boats here from all over the world.  I’ve become friends with kids from the US, Canada, England and Ireland.  My favorite thing in Georgetown is Volleyball Beach.  After everyone homeschools in the morning, all the kids get together at Volleyball Beach to play.  I’ve met a lot of really nice girls my age.

At Volleyball Beach my favorite thing to do is pet the stingrays.  Some are silky and some feel like rocks.  Once there was a baby stingray attached to the mother stingray.  The baby was upside down on the mommy’s belly.  It was really cool to look at.My other favorite thing to do is swing from the tree rope.  My mom and dad get nervous because I climb way high up in the tree and jump down with the swing.  My dad especially doesn’t like it.  But I tell him I’m not going to hurt myself.  But once in awhile I scrape some skin off.I also come to yoga at Volleyball Beach in the morning if I do my math, spelling and handwriting the night before.  The first time I did yoga I fell off my towel and got sand in my hair.  And at the end of the class when I’m supposed to be laying down and relaxing, I get a little bored and sometimes start playing in the sand.One afternoon Camden and I made a fort at the beach.  We even made a swing and hung it in a tree.  The board seat of the swing has lots of rusty nails so again my parents got nervous and told us to be careful.  Camden and I plan to head to our fort again this afternoon.

A few days ago another kid boat planned a bonfire cookout on one of the beaches.  I cooked my hotdog too much and burnt it to its death.  But I still ate it.  Then we all roasted marshmallows.  I think I ate 6 marshmallows but my brother later admitted he ate 15.  That’s a lot.

On Easter we went to church here in Georgetown and then went to a cruising kids Easter party on Volleyball Beach that all the parents planned.  Here is a picture of all the kids.  I ate a lot of candy but again my brother ate more.

One day when Camden, Mom, and I were in town schooling at a coffee shop, we met a family from Chattanooga, Tennessee on Spring Break.  We started chatting with them and they were soooo nice.  They invited us over for dinner at the house they were renting and it was a lot of fun to be in a house again.  Then two days later we took them out sailing on our boat.  For most of them it was the first time they had been on a sailboat.  It was so much fun.Another thing I’ve been doing lately is renting my berth (bedroom) out as a hotel.  For $1.00 the person gets my room, a movie in the portable DVD player, a Diet Coke, two fruit leathers, and a candy of their choice (Mounds, Peppermint Patty or an Andes Mint).  Along with this, the person gets out of dealing with Maria in the evening, like putting her to bed.  My dad was the first to sign up.  Since he does all the boat repairs and heavy lifting on the boat, I told him he gets a free bonus night at the Joellen Hotel.  My hotel is so popular that I had to make a calendar and schedule.Camden tried to negotiate getting more candy on his night at the Joellen Hotel but I told him no.  Here he is negotiating in the hotel room.Another thing that is new is that I’ve been driving the dinghy more.  I used to be scared of driving it but now I like it.  Sometimes I get a little wild and Maria yells, “SLOW DOWN JOSIE!”

I also have been busy doing lots of crafts.  While we are sailing or even at anchor, Maria and I like to paint shells.  One day I had a great idea to paint my flip flops.  Maria of course then wanted to paint her Crocs.  The problem is that we accidentally used water color paints instead of oil based paints.  The Crocs dried in the sun but once we got in the wet dinghy, the paint went everywhere.  My mom and I washed the dinghy out with buckets of saltwater and then pumped the water overboard.  Oops.I really love Georgetown.  These two weeks have flown by.  We plan to leave here Saturday and start sailing north.  I hope my parents take us cruising again one day so I can come back to Georgetown.