rick's bizarre knee sunburn....if you can guess how he got it you win a prize.

having crew aboard was a hoot. in looking through our pics of the pre-canal prep I'm realizing that Bill and Gabby took most of the photos so maybe we'll get some pics from them down the road. we had a great time putting them to work pretty much straight off the plane.

the event coordinator in me was having a tough time last week....there were so many things around town I was just sure we'd do with our visitors....but the week went by so fast that we hardly had a chance to show them anything...it was just boat work, boat work, and more boat work. oh, and tons of last minute errands. they were very good sports about it though, in fact they assured me that I was more disappointed than they. They worked hard without complaint and were up for anything.

of course we did find time for some send-off parties and whatnot....how could we not with so many friends & fam in one place? Hebe was around, prepping for their canal transit (just around the corner - May 25th! go Hebe!!) and Que Onda showed up on his way to Ecuador. so the three Emeryville boats were together again, unexpectedly, just to add to the fun. it was all a bit overwhelming in a very exciting sort of way.

Gabby was not only a rock star on the boat work but also showed up with the MOST amazing custom t-shirts for the transit. they blew our minds! you'll see them in the transit pictures....THANKS GABBY!!! we appreciate it!!

the dads stayed at a sweet little B&B up on Ancon hill (those of you who got through the McCullough book will recognize some place names here on the blog) that afforded them not only great views of the city but lots of close-up wildlife encounters. on their first morning in Panama they hiked to the top of the hill and saw a full complement of jungle critters including agoutis, parrots, leaf-cutter ants, a green tree snake, and more. Bill spotted squirrel monkeys that next day. mind you this was right in the middle of a huge city..one of the reasons we are enjoying Panama so much.