Bringing Down the Neighborhood

Not sure if I mentioned this before but we are on "E" Dock right now in Santa Cruz, E for "Elite".  There are some very pretty boats here and as it turns out, some pretty amazing neighbors so I'm constantly feeling like I'm bringing down the neighborhood with our boat projects and our rabble rousing boys.  So far, it seems, they tend to get a kick out of the upheaval we cause.  As I sit below in my office working away I'm always hearing my kids off talking to one neighbor or another.

Frank the fisherman was a popular neighbor for the boys as he was always up bright and early with a willing ear for all kinds of kid chatter.  I swear he needs a sign like Lucy from Peanuts "The Doctor is In" as I have never seen a person receive so many visitors.  In the morning he would put out his sun umbrella and his chair and people would start rolling in, craziest thing ever.  He headed to the Azores for a long holiday and the boys are really missing him.  He did give us some fresh cod before he left and I'm pretty sure I've never tasted anything better.

Carl is another favorite on the dock and one who doesn't seem to mind the boys energy.  He invited us all up to the Yacht Club for dinner last Friday and we got to mesh with the upper crust.  Two things that were big "kid wins" that night, the ride in the trolly from the parking lot up to the yacht club (all of 1 minute and 30 seconds!) and the kids room with a Foosball table and television.  Big win from the parent side was the bar.  Carl has been on boats for 50+ years and has some entertaining stories and he's an amazing storyteller.  He even came down early today to watch Elliot practice capsizing his boat during sailing class.  I think Carl earns a gold star from our family!

Dennis and Sandy next door to us are super quiet but Dennis always has a chuckle and an encouraging laugh for the boys.  They raised two boys on their boat so they know "rambunctious".

Every day we seem to meet more neighbors; Bob who is an IT guy like me so we had lots of fun swapping geek speak while Keith's eyes glazed over. Julie on our other side who recently lost her husband but is taking on the challenge of becoming her own skipper rather than first mate.  Our neighbor at the end has a "Beware of Children" sign that I totally love.  He said he saw it at the flea market and grabbed it many years ago when he was raising his kids aboard and has never seen one since.  Bummer, it's exactly what I feel our boat needs as a warning to all neighbors about our crew.