November 2, 2025.

We spent the next week in Carolina Beach with our new friends aboard Heartstring. Our sons loved playing with their daughter, who armed them with rubber bands for brotherly combat. We went to a pumpkin patch, walked the beachfront, ate together, played minigolf, and trick-or-treated together.

Homeschool involved investigating our hot water tank. We have hot water when we’re on shorepower and while the engine is running. The boys and I got the multimeter and traced the wires to where it connects directly to shorepower (bypassing the battery inverter). Then we saw an extra set of hot water lines connected to the hot water tank, and those lines connected to the engine. Corban realized the engine directly heats the water while running. That was a great homeschool lesson for the boys on electricity, water, and heating.

The boys made their own Halloween costumes. They were opposing fire and ice wizards. The robes were made from landscape fabric and duct tape. We also carved pumpkins! Corban carved an image of Latah. Rainier carved an anchor, a skiff, a telescope, a compass, and a person jumping off of a boom. There wasn’t much pumpkin left…

Leanne bought some sushi fixings and made wahoo sushi this week, multiple times. Corban was so excited by catching the wahoo that he tried sushi for the first time, and he liked it! It was dang good sushi, too. I also got some panko and made some delicious fish and chips. After day 4 or 5, though, we needed a break from fish.