Our guests, and the payload has arrived. As soon as we found out we had friends coming to visit we started our online shopping and making lists for them to run around the city picking up essentials for us.
   It is always a happy moment when guests arrive, for the visit, for seeing our lifestyle through fresh eyes, and also for the boaters’ Christmas that ensues. It’s an evening of toys, tools, and necessities that we cannot easily find around our current anchorage. Most of the time we tell our guests to pay the airline to have the extra luggage and we will cover the costs of that extra bag, since we will be filling it to the brim with all the things we are in need of. And yes sometimes we abuse a little of our friends, getting them to run far fetched errands and bringing overly big items down with them. But it is so worth it.
   This trips stash included: a Bosch router, Playdough, extra toys and teddies, IKEA finger puppets, three sheet sets, kids utensils and sippy cups, a laundry pod, Miracle Whip, headlamps, new towels, Gap clothes and undergarments, Jabsco Impeller, PC laptop, Lifeproof Ipad case, an anchor swivel, mosquito coils and spray, and some extra gifts from our guests. 
   Now that everything has been unpacked, unwrapped, and stowed in its respective spot, we can start showing them around the DR and giving them the ‘cruising’ experience. We are very excited about these particular guests as one of them is a very close friend, who has earned the title of “uncle” in our family. He lived with us for seven months on Necesse when she was new to us and a complete disaster. He helped rebuild the engine, potty train our oldest, and hangout every evening. His purpose for this visit was to help us move our boat from the DR to Puerto Rico, and he will be staying with us until that trip gets done. But with him, he also brought his wonderful girlfriend whom we are meeting for the first time but is fitting in to our scenerio and family as if she were always a part of this group. 

This is only part of our loot