It is the final day of 2023 and time again for my annual year in review. This year was once again full of great new adventures, and lots fun with our friends and family.
We rang in the 2023 New Year at our home in Jackson MI, a number of our friends and family joined us, for a night of football, food, and midnight toast! It was a great night!
Shortly into 2023, we found ourselves in the midst of a huge ice storm! It left us without power for 7 days, and sadly, with a bit of damage from large broken tree limbs. Thankfully, our big shade tree survived, and damage to the house was minimal!
February and March meant a couple of trips to our home away from home, Port Clinton, Ohio, for the winter boater’s party and a long weekend for St Patty’s Day and Andy’s birthday! It’s always a great time! We also made a couple of trips to Sandusky to look at our new BOAT! More on that in a moment!
That brings us to April and the start of the boating season! Both of our boats were launched by April 10th, and we spent some time cleaning the Bayliner and get pictures for the broker (who we ended up not needing) so that we could get our first cruiser boat up for sale! Meanwhile, the broker that we were buying our new boat from had the Rinker in the water for final inspections, repairs, and of course our sea trial! The sea trial went great, and we finalized the purchase of our new boat!! While at the Marina in mid-April I found the tragic story of a boater whose sea trial did not go well at all on facebook, and his deal was falling through, a few quick messages back and forth and he was on his way to see our Bayliner! Long story short, by April 22nd, we had brought our Rinker back to our home port, Marina, and we had secured the sale of our Bayliner! It was bittersweet to send her off with her new family, but we were so excited to start to settle into our new boat! The Other Side is a Rinker 342 with a 37 feet overall length and 12 feet wide with twin engines, 2 beds, galley kitchen, and one head with full shower enclosure. She is a beauty!
In May we made our first trip to Put In Bay for the season, an awesome trip to Fort Wayne Indiana to see Kenny Chesney, and celebrated Memorial Day weekend in Port Clinton with our friends Kim and Chad Poe!
June and July meant more boating! We made trips to Huron OH with our yacht club, and Put In Bay. Fourth of July meant family and fireworks on the lake. Eli made his boat dog debut. And the kids joined us to celebrate Brianna’s 21st birthday in Port Clinton!
That brings us to August! August was a very special month. Andy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on August 8th! We took a nice long trip to one of our favorite destinations, Las Vegas! When we got home, our kids and parents threw us a huge party, and a week later, we were off again to Put In Bay, for Bash on the Bay weekend! Where we survived, not one but two major summer storms!
Less than a week after Bash on the Bay, we found ourselves back at Put In Bay for the Labor Day Weekend! This time with our dear friends Amber and Eric Campbell! We had SO much fun! We watched college football, and THE Ohio State Marching Band made an appearance on the island. There were parades, musical performances, and some amazing fireworks! It was probably one of my all-time favorite trips!
The reminder of September and October were pretty relaxing, a few trips to the boat, some time at the yacht club, a brief stay cation for Andy and I meant a trip to Fire Keeper’s Casino, an afternoon at the Skywalk in Hidden Lake Gardens, a day of doing all the best Fall things with Brianna, and a couple of Halloween weekends with our friends Tricia and John in Port Clinton, and all dressed up for Doug and Wendy Stoddard’s party back in Jackson!
The boat was pulled out for storage in early November, and we had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving with John and Arlene Bombalicki and our kids at our home in Jackson. November was a much needed breather after a very busy year!
December included the Yacht Club Holiday Party, and Change of Watch ceremony where I was sworn in as the 2024 Rear Commodore for Lakefront Yacht Club. The following week we hit another MAJOR event when Brianna finished college! She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree from Olivet University. We are so proud of her! She will walk in May in the official graduation ceremony. Andy and I got in the holiday spirit with a trip to Greenfield Villages Holiday Nights, it was magical and so much fun! Christmas with our family was great, and now here we are counting the many blessings from this past year!
The experiences and fun of this past year have been utterly amazing, and it brings me to my final thought for 2023. If you dream of having a certain lifestyle or you want to live a life full of adventure, then DO IT! Life is too short not to be doing what you love the absolute most! We hope you all had an amazing year, too, and we look forward to marching into 2024 with our eyes open to the possibilities of this new year! Follow us here for regular updates, my new Year’s resolution is to post more often in 2024! Cheers to a New Year!
Love~The Bailey’s ❤️
From The Great Lakes To The Great Loop 