Jeff and I set last weekend aside ages ago to go up north and go sailing—even before we had a sailboat of our own, my parents had offered to watch the girls, and we planned to charter a boat out of Traverse City for the weekend.

This ended up being a great chance to get the sails up out on Lake Michigan for the first time (before this, we had only sailed on Lake Muskegon and motored on Lake Michigan).

These photos make it look so calm, but there were definitely moments when I yelped as the boat bobbed across the waves or heeled over in the wind (I’m still getting used to that part). Not to mention the minor injuries—a bumped head (mine), a few bruises and cuts from the lines. But injuries aside, there’s really nothing like sailing across the water with the quiet sound of wind and waves.

We did get a chance to practice our anchoring—we anchored in one of the arms of the channel in Muksegon, and we paddle boarded over to the beach to pick up some takeout from The Deck, a restaurant on the beach (we also learned that they sell sunglasses for $5 after Jeff lost his). It was a bit surreal looking out at the boat anchored there as we shared our plate of nachos. It was like looking out at a decade of hard work—multiple companies, multiple cities, late nights and long trips—all coming together to realize our dream.