Weather for our departure on 10/30

Hi All,

We use a service called Commander's Weather to get very accurate forcasting information during out trip. They provide service to many racing and cruising boats world wide and greatly improve our safety by making sure that we are not out in the worst conditions. Here is what they have to say about our departure tomorrow:

To: Walid Abuhaidar on SY "Sandwitch"
From: Commanders' Weather Corporation, 603-882-6789
Route: Newport, RI to Bermuda then St. Barts, Venezuela, Panama
Depart: approx 0800edt Thu, October 30, 2008
Prepared: 0915edt Wed, October 29, 2008

Summary…Very rough conditions offshore today will improve significantly by Thursday with a good pattern to head south!

1) The current weather map features a deep gale centered across southern Quebec.
a) Central pressures are around 980mb or 28.95 inches.
2) An occluded frontal system is well east off the coast and headed for Newfoundland.
3) High pressure is well back to the west across the central U.S. with somewhat of a weak ridge axis extending east across northern Florida and passing the northern Bahamas just to the north near 29n and out into the central Atlantic.
4) Rough weather will continue through tonight offshore with strong westerly gales of 25-35 knots gusting into the 40s along with seas up to 12-18 feet!
4) By Thursday the gale will have moved way north up into the Davis Strait and high pressure will be building into the eastern U.S.
5) A weak trough will be off the east coast and this will have clocked winds into the WNW to NW by Thursday morning.
6) There will still be a fresh NW breeze for much of Thursday with the high building into the eastern U.S. compressing the gradient off the east coast.
a) Expect wind speeds in the 15-25 knot range all day Thursday.
7) The high will then build S and SW into the SE U.S. on Friday but with a ridge axis extending ENE from the high center running off the Mid Atlantic coast and up to Nova Scotia.
a) This will lead to decreasing winds with speeds dropping into the low to mid teens and direction
mainly NW to NNW.
8) On Saturday the high pressure ridge axis will have shifted southward kind of moving along with you and will be oriented mainly west to east along 36-35n while another cold front comes SE through New England.
a) This will keep winds on the light side and mainly from the N to NE.
b) Speeds look to be mainly 10 knots or less and this will make for a good Gulf Stream crossing.
9) Light air conditions will continue into early Sunday with the ridge still close by, however this ridge will be weakening and falling apart by late Sunday with a new area of high pressure building into New England.
a) This will be another strong high like the others this past few weeks that have come down from
Canada.
b) Also on Sunday the tail end of that cold front will pass just to your N and NE.
10) Expect this high to start increasing the trades Sunday night and into Monday with speeds coming up to 20-30 knots by Monday PM around Bermuda.
a) Direction will be NE initially and then will clock to more ENE by late Monday.
11) Seas will start out around 5-9 feet on Thursday with a NW swell and some wind wave chop, then will come down significantly by Friday and will be low for crossing the Gulf Stream (around 3-6 feet) and remain low into most of this weekend, then as the trades increase early next week expect seas to begin building again and could reach as high as 8-12 feet next Tuesday.
12) General weather should be mainly quiet with high pressure in control for the most part.
a) However you may see some showers on Sunday with the tail end of that cold front.
13) Please keep us well advised of your progress and check in with us and let us know when you need any updates enroute.


Routing:
1) Recommend coming mainly S out of Newport aiming for around 37 30n/70 15w to enter the Gulf Stream in a favorable location.
a) East of that waypoint you could have foul current and you would also get into foul current from a
warm eddy centered near 39n/69w.
2) Have you exiting the Gulf Stream around 36 40n/69 50w.
3) Once south of the Gulf Stream you can aim directly for Bermuda.
5) Estimated positions listed below.

Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is EDT/EST

Wed, October 29 – offshore Newport
14: 250-270/25-35, gust 40-45
20: 270-290/20-30, gust 35-40
Weather: Variable clouds with a chance of sprinkles
Seas 12-18 feet, W swell and very rough wind wave chop!

Thu, October 30
02: 270-290/20-25
08: 280-300/15-25 approx departure
14: 300-320/18-25
20: 320-340/15-25
Weather: Variably to partly cloudy
Seas decreasing to 5-9 feet, W to NW swell and wind wave chop

Fri, October 31
02: 330-350/15-22
08: 340-360/12-18 near 38 50n/70 35w
14: 340-360/10-18
20: 330-350/10-15 approaching Gulf Stream
Weather: Partly cloudy to fair
Seas down to 3-6 feet, NW swell

Sat, November 1
02: 330-350/ 7-14 on Gulf Stream
08: 330-350/ 7-15 near 36 10n/69 40w, south of Gulf Stream
14: 360-030/ 5-12
20: 020-040/ 5-10
Weather: Fair
Seas 3-6 feet, NW to N swell

Sun, November 2
02: 030-060/ 5-10
07: 050-070/ 5-12 near 33 30n/66 30w
13: 040-060/ 7-15
19: 040-060/12-18 near Bermuda
Weather: Increasing clouds with a chance of showers, possibly a squall
Seas 3-5 feet, N to NE swell

Mon, November 3 – vicinity Bermuda
07: 050-070/18-25
19: 060-080/20-30
Weather: Variable clouds with a chance of scattered squally showers
Seas building to 6-9 feet, increasing NE to ENE swell and wind wave chop

Departure 10/30/08

Hello All,

We are set to depart on Thursday morning. The weather forecast shows a large high pressure system coming over our route following the departure of a nasty low today and Wednesday. As the high settles in we will have following winds to the gulf stream, moderate winds while crossing the stream and favorable winds afterwards. The sea will be somewhat lumpy from the low during our start but will lessen as Thursday continues.

The image is a screen shot of our navigation software and shows quite a lot of information. The red boat is Sandwitch and the red line is our proposed route. The red dot shows the optimal location to cross the Gulf Stream and Bermuda is at the end of the red line. The colors show the sea surface temperature so you can see that warm water is flowing up the coast and into the north Atlantic (the gulf stream). On the left of the image you can see the two Hs. This is the high that we are waiting for. We will update you along the way...

Safety Equipment

Hi All,

As we prepare to leave in the coming days I thought you should all know what we have on board to keep us safe.

• Life Raft: If the boat sinks we can jump into our 4 man life raft (or in this case 1 man and 1 woman). The raft is in a medium sized suit case and inflates via CO2 cartridge. It has a rigid top with a full canopy and it uses water ballast to right itself in case it is flipped by a wave.
• EPIRBS: This stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon and we have three on board. One in our ditch bag, or bag we grab when jumping into the life raft, and both Colleen and I have a small personal one attached to our auto-inflating life vest/harnesses. When in distress we can activate these beacons and they will alert the US authorities to our whereabouts and they will send the appropriate help. If we are near land the Coast Guard will come and if we are in the middle of nowhere they will contact the nearest vessel to divert it's course to help. These devices have saved many lives and we hope to sell them on eBay at the end of our voyage!
• Jacklines: These are long pieces of webbing that stretch the length of the boat starboard and port and we can tether ourselves to them to prevent our falling overboard.
• Life Vests/Harnesses: We each wear an inflatable vest that doubles as a harness to attach to the life lines. These are the latest models and have strobe lights, a cushion to keep one's head above water in case of unconsciousness, and can hold thousands of pounds under pressure.
• Satellite Phones: We have two satellite phones so that we can communicate with local authorities, get medical advice, and generally stay in touch.
• Life Tags: We each wear a small device similar to a watch that sets off an alarm if it goes farther than 30 feet from the receiver, i.e. falling overboard. Once the alarm goes off it places a way point in the GPS and allows the person on board to steer Sandwitch back to that exact spot. These are relatively new devices and make double handed passagemaking much safer.
• MOM8: This stands for Man Overboard Module (no idea what the 8 means) It is a small white box on the stern that can be activated to deploy a life ring, a six foot tall marker, and other items that the person in the water can swim to while awaiting help.
• Lifesling: This is also a small white box on the stern and when used allows the person still on board to retrieve the person in the water. The MOM unit is for the person overboard the the Lifesling if for the rescuer.
• Flares: We have enough flares on board to blow up a large container ship, which is obviously not their intended use. In the even that we need to indicate our location to rescuers we can set off a multitude of different flares to make our whereabouts known.
• Radar Reflectors: We have four reflectors in our rigging that allow ships to see us on their radar. If Colleen and I are below chatting and another boat sees us they can call us up and ask our heading and speed and we can avoid collision. Our boat is not tiny, but clearly on the open ocean it does not win in the law of greater tonnage.
• VHF Radio: We have a normal VHF that can transmit to a range of about 12 miles, allowing us to contact any vessel we see and are curious about. All vessels are required to monitor VHF Channel 16 while under way so it is fairly easy to call them up. Ours is also plugged into our GPS so if we call the Coast Guard they will know our position and heading.
• Radar: At night or during fog we can activate our radar to set off an alarm if another ship gets too close thereby avoiding collision.
• Medical Kit: Thanks to Dr.'s Parker and Harris, Dr. Mike (Colleen's Dad) and the advice of our friend Heik we can extract teeth, perform neurosurgery, and do breast augmentation.
• Repair Equipment: We have on board tools and equipment that will allow us to fix small holes in the hull, repair our engine, water maker, etc. Whether or not we know how to use everything is another question, but, as they say, necessity is the mother of all inventions.
• Bazooka: No explanation necessary...
• Sea Anchor: This basically looks like a large parachute with holes in it. In adverse conditions we would deploy this from the bow and go below and drink tea. It works just like a normal anchor by keeping our bow into the waves and allowing the boat to weather the storm. During its deployment we would only make minor leeway.
• Good navigation equipment and weather reporting: As they say the best medicine is preventative. If we don't hit a reef or run into a storm the likely hood of having to use the stuff above becomes much less. And as you can tell from our long wait up here in the cold we are not in a hurry to get ourselves into trouble.
• Redundancy: Almost everything on board is redundant. We have 5 GPS's, two which are hard wired to the boat, three boats (Sandwitch, the dingy and the life raft), two sources of propulsion (the motor and the sails), all lines are pre-rigged with spares, two computers identically set up, two sources of charts, two phones, two battery banks, two alternators, two solar panels, three water tanks, foot pumps for the water tanks in case the electrical system goes down, and on and on...
• Common Sense: Lastly, we strongly believe that a good dose of common sense and awareness will keep us out of trouble.

Our greatest worries, as many of you may be surprised to find out, do not come from the sea itself. Wind and waves are unlikely to sink Sandwitch and we are unlikely to be in too bad conditions. They may tear sails and cause some damage but that is preventable with good seamanship and preparation. Our biggest worry is falling overboard. We have very strict rules aboard regarding being tethered, wearing life vests, and not going forward without supervision from the other. The next biggest worry is collision with a sunken object or whale. There is nothing we can do to prevent this and the likely hood is low so keep your fingers crossed. Our boat is well built and should be able to handle a collision without sinking too fast (and we always have our life raft). We also worry about collisions with other ships, but as technology gets better and better this is less of a worry. We also keep a good watch which is the best prevention. Another fear is that the engine dies while we are near a leeward reef. This would mean that we could possibly be pushed onto the reef. This is not so much of a life threatening situation as a potentially disastrous situation for the boat. Thank God for insurance!!! Pirates are no worry as we have a bazooka. All in all, I believe that we have done everything possible to ensure our safety and must rely on a little luck for the rest. Of course luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!

Till the next time...

Hi Everyone!



Sorry to have been out of touch for a while. Without a set departure date in sight we took a final trip upstate to visit our families, and had a fabulous one night extravaganza at the Clarkes house on Friday night.



It is Monday night and as some of you may know we are still in Newport. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a Wednesday or Thursday departure.



We have been really lucky to have the excitement of so many people who are following our trip. Our parents are all really excited for us. Of course, as parents they have their concerns but if they didn't we don't think they would be normal! Michelle, Lisa, Allyson, and Ramzi (our siblings) have also been really great, supportive, and excited. At times I think they have been very helpful in calming our parents nerves as well! Our friends have been really excited as well and we are keeping our fingers crossed that everyone will come visit us at some point. We haven't even left yet and are excited to talk to anyone besides each other!! (Just kidding-but I'm sure it won't be that long.)



We've managed to keep the peace on the boat the past few days but are looking forward to sailing off. We are a bit antsy which I'm sure you can imagine.



We hope you are all well and will be in touch soon with updates.



Have a great work week!!

How Sandwitch Works

It is Monday morning October 27 and we are still here in Newport waiting for the weather to clear. As we have a lot of new gear on board we are unwilling at the moment to push it too much untill everything is tested. I thought that this might be an appropriate time to give a rundown on what we did to the boat to get it ready for extended cruising.

One of the most important things for us is renewable energy. We are going to be in places where we can't find good diesel, wont have access to a dock and will not be able to find high end mechanics to help if things get too complicated. The only two steady sources for renewable energy come from solar and wind power so we installed one wind generator and two solar panels on the Sandwitch's stern. Sandwitch did not readily have a place to install this items so we bolted in a large stainless steel frame that doubles as a lift for our dingy. The top portion of the frame, or arch, houses, from port to starboard, a wind gernerator, a solar panel, two GPS antenas, another solar panel, and a KVH Satelite phone dome. The dingy hangs bellow on two block and tackle pulleys.

Now that we have a convenient way to make energy from nature we need a good way to store it. We expanded our battery bank so that it now has 1150 amp hours of capacity. While we are underway using a normal amount of electricity we can last over 48 hours without charging. Last Friday we went sailing in 15kts of breeze with all the electronics on and the autopilot driving and we were able to actually produce more energy than we were using.

Batteries are very reliable, especially if they are well monitored, so we installed a Mastervolt 2000 watt inverter/charger/monitor. This allows us to see how much charge is being produced, how much energy is being consumed and how much power we have left. It also changes 12 volt DC into 120 volt AC so we can run our microwave, blender, and other normal household appliances.

We opted against a gernerator because it's only use would be to run our Air Conditioning and we knew that if we had it we would use it thereby consuming a ton more fuel.

In the same vain of trying to consume less electrcity we installed LED lights inside Sandwitch and also for all the running and navigation lights. Regular halogens use ten times as much electricity as LEDs therefore we now can enjoy our lights much longer without worrying about too much consumption.

As we are planning on travelling to very remote places where there may not be reliable sources of water we also installed a Spectra watermaker. This amazing device uses reverse osmosis to create perfectly drinkable water from normal seawater. Also, it runs on 12 volt dc which means that we can run it off of either our battery bank or our alternator.

Stand by for another blog about all the safety equipment we have on board and how we navigate from place to place...

Update #2:

Due to hurricanes and tropical storms we are pushing our departure to Sunday.  We will keep you posted!   We hope you are having a great start to the work week.  

Update:  

After talking to commander weather it is looking like we are going to wait out a nasty weather system until possibly Wednesday.  

Stay tuned!!

The weather has decided for us that we are leaving tomorrow.  This afternoon we are reading, going to a matinee, and avoiding the 20 foot seas.  We hope that you all are great and enjoying your weekend. 

Newport to Bermuda

Hi All,

We are departing tomorrow... below you will find what the weather forcasters say...

To: Walid Abuhaidar on SY "Sandwitch"
From: Commanders' Weather Corporation, 603-882-6789
Route: Newport, RI to Bermuda
Depart: approx 2000edt Sun, October 19, 2008
Prepared: 1030edt Sat, October 18, 2008

Summary…

1) The current weather map features large and strong high pressure ridging from southeast Canada southwestward to the southern Plain States.
2) Low pressure is organizing just east of Cape Hatteras heading ENE.
3) A weak and broad high pressure ridge is located to the south of the developing low covering much of the western Atlantic.
4) The low offshore will continue to intensify into Sunday, but it will not become a particularly strong system.
5) The main factor for the developing rough conditions will be the strong high to the west which will continue pushing eastward while the offshore low does not move very fast and this will set up a strong pressure gradient.
a) Already right now winds are NE at 20-30 knots not too far off the coast of southern New England.
6) By Sunday morning, 30-40 knot NE gales will not be too far offshore.
7) By late Sunday when you depart, the low will be centered about 300 miles SE of Newport and pulling away with the high pressure ridge just inland of the coast.
8) Winds will be NE building to 15-25 knots as you head out Sunday evening.
9) These wind speeds will continue for all of Sunday night and into the predawn hours on Monday while winds back from the NE to the N as the low pulls further away to the east.
10) Conditions will continue to settle down on Monday as the low continues to move away and high pressure builds off the New England coast by late in the day.
a) Look for winds to back into the NNW and decrease into the teens Monday PM.
11) The ridge of high pressure will rotate over you Monday night with winds backing to the W and WSW and becoming fairly light for a time.
12) By Tuesday morning the ridge will be to the south near 35n oriented more west to east and this will bring you westerly winds for much of Tuesday.
a) Speeds look to be mainly in the 10-20 knot range.
b) So this looks like good wind directions for crossing the Gulf Stream.
13) Meanwhile, another strong cold front will be coming through New England on Tuesday and this will approach you on Wednesday with winds clocking from the W into the NW and freshening behind the front.
a) Speeds look to be around 15-25 knots behind it.
14) Another big and cold high pressure system will be building across southeast Canada and looks to ridge SE toward Bermuda into Thursday so winds should clock your winds into the N and then NE.
15) Seas are going to be quite large to start your trip building to 9-13 feet Sunday night, then up to 10-15 feet on Monday with large NE swell and some wind wave chop, then by Tuesday it will be mainly just leftover swell around 8-12 feet on the Gulf Stream and this swell will continue to gradually decrease into Wednesday and Thursday.
16) General weather will be mostly cloudy Sunday night with a chance of showers then decreasing clouds on Monday with fair weather early Tuesday, then a chance of showers later Tuesday into early Wednesday ahead of the approaching cold front.
17) Please keep us advised of your progress and recommend giving us a call sometime tomorrow before you leave to make sure there are no big changes to the forecast.

Routing:
1) You will not want to take a rhumb line to Bermuda as this would take you through a large meander with current coming from the S to SE.
2) Recommend aiming for 37 20n/70w coming out of Newport which is about where you can expect to enter the Gulf Stream, then once at that point aim directly for Bermuda which will have you coming out of the Gulf Stream around 36 40n/69 15w.
3) Estimated positions listed below.

Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is EDT

Sun, October 19
08: 020-040/15-25
14: 030-050/15-25
20: 020-040/15-25 approx departure
Weather: Mostly cloudy, chance of a few showers offshore in the evening
Seas building to 9-13 feet, large NE swell and wind wave chop

Mon, October 20 – winds stronger to the E and lighter to the W
02: 360-020/18-25
08: 350-010/15-22 near 40n/70 50w
14: 340-360/12-20
20: 340-360/10-18
Weather: Decreasing cloudiness
Seas 10-15 feet, large NE swell and choppy early, but chop will decrease PM

Tue, October 21
02: 300-320/ 7-14
08: 260-280/10-16 near 37 20n/70w, entering Gulf Stream
14: 240-260/12-20 near 36 40n/69 15w, exiting Gulf Stream
20: 250-270/12-20
Weather: Fair early, then partly to variably cloudy with a chance of PM showers and possibly a brief squall
Seas 8-12 feet, highest on the Gulf Stream with NE to N swell

Wed, October 22
08: 270-290/15-22 near 35n/67 35w
20: 320-340/15-25
Weather: Mostly to variably cloudy with scattered showers and possibly a squall earlySeas 6-10 feet, continued N swell and some wind wave chop especially late

Thu, October 23
08: 340-360/15-22 approaching Bermuda
20: 010-030/12-20 Bermuda
Weather: Variably to partly cloudy
Seas 6-9 feet, N swell

As we watch the weather we have decided to push our departure to Sunday afternoon as the low front in the gulf stream is moving slower than we initially had anticipated.

This afternoon we are picking up our foldable bicycles (which we had serviced), filling our prescriptions (an entire years worth!), and filling up our propane tanks at Agway (so we can have enough to cook our way to Bermuda).

Tomorrow we are doing a final stop at Clements (our new favorite grocery store) and then are off to sell our car back to the dealership.

As we have been preparing and getting ready to take off the past few days in the boat yard we realized how much we are going to miss everyone from NEB! We are going to miss Bob Sharkeys reports on how fast he runs, Young Bobs reports on his engagement, Tony's morning wake up visits (when he isn't dropping our pumpkins in the water),  Sue from the office, the visits from Buzz and Phip, our visits to Andrew, Bill and Nathan at the Ship Store, and Matt, Scott, Jackie, and everyone else from the Melville Grille.  After some careful consideration of all the great things NEB has to offer (people, services, etc.) we have decided that we will miss the spinach and artichoke dip most of all.

Happy birthday to our great friend Rachel! 

Lots of love and happy birthday wishes. 

oxox

Colleen and Walid

Happy birthday wishes to our cousins Michelle and Mike.  Mike-we're sorry, we don't have a picture of you!

Other blogs...

If you have a chance to check out the other blogs we are following we have linked them on the right hand side of our blog.  My sister Michelle has a blog about peace and justice which she has been working on, and our friend Max has put together a site together in effort to raise money for his trip to Everest in 2010 along with breast cancer.  

Only a few days to go...

We have been hard at work preparing all week.  After a phone call this morning with commander weather we have learned that we should be able to take off Saturday morning.  By leaving Saturday morning we should be able to avoid a low pressure system in the gulf stream and at the same time miss a hurricane that is coming from the south. 

We have stocked up with enough groceries and canned goods to last us at least a year.  Every nook and cranny of our boat is filled with food, spices, tabasco, and Chanel liquid black eyeliner.  

Happy Columbus Day!

We apologize for our slow update since our engine failed us.  Monday morning after the incident a mechanic was on our boat first thing and we were back in action within the hour.  Simply a small screw wasn't on tight enough after the tune up.  

Since our last blog we've been in NYC for a few final Doctors visits, goodbyes to our friends, and upstate New York saying goodbye to our families.  

Saturday afternoon we returned to the boat to finalize the preparations for our first leg of the adventure.  Since then we have been working non-stop.  Today we had a bit of a forced rest thanks to Columbus Day,  however, tomorrow we will pick up in full swing. 

You will now find the latest addition to our blog-the iBoat track at the top right hand corner of the page.  Once we leave our position and speed will be updated every 4 hours so you can follow our adventure.  

Happy Columbus Day! (and Canadian Thanksgiving)

Happy anniversary to the Palladinos!!!

Happy 1 year anniversary to Chesiree and George!!

1st day off the dock...

This morning we woke up to a gorgeous sunny day with a great breeze.  Our boat has been back in the water for a few weeks now, but as of this morning, had yet to leave the dock.  We decided that today would be the perfect day for a test sail.  At 9:30 we were on our way out of the marina, and by 11 we were cruising 8 knots under the Newport Bridge.  Not long after the wind died down.  We mutually assessed the situation and together decided to head back.  

At this point we were very hungry and both looking forward to the fajitas we would enjoy upon our return.  45 minutes to fajita time and the wind completely died.  (Luckily for us we also enjoy less Eco-friendly forms of energy.)  So we fired up the motor and pummelled onward to our fajitas.  

30 minutes to fajita time and our conversation was interrupted by a high pitched alarm. We shut down our newly tuned engine and investigated the situation to find that our engine was smoking and coolant had spilled out.  We called our boat yard and we were told help was on the way.  In the mean time we put our sails up to avoid drifting into land.  After not too long we were rescued and safely returned to our slip at New England Boatworks to enjoy our fajitas.   Now, Saturday afternoon, with a great weekend forecast, we are stuck on our slip awaiting the fate of our engine which will be determined first thing Monday morning...but at least we got our fajitas!

Preparations

As you all know we have busy bees getting ready for our November 1st departure date. Now the boat is ready (and we think we are too!) we want you to fill you in on some of the other things we have done in preparing:

-Visa requirements/entry to other countries by private vessel-this website was great and the staff is very friendly and helpful. http://www.traveldocs.com.
-Vaccinations-administered at the Cornell Medical Centers International Health Care Service on the upper east side of Manhattan. We were given vaccinations for: yellow fever, polio, tetanus, Influenza, and Hepatitis A. We were given 4 pills, to be taken every other day for typhoid and have pills for malaria as well. Choosing the malaria vaccination was difficult-we had 3 options. Option 1 is known to be very affective, however, causes nightmares. Option 2 is also known to be very affective but will counteract the birth control pill. Option 3 wasn't really an option because a side effect is extreme sensitivity to sunlight. Please keep reading out blog to find out what we decided on. Additionally recommended was the rabies vaccination and encephalitis, however, due to a shortage they are not being administered unless the individual is infected-they were not available for preventative at this time.
-We had to be sure to stock up on all of our medications for at least a year. We found it is very easy to get a years worth of prescriptions and pharmacies were very cooperative, however, our insurance company was not. Our insurance will only cover the first refill of a 12 refill prescription if purchases all at once.
-Eyes and teeth-Walids eye doctor in New York, Dr. Harris, has been kind enough to put together an eye kit-in the event of any injuries or infections when we are out to see and can not be immediately treated. My Dad, the worlds best dentist, has put together a kit for us so we stay cavity free! The kit included fluoride, special mouth wash, floss, and a few real dental tools (which I am not disclosing because I don't want to make you too jealous.) Next week he will also be giving us a lesson in suture-so we can sew each other up.
-General health care-we are preparing our own first aid kit with the help of our physician which will include antibiotics and painkillers. Our first aid kit will include treatments for jock itch and other foul maladies. (also Tylenol, antiseptic cream, band aids, etc.)

We hope you are all of fantastic and will be in touch soon.

oxox

Colleen and Walid