Upstate New York – Winter time —

After spending 12 months in the desert…. completely ‘skipping’ winter… I realize how beautiful it is and although we choose the ‘best year’ to miss in upstate New York — (apparently it was pretty rough this year)… I have to say I only missed the beauty of it all.

I did not miss the bitter cold. The ice. The sleet. The rain. The freezing rain. The frozen mud. The hats/gloves/coats/boots/mud/water and salt stains/slush. 🙂

I simply missed the beauty of it all… the WOW of the blue sky behind snow covered hills/trees.
The ice sickles dangling from buildings. Watching water drip drop as it melts wishing for spring to come….

But I greatly DISLIKE the cold. Always have… always will. The views are truly to die for though… they are *sigh* wonderfully made.

STEP 5 — Curtains up, Divider down, Shelves in

As time goes on, I take things out, put them back in… put them over there.. and then over here…

I was going to keep the divider but decided to get rid of it and put up the hand made curtains my Nana made me when we left NY in the other travel trailer….. Kids are getting more used to the motor home. They’re enjoying their spaces and are happy to ‘decorate’ with easy up – easy down stickers….

 

Then there’s the case of the old half bent metal blinds in every window…. they click and clank every time we hit a bump on the road and after telling myself 100x over that I didn’t need to get rid of them and they’d do just fine…. I grabbed the screwdriver and they all came out in 20 minutes.  PHEW *  sooooo GLAD I did that… and although I do not have a sewing machine or proper curtains … I do have bright orange fabric to make it look bright and happy.  I do have planets fabric and flowers fabric to ‘make’ curtains quickly just to make it look more “home” like…  This is going to be where we spend the majority of our time for the next few months…. so it might as well be what we want…. 🙂

I had someone offer to help and I was grateful…. so I asked for shelves…. PERFECT shelves were made and they look GREAT! Helps me keep things separated and more organized (I think).  Little things mean so much when you’re temporarily living in such a small home on wheels.

The propane confusion was wonderfully explained & it all works great…. The TV’s got mounted … and it’s ALMOST ready to be lived in….   Have to check out the running lights and the AC still…

STEP 4 — Playing….. Rearranging… Still Packing….

When the kids go INSIDE the RV.. they want to PLAY… while I am trying to clean, plan, rearrange, and figure out where we’re putting things, how I’m organizing the cabinets… etc… they want to just go play up on my bed (above the cab) and check out their beds….
I love it.
They love it.
It’s happening and I am blessed.
Wishing for good things and a happy safe summer….
🙂

Last year when we made this trip (opposite direction, different route) —- I learned SO QUICKLY what I wished I had… and what I wished I hadn’t brought…..

This year I assume I will again learn beyond my own understanding (during and after the trip)

But basically I didn’t have enough FLASHLIGHTS — 3 kids — in an RV — I need MEGA amounts of cheap flashlights for them to “play” with and have to help them feel comfortable….

And second… I need to get myself a good LANTERN…. Something that SITS on the table while I do the Mom duties (whatever they may be at the time)…. and gives off enough light to make the kids not be scared outside at night…

The little push lights are a given too.. I had those before.. and they were worth every penny… They were super cheap (80 cents a piece) so I got myself about 10 of them to place all over the RV…

STEP 2 — Getting used to the rig… Checking out everything….

3 Happy Hooligans —- Incredibly happy to call this rig their new home….

We went to get our propane tank checked out and the nice gentleman there informed me that the gauge on my tank doesn’t actually WORK in the heat of Arizona… so I have a FULL TANK (blessing in disguise because propane is not cheap)….  He gave me a TON of pointers and offered to help me in any way in order to “get to know” my rig and make sure everything was working right…..  I thanked him for his time… and after chatting with him about our trip to Arizona… then our year in Havasu… and our new adventure ahead of us we were on our way… So off we go.

The motor home is now just a background figment in our lives.  We see it all the time and the kids are excited about naming the rig….  They had been throwing out all sorts of crazy names when they finally settled upon the name of “Stella Luna” based on a book that I read to them all the time… “Stella” for short.

The kids have been helpful at selling things and one day I caught the oldest happy hooligan by the road (he’s not ALLOWED near the road because it’s a busy street) — but there he was when I looked over… with his “FOR SALE” sign (and price tags on his hats because he wanted to help sell things for our trip to New York (bless his heart… he makes me happy). He did pitch his sale to a few people who came to buy other things ($90 for one hat and $100 for the other) but he had no buyers… I tried to suggest that those prices were a little high for the items he was selling but he said the right buyer will pay him.

We’ve just spent a lot of time looking in cabinets, under the hood, under the rig… and trying to sell things that we KNOW for sure we wouldn’t be taking with us on this trip…..

The MAP ——

(Mental side note – insert annoying “I’m the map” song from Dora now)

“I’m the Map.. I’m the map… I’m the MAPPPP” YAYYYYYY (no)

SO here is a Map — OUR MAP

The map that is hanging in our wall…. shows the route we took here (from NY to AZ) 11 months ago.

It shows the stops we took and it tells a story of where the oldest lost his teeth (he lost 3 teeth along that journey).  It explains where we got to watch the 4th of July fireworks after we conveniently broke down in a random town NOT IN THE PLAN.

It shows where we are going to be going and we discuss possible routes (the kids and I).  They are unaware of topography or distance/time when they look at the map but they understand that it took them a VERY LONG TIME to get from NY to AZ so the trip back (which is quite different) will indeed be vastly longer.

 

They see the map every time they walk down the hallway.  It is hanging on the wall just as they walk out of the main bathroom in our house.   They stop and talk about the different states frequently.  They ask about the oceans.  They ask about Alaska (NO… I take that back.. my OLDEST asks about Alaska… for some reason he’s obsessed with it lately — not that it might have something to do with the “Alaska” shows that play on Netflix that we watched on a “movie marathon day” over Christmas vacation) —

 

They had to dress up for “twin day” at school so I threw some matching shirts on them and told them to stand in front of the map.  What it means more to me though is that I have frozen time for a split second *

captured their faces. Their hair styles. Their child-like demeanors.  In a photograph.

WITH the map behind them… which marks clearly half of the adventure that we’ve taken and the other half is yet to be had.

 

I can not wait to add our new “STOPS” on the map along the way and have already found a PERFECT spot in the camper for the map ***** THANK GOODNESS BECAUSE THE MAP IS A CRUCIAL part to this entire thing*****

 

On the way here.. every night.. we would trace our steps along the day… show where we went (or didn’t go – when we broke down and stayed almost in the exact same spot a few days more than we’d like) —- and we put a star on the map. Circled the towns name…. and counted it as another state that we’ve been to.

 

This whole Roadschooling/travelling/summer vacation/have to go back to NY thing is a blessing and I’m so happy to have these three happy hooligans to share the adventure with….. Let the Adventure of 2014 BEGIN —  (not quite ready for DEPARTURE DATE though)

Welcome to SUMMER —-

Welcome to SUMMER — I think of Olaf — and how happy he was to have his own personal flurry… 😉

Then I think of Olaf and how happy he was to daydream about summer……

I love my job (even though I don’t have one figured out for the fall yet). I should re-state that… I loved my job this past year and love that I have the opportunity to STAY AT HOME with the kids.

I’m part time working mom and part time stay at home mom.

I have the best of both worlds RIGHT this moment in life. And I’m willing to go and do whatever is next on the agenda for my life but right now it’s completely uncertain and I’m okay with that….

LOVE SUMMER already….
And although we have a hectic chaotic up in the air type summer ahead of us… I’m still trucking forward with so much positive energy that I know some has to rub off on my 3 happy hooligans…

I appreciate all that there is around us every day.
I enjoy learning and teaching at the same time.
I enjoy watching others learn – more importantly I enjoy watching my own children learn… being there when they discover something new or fun.

I am blessed with laughter. Giggles. Smiles. Hugs. Tears. and just LIFE… “sounds like life to me”

Right now is what we have. This moment. Let’s make it what we can (as I type this as they are all asleep and I’m quickly downing the 2nd cup of coffee before the hectic (and wonderful) day begins)…..

Cheers ~