What Will We Accomplish Today!?

When I get the kids up some days… I ask them this….

— What are we going to accomplish today? What are we going to get done (together…. as a team)?

Some days my list of “To-Do” — is as simple as #1 – Relax, Breathe, Be Grateful, Laugh

I’m hoping that when they face adversity they can look at it and consider it something positive that has been laid in front of them. Trusting that it will all work out (whatever it may be) and continue to do the right thing (whatever that may be) at the time….

We do a lot of “HAPPY THOUGHTS” here….
We do a lot of praise.
We do a lot of “I’m sorry because I did _______ and Will you forgive me?”

I’m hoping when life knocks them down… they can get back up with a smile on their face and determination in their hearts/souls and keep on trucking with the best during the worst….

I think your attitude has a lot to do with what happens to you in your life.
If you are thrown a whole bunch of horrible things one after another and think woe is me…. then chances are likely you will not see the light that can come out of that experience…
If you look at it as a new challenge or learning opportunity then even in the worst of times you can power through to another day.

Travelling with kids. Travelling at all… Trying something new… Not having a clue about the future…. Putting everything on the line…. hoping for the best…..

No job lined up. No place to live figured out. No real PLAN for the future.. BAHAHAHAAA It’s Hilariously SCARY!

Some may say I’m crazy. I think I just put my trust in something and think no matter what everything will turn out okay in the end (or so I hope).

I know I have today though… and I know today counts… today is what matters.. and the next few weeks… the mornings… that turn into afternoons… which will inevitably become evenings leading into nights…. The sun will rise tomorrow… and to that I am grateful. Today is awesome. I just hope tomorrow is too!

I hope my children can take away some sort of road schooling education from this trip… something worth more than what textbooks can offer them…. A year ago they didn’t know desert, mountains, jet skis, pontoons, boathouses, etc…. But now…. They’ve seen the desert… They KNOW different animals, weather patterns, culture, plants like a cactus (And the girly girl knows it all too well as she had a needle in her rump a few months ago after leaning a little too close to a pretty one)…

They are so young still.. but I hope they learn how to speak their mind.. hope they learn how to face adversity as well as RESPECTFULLY face the education system (educators/administrators) that they are a part of….. I do not know how to INSTILL a desire to learn in them… TO INSTILL the mentality to readily use and take what you can from teachers, mentors, people at the market, or whoever you can (knowledge is so limitless)… Time. Time. Time….

********************* What will YOU accomplish today ?! **************************

RVing with Kids (The human ones)

So the question is —- Am I an adrenaline junkie? Do I enjoy this? The planning is fun…. the stressful moments actually doing it all is not always so much fun. Travel with 3 kids. Driving with 3 kids. Camping with 3 kids. Hiking with 3 kids. Yes. (in hindsight) I loved every single planned/unplanned bit of chaos during the first time around (when we drove from New York to Arizona 11 months ago)…. and so far I love every second of it….. so I must be.

The first time we drove across America….. it was interesting to say the least.  I think NOTHING went as planned other than the route and the destination.  Kids loved seeing new things.  Kids hated sitting in the car for hours on end.  Meeting new people every time we stopped was part of the adventure. Mechanics are incredibly nice to you and talkative when they want your business… 😉 —– The first time we towed a 20 foot travel trailer and it took us almost 2 weeks….    People told me THEN that I was crazy for wanting to go on a long road trip with kids….

Now it’s time to make the trek back across America….  The kids have no concept of time (not REALLY) and can not fathom how long this trip is going to take us….  AGAIN.  I know they’re going to ask me (just as they did on the way to Arizona….) “ARE WE THERE YET?!  HOW MUCH LONGER?”   The second question isn’t possible to answer for them because they don’t understand when I tell them it’s only 25 more hours to drive (which might take a week)…. I will just keep telling them to look on the map and consider how far we’ve gone and how long it took us to get this far already….  maybe they can wrap their heads around the idea of time a little bit more by the time we get back to New York…..

They are excited about the trip again.  They are excited about their “NEW HOME” (temporary home on wheels) and they LOVE their new SPACES inside the motorhome.   They have already helped me put up the map (where we tracked our route last time) and they have spaces for their books, crayons, papers, toys, dolls, blankets, etc….   They make the trip exciting for me… but I know they’re going to lose the thrill of it all fairly quickly……

 

 

 

 

 

Happiness is…… breathing (and traveling)

 

I can not wait to see. do. smell. taste. experience. new things.

Especially MOUNTAINS.  I think mountains will be GOOD.

 

I think STUFF is over-rated.   I like STUFF but I like my TIME better… and I like doing awesome things with my kiddo’s more than I like my STUFF.

Now that I’ve bought an RV —  I am happy.

WHO and WHAT is around the next corner? Who will we meet? What will we get to see next?!

Whatever and whoever is there… I BET it is beautiful…

HAPPY SUMMER of 2014!!!!! Let’s Celebrate!

—- The excitement of adventure and uncertainty.

 

There’s no end to this.  There won’t be a point where I can say I’ve had enough or I do not want to travel anymore…..  I look at others who have seen and done so much more in the world past where I have been and wish that some day I could maybe figure out a way to do that too….

I love my wanderlust. 😀

Ready. Set. Go.

Step 8 – Climbing, Catching, and Finishing Touches ….

Tea Party!!! (Simple things = the best bits of happiness … REALLY)

The kids decided they wanted a tea party… however we had already given away all our MUGS… so we had a solo cup tea party inside the Motorhome….
They had so much fun. It was beyond simple and something they’ll remember forever… they have asked me already if they can have another one… I promised them we would once we got on the road….

Then my oldest has always been a ‘catcher’ of critters… anything… he catches it and shows me… He’s caught so many lizards and crickets it’s not even funny… 🙂 Proud moments I suppose. 🙂

He’s also my CLIMBER… OH MY GOODNESS he’s my climber…. Since he was born and could crawl/walk/climb…. he’s been climbing….
He climbs walls… He puts things together just to climb them…. He climbs trees WAY TOO HIGH and people stop to ask if he needs help to get down… (he doesn’t… he just loves to climb) —- He even climbs vertical light poles (again drawing a crowd because it’s a bit out of the box for most people to see a boy his size scaling something without any struggle)….. he climbs on the playground (on top of it where you’re not supposed to climb)… Well he’s already climbed the motorhome and loves to climb the ladder… I have to constantly watch him because he will indeed get right up on top and say “Hi Mom”… (hasn’t happened yet but I don’t put it past him to TRY)….

Then I had a couple friends help out with a couple different “this doesn’t work” issues… and miracles are wonderful. This motorhome is put together so nice. It’s clean. It’s working well. It’s ready to go…
We are just lingering with a few more finishing touches….. last FEW things…. 🙂
EEEEEEKKKKKK 🙂 🙂

 

STEP 6 — Awning adventure, Strawberries, OUR MAP, and MOVIE NIGHT!

Step 7 — Packed with solar christmas lights and all

We have just about everything packed…. kids are comfortable with the set up… they know what to touch.. what not to touch.. we’ve talked about emergency exits…

The kids even helped me cook on the mini grill.. just for fun… 😀  And per usual… they had to share strawberries too 🙂

Moved sleeping bags 15 times before deciding on a final location…   So funny…..

I’m almost ready to say.. we’re 95% packed
We are… dare I say… we are almost ready…..

🙂

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…

Road Trip – Day 1 Tomorrow

Road Trip (adventure) (camping trip) (never ending journey) here we come.

I hope I get some sleep before the first section of this very long ‘road trip’ adventure beings. Nervous and scared. Excited and anticipating. Ready to see and learn. Ready to experience. I can’t believe the departure night/day has finally arrived. All I can hope for is a trip not plagued with break downs and mishaps ……

WISH US LUCK. SAY A LIL’ SOMETHING FOR US and SEND US SOME GOOD VIBES. DO A HAPPY RAIN DANCE FOR US.

 

*smile*

I live for moments like these…. pictures like this…. where even the picture doesn’t DO the VIEW justice.

How awesome is this life? Happy Days.

Leaving. Emotions. Whoa.

People keep asking me “Are you excited about your trip?” —

How can I answer that question….. My emotions are going haywire and have been for weeks… months… 🙂

I feel excited and thrilled.
I feel nervous and uncertain.
I feel scared and anxious.
I feel joy and gratitude.
I feel hesitant and cautious.
I feel content and blessed.
I feel timid and aware.
I feel hopeful and ready.

 

Nothing is better than seeing new things and having experiences though in my mind…. so the only way this whole trip could be categorized in a higher level…. is if I had a NEWER motor home that ran off earth friendly fuel/solar power and somehow had unlimited funds to do this sort of “fun” figuring it out as we go forever….

Cheers ~