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 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 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 3 — Packing STUFF in …..

When I stand and look at our house….. and spin around… looking at our new motorhome…. then back again at the house…. I once again have the surmounting feeling of having too much STUFF (how did we collect this much STUFF after coming 3000 miles across the country with hardly anything?!) *answer: almost everything was from donations and the rest of the things were on sale..

I need to fit all their “STUFF” into a teeny tiny space again…..

So basically have spent copious amounts of hours pawing through everything (again) to figure out what we are taking with us and what we will donate or sell back out to try and get some more spending money/gas money for the trip….

I took pictures along the way so I’ll share them as the changes unfold…. (basically I would put something in one spot and then realize NO… I need THAT spot for this other thing…) or I would pack something in and a day later, go and take it out because my gut says “DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT?!” The cabinets were full of the last guy’s stuff (who I bought it from) because he was so kind to leave all his things in it for me to handle (keep and use)…. I took everything out.. thought about what I wanted and what could be given away/sold and then put half of it back in…..

Making sure things don’t fall down/fall over/clink and clank/break/come loose while driving is another part of this adventure…. When I packed the crock pot… I stuck all the extra napkins I have inside it so it would keep the lid from banging…. likewise with my other ceramic dishes….

I have sleeping bags for all of us which have been moved around more times than I can count…… I have extra towels for all of us (and extra kitchen/wipe towels/cloth napkins) for all of us because when they get super dirty I can just toss them along the way and not have to worry about a mounting pile of dirty clothes every single day….. To follow up with that idea I am probably going to “let” the happy hooligans wear all of their FINEST PLAY CLOTHES (stains, holes, etc) and when they get messy this time… INTO THE TRASH they go (they’re not worthy of donating at this point but will serve an EXCELLENT purpose of clothing along a camping road trip across America… 🙂 🙂

I have packed in some of their good clothes too but unless we’re going out to a fancy park/dinner/event….. they’ll stay packed away……………

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…..

STEP 1 – Cleaning the Motorhome……

As soon as we got our new home on wheels home…. the kids wanted to PLAY in it…  The oldest helped me out quite a bit… cleaning…  fixing…. organizing…. unpacking what came with it… packing in what we are taking…..

Suddenly they have a new “FUN PLACE” to go hang out… eat snacks.. lay around… read their books… color pictures…. and have tea parties (more pictures to come)….

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 ~