Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The View From My Front Door

Life on the road is just that - Life on the Road.  

Many aspects of life do not change because we are traveling.  There are meals to be cooked, dishes to be done, vacuuming the small floor space daily, laundry, schooling, baths, clipping toe nails, playing, paying bills, catching up on paperwork.

Our views always change yet other views stay the same.


The big difference is when I walk out my front door I may see this:
Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
Year one - us kayaking


 Or this:
Sometimes it is the view while staying at a relatives home.

Some of the campgrounds have animals for all to enjoy.
Mansfield, Missouri

The mist on Nolin Lake, Kentucky
 Sometimes this:
Fall colors in Honea Path, South Carolina

Enjoying the birds in central Alabama

Alligator filled campgrounds in central Florida.
Withlocochee State Forest
 Other times this:
Some views of the dumpsters and water waste treatment plant make us laugh and
get in a hurry to move to the next campground.

The Spanish Moss hanging in clumps on the trees around a lake in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sometimes all we can see is the next camper over.

Other times we are right next to the beach and enjoying our kayaks.
Key Largo, Florida

The deserts of the southwest are beautiful and vast.
Hawthorne, Nevada

Sometimes we stay at extremely nice campgrounds that even
provide gazebos and three pools!
Nevada Treasures RV Park in Pahrump, NV

Of course, my daughters enjoy being near water, like here
in San Angelo, Texas.
It was hard to chose pictures for this post.  There are so many beautiful places we have been since heading out on the road.  

Our home may be small 

but our back yard is the entire country!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Benefits of Full Time Travel - more time with kids

Ever since the internet got big, I have been receiving heart warming forwards that either make me want to cry, puke, or laugh.  There is always the forward that talks about the person dying in the hospital and wishing they had more time with family.

I am thankful I won't have that problem.  Each day I get to spend hours with my husband and children.  Full time travel has taken our life and magnified it.  We enjoy each other every day.

We don't wait for the one week vacation every year.  There is adventure and excitement around every corner and at every new place we go.

Yet, I feel that everyone can have this life even if not on the road.  Daily we can chose to spend time together and appreciate every day that God has given us.  

I remember my goal being five minutes of undivided attention for each child every day.  It was a moment with them alone to totally focus on them and their needs.  I was with them all day, homeschooling, loving, caring for and doing activities.  Yet, there was something more that I wanted.  I wanted to look in their eyes and show them that I am theirs and care what they have to say.

Now that we don't have as many possessions and activities to do at a house, we have more time to spend together.  Instead of vacuuming for two hours I can vacuum for 15 minutes and spend 1 hr and 45 minutes playing outside with my family.

Instead of mopping the kitchen floor numerous times a week, I can get on the my hands and knees and clean the camper kitchen floor in two minutes.

I have so much more time for my children.  This is time that is more than caring for their needs and teaching them.  I have time to look in their eyes and love them.  I can hold them for half an hour and not feel like it was a huge sacrifice of my time.  They can put on a play or tell me some crazy story and I have no where else I would rather be or need to be.

With so much less "stuff" to tend to, I have so much more to do with my family.
Spending time with the kids is so important to us.
Here we are sledding in the Tusher Mts. of Utah

I am so thankful.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Benefits of Full Time Travel - more time with hubby


Without as many things to tend to, clean, maintain, and sort - my husband and I get to spend more time together than ever before.


Everyday we try to spend time together exercising whether it be a video, hiking, biking, or swimming.


I love to take off with Shae and explore the mountains, deserts, beaches, and forests around us.  We love to be together and explore God's awesome creation.

This is one of the best parts of full time travel

more time with hubby.


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Christmas Clean-Up Should Not Be This Much Fun!

As I was searching through my 80,000+ pictures of our trip today, I came across these fantastic photos of the great fun we had during our first Christmas on the road in
South Florida.

Our Uncle is wild about decorating his home for the holidays and everyone in the entire area benefits.

After he won the community decorating competition he had to take all of the thousands of lights and enormous Christmas balls down.  To wash the balls, he threw them in his pool.  Then, all the kids jumped in and swam among them.

Where else can you do that!






Thanks Uncle Jeremy - You Rock!