The Beginning of Our Nomadic Life

I received a call from my brother today.  I always love getting to talk to my brother, as we seem to think the same, and have a lot in common, even though it took us a long time to get there. His reason for calling made me laugh, even though I knew I had been slacking.  He said, "How do I word this so that you really get the message" ..... (Oh crap, what'd I do?!?)  ..... "I cannot live vicariously through you, unless you spill your guts."   Ok, I know I know, I haven't written a blog post since we've been out of our house.  I actually tried once a couple weeks ago, but I felt it was too wordy and never finished and published it.  The more it's been rolling around in my head that I really need to get something out there, the more I made my peace with the fact that I'm a wordy girl.  And if it is requested that I spill my guts, well then, it's just gonna have to be wordy.  So if I bore you, overwhelm you, overshare, etc. I apologize in advance. ;)  Well folks, we are now officially nomads.  :)  Today marks day 30 of our adventure.  Though we haven't actually left our regional area since we left our house, we do feel like we are so far removed from our previous life. We stayed the month at Lake Paradise, outside of Lone Jack, Mo. while I finished up some photography gigs.  Though this park has it's quirks, I've been most pleased with the people we've been getting to know.  We've spent time with other full-timers, weekenders, and even my parents stopped by for a night.  It's really cool to me how many different personalities we've gotten to know already, in just one campground in the middle of nowhere, Missouri.  We've found ourselves getting quite comfy with our surroundings out here.  We'll miss this place, but after a month, we're also ready to move on. (The kids enjoying the last days of summer at the pool with new full-timing friends)

(One day while on a walk with some other full-time friends, I ran into the campground laundry room to make sure our stuff wasn't in the way of another camper.  When I came back outside, I wasn't sure where the kids had run off too.  We figured it out by spotting the sticks and logs the kids set ever so neatly on the ground in front of the game room door.)

The kids are in HEAVEN.  I asked The Boy the other day what he thought about living in the camper full time.  His eyes got real big as he said, "I LOOOOOVE IT!"  They are surprisingly making a lot of friends, and have actually had more face to face time with other kids in the time we've been here than they did all summer in our house.   They are also adjusting well to homeschooling!  I don't know how many people who are reading this have known us for awhile, but this is not our first attempt at homeschooling.  I tried to home school The Boy his pre-k year, and needless to say, it did not go well.  At all.   This year however, he is now in first grade and The Girl is in pre-k.  The Boy has a year of public school under his belt, which he half-enjoyed.  I mean... I think he did enjoy it, but about halfway through the year he started asking to home school.  I do believe it is to my advantage that my more difficult child has some perspective, because I get much less resistance about doing school.  I would also like to believe that I'm quite a bit more "zen" than I was the first time around.  All in all, we are transitioning into our school life quite nicely.  I'm impressed daily on how quickly we get through our work, even if there is some whining involved some days.  The Boy is actually doing his phonics, spelling, and math at double speed.  The Girl is picking up on things pretty fast considering I was concerned with her letter and number recognition over the summer. (Just a little homeschooling outside!)

(Part of our homeschooling hours go toward LifeStyle Skills... I am LOVING that they are able to help us maintain our home now!!)

Our biggest hurdle so far has been getting strong internet up and running.  Not only is our section of the campground in some weird dead zone, but the wifi here is pretty touch and go as well.  It took about two weeks to get our internet situation solid.  (Isn't it interesting that internet is our biggest hurdle and not getting rid of so much and living in such tight quarters?) There are a couple things that take some getting used to.  Scratch that, there are a lot of things that are different than living in a sticks and bricks house, but there are only two things that have been a little more difficult for me to get used to.   1: Having to climb over Aaron to get to my clothes.  Look at this picture.  This is where Aaron works. We don't have a desk in our small space, so he works in our room.  It works great for him because he can close the door if he has a call that he has to talk on, and he's out of the way for our homeschooling at the kitchen table.  But.... see those cabinets behind him?  That's where the majority of my clothes are.  I have to literally climb over him to get my clothes for the day.  You'd think he wouldn't mind that too much (ahem), but it makes it a little difficult when he's trying to type.  It makes it really difficult for me to have to climb over things just to get dressed for the day.  

2:  It hasn't been a HUGE issue yet, but getting used to our small fridge and freezer has also been interesting.  We've been having to buy less, more often, and I often find myself playing a bit of Tetris in the fridge.  

(We may or may not need to defrost our fridge already)

It's interesting how this has changed our outlook on our family. There are things I am noticing about my children that I never had time to notice before.  There are added moments of tenderness that I just never had time for before.  In our house, there was always something to clean, something I needed to get done.... just something... always.  I know that I am wired that way.  To always be busy doing something, but I am working on sitting back and enjoying more.  For instance, a quiet whisper from The Girl the other night.  The two of us were off on our own fishing.  She turned around and looked up at me with her doe-eyes, and whispered, "I love you.  I love you so much.  And I'm never going to un-love you because you are the best Mom ever".  Melt my freaking heart!!  I'm so happy I'm now able to cherish these moments; while my kids still think I'm perfect, and truly appreciate our time together.

Right now, as I sit outside, enjoying the beautiful day, watching my kids throw rocks in the lake as the dogs and the huz watch, I'm so incredibly thankful that we have started this journey.  The kids still have their battles that siblings have, but as a whole, there is a lot more family togetherness.  Life is slower.  More peaceful.  And a million times more enjoyable.  

(The Boy has become the star fisherman.  He has caught more fish than all of us!  He just doesn't want to hold them, lol)

We'll be leaving for St. Louis this weekend.  Though we've been there a couple times before, we're excited to go back and spend a week exploring some more and visiting some sites we know and love.  From there we will start making our way south for the winter! Much Love!  

Exploring Kansas City - The Kansas City Library Central Branch

I admit it.  So far, I've been horrible at updating our adventures.  I know exactly why, and I'm hoping as we hit the road it'll get easier.... We have spent the summer exploring the Kansas City sites.  I figured, while we were waiting for the house to sell, we needed to take advantage of the situation and explore the places I've been wanting to see, but haven't in the four years that we've been living in (near) this beautiful city.  So one day, about a month ago, the kids and I headed downtown to explore the Kansas City Public Library's Central Branch.  

What fun to be a kid!

The building is BEAUTIFUL!!  Now, I didn't take the time to really document the architecture, as I was focused on the kids, but wow.  It really is something to see.  The staff, from the security guards to the librarians, were all so friendly and helpful.  I'll admit, I'm not an inner city girl, and when I walked in and saw all the security, it made me nervous.  I think it was because I didn't expect it, more than anything.  It ended up being a blessing though as we were leaving because I got a creeper vibe from someone walking out..... and then standing.... right behind us, so we hung out by the door for a few minutes since I knew there was security within 20-30 feet of us.  
Anyway, during our visit we took a trip to the children's floor.  The kids spent a little time exploring the computers, and then we sat down for our own private story time.

After we were finished reading, we went up to the roof for some life-sized chess!

Our winner!

While we were touring the library, we also learned about a program granted through Harvester's that provides free lunch for kids through the summer!  Now, I will admit, I felt really guilty letting my kids eat this lunch.  I think it is a fantastic program.  A safe place, in the inner city, filled with books and intrigue, that provides free food for kids!  FABULOUS!!  I felt guilty though because I didn't want my kids to take meals away from those kids who might not have the resources to have lunch every day.  The librarian was excited, my kids were excited, so I went with it.  I made sure we gave back though, because I truly do feel that it is a worthy cause.  If you'd like to donate your time or money to Harvester's, you can follow this link.

If you are interested in visiting this library, here is the link to their website.  If you do go, make sure to tell Clare, the children's librarian, that we sent you!

The New Home

Good morning!! I hope everyone has been enjoying America's Birthday!! We sure have!  We have our new home up and running, and took her out for the holiday weekend!  For those of you that don't know, because I'm bad about writing blogs and instead post random pictures on the Facebook page.... We bought our new home! It's a 2005 ForestRiver Wildcat.  She definitely needed some love, so we've been working tirelessly for the last 3-4 weeks (time is running together at this point so not exactly sure how long) to renovate her to be in usable condition.  These are definitely not professional quality images, because I refuse to take any until she's completely finished.  However, some have been asking for pictures so I whipped my phone out.

Also, we really need to name our new to us rig, but we're having trouble with inspiration.  I was trying to think of a name for something that was once old and yucky and has been given new life... But I got nothin'.  Any ideas are welcome!

The outside will be repainted, but we just aren't there yet.  The awning is new, and I almost broke my hand when we installed it.  (Important note:  hold REALLY tight to vice grips when working on the tension for the canopy.  It HURTS when it spins around and hits your hand a few times!)

There will be a dining table and chairs back there behind the boy, but they haven't arrived yet.

It's a lazy morning around these parts so the kids are watching a movie after playing outside for a bit.

My dutiful husband just did the breakfast dishes... So the kitchen isn't picked up, but you get the idea.  There is a countertop extension that fastens to the left side that I use when cooking.

Aaron will be building a nightstand on that left side.  When it was originally manufactured, it matched the right side, but the last owners had ripped it out and turned the bed sideways.  ...we didn't prefer it that way.

New toilet!!!! You don't know how excited I was about this!  The old one was naaaaaasty.

One thing that we love about this camper is all the cabinetry! This is a great feature for a fulltime-family!

The kids' room.  The boy's bunk and play area is up top and the girl's is layed out in the opposite direction on the bottom.

More fabulous cabinetry!!

So I guess to get the full scoop, here are the pictures from when we first got it.

 If you're still with me, I must say that I'm posting this from my phone, so I apologize for any grammatical/spelling mistakes.

The Sample Camper

Hello All!  I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather!  I know we are!!  We recently decided that since our Saint isn't working in the timely fashion that we would prefer, we would go ahead and make it easier for us to explore a little.  We bought an old pop-up camper for a steal.  It was still structurally sound but was in desperate need of a facelift.  Our son has dubbed it the "Sample Camper".  We've taken it out a couple times now and it works great for the time being.  Here are some before and after photos...

Before:

Old, outdated fabric and wood color = yuck

Old, outdated flooring = yuck

 Droopy, saggy window closures and these weird elastic things that I'm guessing were supposed to hold them in place = yuck

Old hand pump sink = yuck

 More outdated cabinetry, and the stove top which we decided we wouldn't be using inside unless necessary.

Such pretty curtains ..... or not

After: So nice and bright!  Bright new curtains, white cabinetry, matching bedding for both beds!

New faucet!  Aaron installed a water pump connected to our internal tank for the right handle and the left handle turns on the external water when we are hooked up to a water system.

This is a the cabinet under the faucet.  The 5 gallon tank is on the left....

Next to the tank is the water pump and behind it is the battery which powers the pump.  I just realized I didn't take a picture of it, but Aaron also installed a switch on the front of the cabinet to turn on the water pump when we are ready to use it and turn it off when we're done so we aren't wasting any energy.

Look at that beautiful white cabinetry and those gorgeous floors!!!

So in case you weren't aware, pop-ups don't have a ton of storage.  So I picked up a hanging shoe organizer from Target to store some of our food items.  It doesn't hold everything, to say the least, but I can fit kid snacks in there as well as some cooking supplies.

The all important smoke/carbon monoxide detector.  Since doing all of our research for full-time rv-ing, we've discovered how quickly these suckers can burn to ashes.  So, we decided we should equip ourselves with some notification measures.  It works too!  We discovered that this last weekend when I had the windows open and our camp fire was getting pretty smoky from some wet wood.  It's nice and loud, that's for sure!

I re-upholstered the dining cushions and added a table cloth for some added coziness.

I just love how bright and cheery the curtains are!

Both of the beds are full size. We both sleep with a kid and it helps us all fit in there comfortably.  The mattresses are original... which means they are 19 years old.  I couldn't make peace with sleeping on them, but I didn't want to spend the $$ to buy brand new mattresses for a temporary camper.  So I added 1.5" foam mattress toppers and wrapped them in these cool bed bags that protect against moisture, allergens, and bed bugs.  So now it's comfy and I feel that it's safer to sleep on.

More clever storage.  This is our closet.  Again, I purchased this hanging organizer from Target, along with the drawers.  We each take a drawer and the empty space is for swimsuits and our hat supply.  You'd be surprised how many days/nights worth of cloths you can fit in one drawer!  I've been impressed so far!

Since there are limited outlets in our pop-up, Aaron installed a new outlet that can hold usb's too.  Now we have plenty of outlets and can still charge our phones at night!

This is my allergy arsenal. These three things are very important for our family, and they work GREAT in the pop-up.  On the left is our air purifier.  Another Target purchase which cleans allergens, smoke, dust, etc etc out of the air.  In the middle is my essential oils carrying case.  It's filled with oils to help our family with allergies, bug bites, upset stomachs, headaches, sleep issues, bleeding, and on and on and on.  I LOVE essential oils!  On the right is our essential oil diffuser.  At night I put in the oils for allergies, though I've been adding eucalyptus too since it helps with bug repellent and is anti-viral since we've had a little bit of nastiness running through our house.  I wouldn't EVER choose to camp without these three things.

Our pop-up has an ice chest instead of a fridge. We fill it with our food and ice and it stays cold for a long time!  As the ice melts, the water drips out of a hole in the bottom of the camper.  No dumping needed! (Look at those beautiful floors!!!)

Our ice chest, packed to the max!  I was able to fit almost three days worth of food in there.  If it hadn't been for all the beer and other adult drinks I packed, I probably wouldn't have needed the extra cooler.

We decided to put on some new tires.  The old ones still had good tread, but they were five years old and we really didn't want to risk having to deal with a blow out on the side of the road.

Aaron replaced the old jacks, and put in some super stable ones.  This is him grinding off the old ones.  He DID NOT enjoy doing this, but it has made all the difference in the world!!  The camper no longer moves and I don't feel like I've been on a cruise ship anymore after being in there for a while.

One of the four new jacks.  It used to only have two in the back, but now it has two in front and two in back.  SO MUCH BETTER!!! 

We replaced the spare tire cover.  I know it's silly to show, but hey, I was taking pictures of everything we did so why not include that too!

Our grey water system.  The hose drains from the sink, and into these buckets.  I love having running water in the camper!! So much better from when we used to tent camp!

Our cook station!  Grill on left, stove top on right.

The camp all set up this past weekend.  I should add we also cleaned the awning.  It was NASTY!! So nasty in fact that we were going to pitch it.  It rode around in the back of the truck for about a week because we kept forgetting about it.  We were going to just go without, but after a weekend camping without it, we decided we really did want one for when it gets really hot out.  So I decided to buckle down and clean it up rather than buying a new one.  It's pretty amazing what some bleach water can clean up!

Again, it's silly to show, but it's all good.  A sticky level.  A few bucks, but makes it so much easier to get set up.

Camp is set up.  Fire is going.  Pictures taken.  Now time to relax!!  This obviously won't work for the long term with our full-time rv-ing adventure, but it sure works for now!  We LOVE it!!