Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Welcome back viewers.

Welcome back followers! We have been procrastinating on posting lately, as you may know. I am currently going to fill you in on what we've done/where we've been in the past few weeks. Wish me luck.

Devin's Storybook Session no.1

On Wednesday March 13, I left my family to travel with the Ethridges for a few days. This is a few of the awesome people we left in Clermont FL. 


And we were off. It was nice to travel in a Class C RV instead of the back seat of our truck. These were my traveling partners, Dominic and MooMoo.


Our first stop was at a park in Ocala FL, we stayed there for two days. It had a very inviting swimming hole.


On the second day we decided to do a little browsing around the area. First we visited The Most Unique McDonald's in the World.


.
They had their own 2 lane bowling alley.


Then we went around the corner to one of the nine best shops ever.


No, I was not referring to this place.


I was referring to this place.


Although I have to say Bass Pro Shops has some amazing fudge...


 they don't have Hula Dancing Dashboard Monkeys. Ron Jon wins.


That night we returned to the Ethridges' RV and had some delicious spaghetti prepared by Mrs. Ethridge. After dinner we rented "Here Comes the Boom" and picked up some ice cream. Because RVs don't have large refrigerators or freezers, we had to eat the whole gallon.


That next morning we all woke up early, ate some breakfast burritos (as shown above), and took off for Pensacola!


The drive was nice. We saw a nine foot cow, watched "The Sixth Sense", persuaded some truckers to honk for us, and I almost fell asleep up above the drivers seat on the loft-bed.


We ended up meeting up with my family in Tallahassee. After stretching and walking around a bit, we all got back in our vehicles. This time Avery rode with the Ethridges, and Stas and I rode in our truck.


Stas and I watched "Cast Away".


That night we stayed together at a Walmart in Pensacola. Avery slept at their house, and Stas spent the night at ours. Ever brushed your teeth at a Walmart before?


That next morning we took off and made it to the Naval Air Station of Pensacola. Really neat place.


This was a patch for one of the bomber squadrons :)


At noon we all left Pensacola for Henderson, Louisiana. Sergei took Avery's spot in our truck, and Ave went with the Ethridges. It was about a 6 hour drive.


Because we had so much time on our hands, and we had already driven that road before, Sergei and I decided to have a movie-extravaganza. We ended up watching 10,000 B.C., Tremors (above), and A Knight's Tale. 


We went through an underwater tunnel! While watching A Knight's Tale..


We arrived at Cajun Palms RV Resort in Henderson, Louisiana at around 6-7:00 pm. Its crazy how exhausted people can get from just sitting in a car for long periods of time. There were ALOT of partying 40+ year-olds  cruising around blasting music from their golf carts at this park. Luckily we were tired enough it didn't bother our sleeping.


GOOD MORNING AMERICA. We left Cajun Palms early in the morning for our longest drive yet: all the way to Lake Medina,TX.


Each family was in their own vehicle. This was us passing the Chaos Nest.. Sergei in the window.


We momentarily broke off from our caravan with the Ethridges to go eat our lunch at a nice park in Houston.


Chillin.. Listened to Pandora, ate, watched Hulk, stared out the window, listened to sermons..  


HOUS-TOOOOHHN!


Near the end of our 9.5 hour drive, Sergei and Ave swapped vehicles. We buckled Farley in. I'm sure Farley loved it.


Near the end of the day we finally made it to the Thousand Trails of Lake Medina!! The plan was to stay here a week.


Then my mom saw all of the deer... and it was allll over. 


Mom is somewhat terrified of ticks, and I guess deer carry them.. and there were a lot of deer.. so we ended up staying only one night ;) The Ethridges stayed for two days.


Before we left that morning I figured I would go take a look at the lake. There were cows grazing in it.


Our one-night stop in Kerrville, TX at Buckhorn (aka Buttcorn) RV Resort. It was one of our favorite places so far, unfortunately we only stayed there one night.


This barn was awesome. It had a movie theater, a performance theater, and a social-room. Behind was a huge BBQ area. Off to the side it had a library/wifi room. Dad worked there the day we were there. 


We were not expecting freezing weather!! It dropped below freezing that night and was 26 degrees in the morning. Haha we were all suprised after being in the heat for so long.. It was a nice change though.


Ave caught a catfish! There was a pond at the park so Avery wanted to do nothing other than fish :)


On the road again! We left Kerrville for Fort Stockton TX to meet back up with the Ethridges. About a 4.5 hour drive. 


WELCOME to FORT STOCKTON. Supposedly this is the largest statue of a roadrunner in the U.S.A.


This is where we stayed for the night. My mom called it 'very podunk'. The park consisted of a bathhouse (house to the right), wash room (to the left), and dirt. We talked with the Ethridges a little that night.


Although it was 'podunk', we were blessed with a beautiful sunset/moonrise.


Once again, that next day we were on the road. Destination: Las Cruces, New Mexico. 


Desert. With one s. Summary of our drive.


Las Cruces, New Mexico! This park was located at the backside of a hotel, so we used the hotel's amenities. The "shower room" was creepy at night.


The next morning the Ethridges left. That was the last time we will see them for awhile so we had to take a picture. Hoping to meet back up with them soon :) 


Later on in the day we took off to Tucson AZ. Dad had to stop to work, so we stopped at this souvenir/fudge/firework shop. Mom bought some fudge for all of us, Dad worked in the trailer, and I bought a poncho.

 
They spelled it wrong.


Farley thanked Dad for driving us around so much and let him know that he loves him and he likes rides and that he is his favorite ever.


After a long week of driving and sitting (2,020 miles) we arrived at Voyager RV Resort in Tucson, Arizona!! We had been at Voyager for Thanksgiving and so we were thankful for a familiar place. We were all very tired. Especially Dad. He was pooped. We stayed at Voyager for a much needed week of no traveling. 

Well, that was our Crazy Week of Travel! Kind of a long post. Oh well.


~THE END~


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

New way of life

It has been 8 months since moving out of our house and into our trailer.  Honestly if you were to tell me we would be living full time in a trailer with our 13 and 15 year old boys traveling the United States a year ago I would of laughed.  When we set off for this adventure, we did it with the thought that if things just didn't work out we would return home asap.  In the back of my mind it just seemed like too big of a change, that living in a trailer in such close quarters and leaving everything that was routine and familiar could be a catastrophe.  Although living in a smaller space with 3 males has been a challenge at times, surprisingly the change of our new way of living has been refreshing and has brought new beginnings and closeness to our family.

We have met some really nice families over the last couple weeks, and its been a joy to hear their stories and get to know them.  A couple of these families have 10-12 children and its been so neat to watch how they live full time on the road, helping out, pitching in and all enjoy traveling together.  It has brought new perspectives to both Rick and I and how we may consider to continue living.  Our boys are just starting to make more connections a couple days before we are set to leave Florida, but hoping we can stay in contact with these families as we all travel on our own ways.

Being able to stay in the sun this winter has been a special treat.  Although we love our home and went through winter withdraws during Christmas time, the benefits of the sun has far outweighed our emotions.  

We are thankful for the experiences we have had through the last 6 months of traveling and thank God for His continued provisions.  We miss our friends and family back home and look forward to seeing them soon!

As for updates: Rick is still working a contract job that we pray will become permanent this June, Avery is working on giving up his sticks and participating in more things, Devin turned 16, and my back and neck are still an issue that I continue to contend with along with a few other health issues.


Time with some friends back in Orlando area

A few cold evenings here in Clermont, Fl.  Tonight it dipped down to 35 degrees, so we had to go and dig out our warm jackets and beanies.

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY TO DEVIN!!! Morning breakfast consisted of bacon and a cinnamon roll!


Took Devin, Avery, Stas, Sergei, out for some time.  Stopped at Lake Louisa, then out to see the 3D Oz.










Boys had fun with the other fulltime family teens playing water volleyball.