An Arranged Marriage

We don't really believe in arranged marriages, but we saw something today that made us change our minds. We just couldn't pass this opportunity of a lifetime up. So we are proud to announce that we are seeking an arrangement for Auburn's hand in marriage . Her future husband is a visionary. He is frugal. He is creative. And he is able to think outside the box, which is one of the things we admire most in people. I offer up the following pictures as proof of his obvious bend towards genius. The whole deal:The back of his handiwork:And here is the front. You can see how fascinated Auburn is by this thing. Then again, so is Ace. Or maybe that is fear. Fear and fascination look a lot alike.And here is what let us know that Miss Aubs has a chance to spend eternity in wedded bliss with this prince of peculiarity. You have to click on the picture to read the fine print:Now don't try to outbid us on our offer, because we are willing to toss in Austin as a potential BFF and he is willing to say Git 'r done as many times a day as is necessary. We are quite confident that this along with the boat will seal the deal. Oh wait, boat.

Daryl, can we borrow your boat? I know you haven't bought it yet, but can you hurry up and buy it so we borrow it? We can throw your kids in the deal as dog and chicken caretaker girl and hunting buddy boy. Wait, if we did that then you'd really want the boat. Drat. Need to figure out plan B....quickly.

Living the life in Florida!

Florida Flywheelers

Today we visited the Florida Flywheelers in Ft. Meade, FL. Austin and I went last year with a group from the Peace River campground but this was Nathan and Auburn's first time there. Isn't the sky gorgeous? So what exactly is this unique event? It is lots of neat antiques and cool classic cars:

This was one such a beauty!An entire antique village:A 2 story outhouse-I get the top!A house made out of a Redwood log:

and tons and tons of tractors. Joshua would never want to leave this John Deere heaven!Let's see...what else do they have? There is also music, good food and a whole flea market type swap meet with rows and rows of goodies. Plenty to keep you busy and lots of friendly people to keep you entertained. Very fun!

Wii Scream

I'm trying to work out using the Wii Fit and it is not cooperating in the least. Is it considered a workout if I sit and scream at the thing for fifteen minutes while waving the wii-mote wildly around in the air? If so, then I'm good for the day.

FAQ-What is the Hardest Part of Living This Way?

Another question that we get asked is, What is the hardest part/s of living the way you do?

Initially, the hardest part was just learning a new way of doing everything. So much of our lives has remained the same, but to say it is just like living in a house is far from true.

So what has been hard? For me, it is hard to adjust to not knowing the details about where we will be staying next. It is hard not knowing the roads that will take you there. Are they RV friendly or not? What about once we get there? What's the park going to be like? Will it be easy/hard to get into our site? Will the people be friendly or not? What about the local scene? How can I find the best places to shop, eat and play? Where is the library, post office, hospital and police station? What areas are safe and what areas are not that safe? What will the weather be like?

It's very similar to moving when living in a house, except you do it over and over and over again, sometimes within a matter of days.

Mail delivery and banking is not as easy as when living in a house. You can't always count on your cell phone working. You can't hop in your car and see friends and family in a day to day way (if you used to live near them-and we did).

I think hands down the hardest thing for us has been we don't have high speed internet. That might seem to be a pretty minor thing, but it really is the thing we find the most irritating on a day to day basis.

Cool Car

We really like cool cars. I really like taking pictures of cool cars. We saw this one at the park today:

Highland Hammocks Park

Today our day went something like pickle ball, hanging out at the campground, cleaning the carpets in the RV, playing ping pong, cropping digital pictures, reading and my favorite thing-visiting Highland Hammocks Park. This park is so incredibly awesome. There are trails in the woods that are dry trails and trails through the swamps that you navigate using boardwalks. We visited the Mexican restaurant Tacqueria Merlo in Avon Park again.

We are just living the life!

Superstar Ace and His Stage Mom

I have often wondered what goes into the making of a child star. I hear people say that their children "want" to do it. That they are merely supporting their child's dreams. I admit that at times I'm skeptical. This may be because my children tended to have dreams like I dream of floating on my Mutant Ninja Turtle sled, rather than simply using it in snow, therefore I will flood my basement with three feet of water so I can float atop this item just like I've seen people in tropical climates do in the ocean.

Good times. Good times.

Give me a moment while I find my happy place again.....oh yeah....back to my current story-so I have wondered what makes a child want to be a star? Because while my children were creative, they never once expressed desire to be a *star*. They mostly just focused on being children.

So for these little ones that the parents say this is what they want to do, is this something unique to child stars and why? It is just put in them by their maker? Or do the parents have something to do with this? And I'm not talking about the psycho parents who are clearly trying to live through their children when I ponder this. In those situations, it is quite apparent to me that the child has no choice in the matter. I'm more talking the kind of kids that do indeed light up while performing and treat it as children treat play. Where you can tell they do enjoy it. Did the parents plant that seed or does the child truly just know that this will bring them joy and beg the parents to help?Fast forward to Auburn and Ace. Auburn and Ace have given me some interesting insight into this. I know, hardly scientific given he is a dog but it has similar parallels to child star and stage moms to be sure. Ace has always seemed to perform tricks well from the time he became one of the family. It's hard to say whether he enjoys it because it's hard to tell what Ace likes given his mellow personality. But he really does seem to like showing off his tricks for others.

I can't say if he'd have had this desire on his own by any means because I've never come across a dog that tried to shake on his own. But I do think he would be the type of dog to be looking for attention by being as close as possible to humans all day long if he could choose. I'll never know for sure because Auburn has proven to be the ultimate stage mom with Ace and just dove into the training from day one. She hovers, she pushes, prods, praises, kisses and hugs him with fierce devotion. He doesn't seem to mind at the very least and he adores her at the very most so it seems to be a great combo for the two of them.

I'm pretty sure there are dogs that would be neurotic with the kind of attention and drilling she does with Ace. And I'm pretty sure if he couldn't handle it, she would back off. Because they seem to mesh well with this style of training, he now knows around 30 tricks.

I thought we'd show him off some. Ace standing up tall:

Getting his tail:

Giving her high five:

Playing dead or at least wounded:

And the beginnings of him walking on his hind legs (he can back up doing this):
It's so cool to watch. She hopes to be an animal trainer some day, working with dolphins if she can. I think this is a great way to get some practice in now.


I also have to share that I am so excited that we finally have a grill. Half a year on the road and we just now have purchased this invaluable item, and it's not the one we will eventually buy, but it's a beautiful thing to me because I hate to cook. Any night that we can "grill" means an easy night for me.
We're just living the life here in Florida!

Things I Love about TT

I'm beginning to feel like a Thousand Trails infomerical or something, but I truly do love staying at Thousand Trails resorts more than any of the other campgrounds so far. I've been in a funk shortly after we left the system and haven't really snapped out of it until today. I was so excited when I woke up this morning and realized we were returning today. Our friend Barb once described the one in Peace River like "coming home" and I agree with her. It's comfy and cozy and the people are just wonderful.As I pull in to the resort and am sitting there waiting, someone comes up to the car to wave and let me know that the vegetable guys will be there until five so I still have time to get some and the veggies/fruit looked wonderful today. That's just how the people are so far at TT's. They wave when they see you. They look out for you and update you when you return. Without being overly cheesy, they are like family in that way. And being away from that for a few weeks has me feeling all the more grateful for it now that it's returned to our lives.

It's really packed at the resort now, so places were a bit more limited. We had a somewhat tough time getting in our spot and setting up. We got it done before it was dark though so it was ok in the end.

We went to dinner tonight at a local place, The Pioneer Restaraunt. This place was recommended to us by a couple we met in Pennsylvania. They had different fish specials (catfish, shrimp) and good home cooked sides. Lots of food for a great price! Can't beat that.

Ahhhhhhhhhh! It is really good to be back "home".

Friday Love Letters-What Makes an Artist

I've been doing these Friday love letters for some time now and had the bright idea today that I can blog my letters.

This Friday's question: What makes an artist?I think having children has greatly altered my view on this. Of course, having children has greatly altered my view on everything in my life. I think what makes an artist is being brave enough to act on the passions in your heart and sharing that with the world.

I also think that each of the members of our family are artists in their own ways. We have ways of sharing that through musical instruments, song, words, photography, drawing, crafts, travel and many other ways. Blended together, it makes for a very rich, full life.

I also think part of being an artist is learning to respect what makes you an artist and what makes others an artist.

Gator-a-ma Fun

As promised, we wanted to share the Gator devotion that we've experienced the past few days here:
These people had their truck and their golf cart completely decorated also:

Barkham at Markham Park

Even though I've complained about wanting to get back to TT, there are some really cool things about the park we are currently staying at. There are opportunities for water sports, there is tons of open grassy space and the RC flying field. And there is the dog park-Barkham Park. A pretty deluxe dog park as far as I can tell. This is where Auburn and Ace have lived this past week. I don't personally "get it", but the wonderful thing is that she does and she was able to hang with other people that get it. I love that!

Moving Without Going Anywhere

Do you ever feel like you are just spinning your wheels and not actually going anywhere? Today, I felt complete frustration because we decided to stay in one park instead of splitting it up because packing up and moving takes some work.

Instead, we have stayed at the same park and had to move three times to different sites. So we managed to pack up twice, only to move to another section in the same park. Which means we've now been able to explore loop D, Loop K and Loop G. What fun! Yes, I'm being sarcastic and grumpy because if I go through all of the trouble of a moving day, I like to actually see some benefit from the moving.

Beyond that, we are all grumpy because we are anxious to get out of the state park (which has been lovely) and get back to a TT. We miss the people and the activities there. It's been a good sign that we did the right thing by buying our TT membership!

We've had a strange thing happen at the park today, and that is that the Gator fans are all moving in. I will have to snap some pictures tomorrow and share this with everyone. It's really.....interesting.

Just For Fun-Yearbook Yourself

We had fun playing with this site where you take your picture and add it to templates of yearbook pictures from different time periods.

Austin, looking like he belongs on The Brady Bunch show:

Auburn totally rockin' an 80's 'do:

And because they find it much more hysterical when I make fun of myself, me...looking like...well, me! This could be my wedding photo:

Me looking like my mother:And me looking like my daughter (Ambir):

Marley and Me

Today we spent the day seeing family, one last time before we head back out. It was a long, tiring day and an emotional day and a good day combined together. I took our four to the movies and we saw the movie Marley and Me. Auburn and I had already read the book and the movie was as good as the book in our opinions.

It was kind of ironic to be sitting in a movie theater in Boca and see and hear references to Boca. Needless to say, the audience got a huge kick out of it. We laughed and we cried. What more could you want from a movie?

I was pondering the topic of change driving home, and thought it's pretty easy to tie it into my day today because most of the day I thought of how many things have changed in relationship to our family. Lots of changes have been hard or painful and others have just been the normal ones that occur due to our children growing up. As I sat watching the movie, with the girls on my right side and the boys on my left, I felt content to be sandwiched between them all and hear them chatting and laughing together.

You wonder when they are little if they will still like each other when they get older, and so far mine have. Ambir and Aric were talking about possibly getting an apartment together, which is a good sign that they do still like each other. I hope it always stays that way for their sake. It's a positive change that they are all maturing and can relate in more mature ways with each other too.

We have been so busy since being in this part of Florida, that we joked we need a vacation after it. We aren't used to this pace now and it shows!

Taking Care of Business

Today we drove all the way up to Orlando. This would have been ok with me, except Orlando is one of the places we just came from. So the thought of driving up there and back in one day, when we were just there really irritated me. But we needed to move the last of our stuff from Nathan's office to our storage shed and this was our last free day while here, so we did it. The trip went just fine and we now have all of our earthly possesions, minus what we have in our RV, in one tiny storage unit. Pretty wild.

This is what the moon looked like when we got back to the RV. I have tried to search online to see if this is something rare or special, but can't find anything about it. So if you know anything about, I'd love to hear you share!

I'm Just Living the Life

Today was one of the highlights of our trip down to South Florida because we were able to spend the day with Gabe and Liv. We went bowling with them:Afterwards their family came back to the campground we are at and hung out and ate pizza: Went down to the field to watch the RC planes, jets and helicopters (very cool):Did some playground fun with Papa helping at the swings (Papa loves the playground):And some climbing on a really cool tree with the guys showing the girls up:We had a really fabulous day with them.

Ambir and Santos came down and joined us, so we had lots of family around today. Made our day to say the least.

Two of my favorite quotes from the angels:

Gabe while riding in our truck with us: When I grow up, I'm going to live in a camper too. (Very cool for us to hear that and his Mom and Dad want to do the same when they get old enough to leave home so maybe their whole family will do it)

Liv after climbing up a tree and sitting there grinning like a Cheshire cat: I said, "Whatcha doing Livvy Lou?" She says, "I'm just living the life".

Well, that just sums it up for my new year's life quote I guess.....I'm just living the life!

New Year's Resolutions

Actually, I don't do New Year's resolutions so I guess it isn't technically that. I instead try to pick three words that represent what I hope for in my life over the next year and try to keep that in mind as I move through that year.

This year my words are: Strong, Vibrant and Limber

My Favorite Family memory from 2008:

July 17, 2008: Us, sitting and wondering how on earth we would get everything finished before the next morning. (the night before we sold our house) It was a crazy, crazy night.

Happy New Year

How exciting to write for the first time in 2009! We had a very quiet (read lame) New Year's Eve last night. As I take a few minutes to write this morning, and think of the topic of change it is easy to think of tons to write on this topic, given how drastically our lives have changed since a year ago this same time.

What struck me the most though, is that today is another moving day for us. As I've shared before, I used to hate moving days and now I love them. That is a big deal for me because I've traditionally been a person who hates change of all kinds. I would run from any kind of change when possible at the very worst and drug my heels until there was smoke coming off of them at the very best. I lumped all change together and deemed it "bad". I think I've found that I don't really hate change as much as there are certain types of change in life that are not pleasant for me, others can be quite positive.

For example, we've been spoiled by the kindest, warmest embraces from people since heading out on the road that we've almost forgotten that people can be less than inviting at times. We've forgotten that not everyone moves as this deliciously slow pace that we mostly do now. So it was a change to come back and feel as if we were being squeezed into other people's schedules in a way that was far less than what we'd hoped for. For whatever reasons, it's been a change that they can't just pull up a chair and sit for awhile and catch up on what each of our lives has brought to us since we've last been face to face. We've been allocated time to tag along in their busy lives, rather than given the gift of being given time just to soak up, well....each other. It's felt like a rude slap in the face to be honest, especially when we know it wasn't always this way.

That kind of change I still am not a fan of. That kind of change has brought much sadness and crying to my days, where I haven't experienced much of either for months now. I doubt I'll ever be a fan of that kind of change.

What I am a fan of, is that I can roll a little better with it than I used to. Not the pain part of course. But I can say, the relationship has changed and it isn't what I want it to be, but it is what it is and I can't make them want what I want, and then I can move forward (hopefully).

It's not astounding or amazing in any way that I can now do that. I'm a bit embarrassed that it's taken me so long to be able to do that. But I know it's change that has come through many little decisions that allowed me to grow so I could stop staying stuck in certain areas and learn no matter what goes down in life, we do have a choice to move forward.

It's allowed me to have an outlook that we will visit a lot of places while we travel and some of those places I'll love and some I'll not love and that's ok. I won't have to stay at any of them for too long, so I do get that my investment isn't requiring me to love any of them. But the simple fact that I know this up front and still want to try is a huge change from the place I was at even five years ago. So today, with this new year already unfolding, I am grateful for this change in my life. This "change" ironically being that I can view change itself in a different way than I used to.

May all of you be full of the goodness that every new start in our lives brings-fresh hopes, fresh chances and opportunities to experience the changes that are necessary in order for there to be growth.

Many thanks to those who sat with me while I cried and peace to those that were a part of the story behind the tears. Life is good.

Happy New Year!