Getting Ready to Go!

February 8, 2013

We have been planning this trip forever, years in fact. Justin has always wanted to be a ski bum or live in a van by the river. Of course, I rolled my eyes at him and sent him to work every day. But at night, when we planned for our future, we always talked about traveling with our kids. We want them to experience the diversity of our world at a young age. They are at an age where they are starting to question things around them and form very strong opinions; it is the perfect time to expose them to new places and new cultures.

Malachi is in fifth grade! He is about ready to enter the world of middle school--I have seen that world recently and it is not like the safety of elementary school. I think that this trip will do much to help him mature and handle that big change much more smoothly.  Though, he is not handling the upcoming changes as well as I thought he would.  As he has matured, he has learned how to maintain friendships and he is really going to miss his neighborhood friends.  Our house has been their hangout for a while now and I am not sure they will know where to play once we leave.  They probably won’t even know what to play since Malachi is well, Malachi and usually leads their play.  He is very sad right now but I am confident he will adjust quickly to our new lifestyle.

Kylah’s reaction to our changes has been surprisingly smooth.  She is very excited to leave our home and hit the road.  She has been helping me make pillows, pack bins, and even move our belongings to the storage facility whereas her brother would rather not. She is a hard worker like her Daddy and enjoys staying busy during the day.  She has even taken up cooking and makes about a third of our family meals.  Since being homeschooled, Kylah has not seen or heard from her friends much.  It has been quite surprising since Kylah had lots of friends while in school, but girls are finicky and she learned a great lesson in the definition of friendship.  She has mourned and moved on though, and is usually the only girl outside playing guns.  The way she has matured and become more outspoken since she has been home has been great to see.  She definitely speaks her mind and is not afraid to do so.

Justin and I are excited to get on the road since that is when our “To Do List” will be complete.  It has been very busy for us lately as we have been packing, moving things to storage, and completing any obligatory types of personal business.  This has definitely not been a stress free transition and sleep is hard to come by lately.  With each day, as we see the progress in the house, the trip feels more and more real. 

We have planned the first stop in our trip around the country to be Moab, UT.  Justin will be running a race and I will be watching!  I think it is the perfect place to start since we know the area and it will make our transition go smoothly.  Less than a week to go!

 

Kylah made a toothbrush holder and I made a car pillow!

Kylah's fancy toothbrush holder.

Daisy made pillow making difficult.

She even let Kylah bury her. 

We set the camper up outside the garage so that we could pack and organize.



Clothes for Four

 

 

I added shelf liner on the countertops to protect them from our storage bins.