Search Results for AT (328)

Pros & Cons For Full-Time RV Travel

Ashley Longnecker / September 09, 2014

If you know us, I bet you can guess who's idea it was to make a Pro/Con list. ;)  A couple weeks ago we sat down and just jotted down the first few things that came to mind about the benefits of traveling full-time and the no so awesome parts of traveling full time. These are my thoughts on the list and Jon will be jumping in with his own take  in a later post.

PRO - NO HOUSE PAYMENT - We plan to rent our house for the first year of traveling just to make sure this is what we want to do.  Our house payment is pretty low and so we would be able to profit between $400 - $600 which in turn could be used for our stays at the RV Parks and traveling expenses. There are also many other pros that could be put into this category such as NO HOA FEE, NO YARD WORK, NO LAWN TREATMENT PAYMENT, NO SECURITY SYSTEM PAYMENT, NO RURAL METRO PAYMENT, NO EXTERMINATOR PAYMENT.....That's a huge chunk of money right there.

PRO - LESS CLEANING!!!! This one makes me super happy.  While we both share the work load at the house, it is primarily me who stresses over it all.  We would be going from 2700 sq ft to approximately 150 sq ft.  That makes me super happy! The other pros that go along these lines include less time trying to get the kids to pick up all their crap toys.  Less stuff in general.  Each of the kids will have a tote that they can fit whatever they want to take with them into that one tote, and that will be their toys to bring and play with.  If it doesn't fit in the tote, we can't bring it.

PRO - MORE FAMILY TIME - You may be thinking... "But, you guys are together at your house all the time." While that is true, Jon still works from 9-6 every day...sometimes more, sometimes less but usually he's right there in his office from 9-6.  When we're traveling, I'm sure there will be many more late nights with the kids exploring, our weekends will be for exploring instead of cleaning 2700 sq ft of house.  There will be much more time for family learning time and exploring things together due to the fact that there will be little to clean, no yard work to do on weekends, and no birthday parties to attend.  It will be us, with each other, having adventures and making memories.

PRO - MORE TIME TO CREATE - Jonathan and I want to create with our kids.  We want to inspire them to come up with new ideas and make something they've never made before.  We want them to have the freedom to try new things and to not be afraid to fail.  Having our weekends free of cleaning and yard work and other responsibilities will give us that much more time to create with our kids.

PRO - MORE TIME OUTSIDE - I am going to have to learn to like this.  I do like being outside....if the temperature is right, and there are no bugs flying in my face, and..... I just need to learn to suck it up and get out there.  Another pro that goes along with this is we get to pick our weather!! If we don't want to be blazing hot in the summer, we'll head far north. If we want to be swimming every day we possibly can, we'll head far south.  If we don't want to deal with snow, we'll stay where it's warmer in the south.  Heck, we may even need to head to Mexico...because we can :)

PRO - MEET NEW PEOPLE - While I do have a few friends who I will miss terribly, I am so excited to meet new people.  I'm going to get out of my comfort zone and talk to people I've never met.  I'm going to put myself in a position to get to know people where we are camping.  (this is a big deal for me) I even practiced it this last weekend when we went camping with our family for the first time.  I talked to a family of 6 who had been at the site for several days and turns out, we have a friend in common and they were also from Knoxville!  I can't wait to meet other RoadSchooling families and ask questions and get inspiration and advice from them.  We can share our experiences with people who have the same mindset as we do.  It's hard to find people who think similarly to the way we do...we're weird.

PRO - LEARN SURVIVAL SKILLS - The kids have found a show on Netflix called Man, Woman, Wild and have watched every episode.  They can tell me how to survive in The Amazon, Alaska and Smokey Mountains.  They tell me the rules of the berries they can eat and how to purify water for drinking.  It's pretty cool that they retain so much from that show.  I'd love to get a book on survival skills that we could go through as a family.  They would think that was the coolest school activity ever!

PRO - NO MORE MOVING FURNITURE - Jon likes this one, I can tell you that.  He hates it when I move furniture all the time.  It's much better now than it used to be.  We're pretty limited on where we can moving things downstairs, but the playroom gets rearranged monthly.  When you're in a 5th wheel that's approximately 150sq ft, there isn't many places to put the couch :) Besides, it's bolted down anyway :)

PRO - DEBT FREE!!! - This is huge. The only debt we have right now is our house.  While that is awesome compared to most people our age, we still want to be completely debt free.  We want to pay cash for our rig and either sell the house and be completely debt free, or rent it out and make money off of it to help pay for our stays at the campsites!

CON - LAUNDRY - We will need to go to the laundromat each week which will take a bit of time away from things that we want to be doing, but I'm constantly doing laundry here anyway... I think it may even be easier to take it to the laundromat and get it all done in a few hours (while we can be doing school work waiting on the clothes) on a week day when Jon's working...that way it won't take any family time away.

CON - NO MORE DATES -  Along with no dates, also means no family close by. This one does suck.  We get to go out about once a month or sometimes twice a month right now thanks to Jonathan's awesome parents.  All that ends when we're in another state.  We would never leave our kids with someone we don't know and fully trust.  So, I'm guessing our 'dates' will consist of sitting outside by the fire after the kids go to bed and maybe splitting a cold MexiCoke :) Now, that doesn't sound so bad to me!

CON - LONG WARM SHOWERS - Man, I'm going to miss my shower.  Depending on where we are at, the shower thing may suck big time.  If we stay at a nice park that has showers you better believe I'll be in there wasting all the hot water for free, but when it's just us using the water in our storage tank, navy showers y'all.  Our kids are at an age where they can almost all get showers so that's nice, just Ada is the only one that still needs baths, but maybe by the time we buy our rig and head out, she'll be ready for assisted showers :)

CON - FOOD PREP/STORAGE - Do you even know how many Ball jars I have? Jon already told me I can't take them with me.  Which makes sense.  You don't want to have to worry about all your glass jars getting busted when they're being pulled in a 5th wheel behind our truck and getting jostled around like crazy.  I've listened to a few podcasts about storage in RVs and most people suggest good Ziplock baggies.  They also suggest getting clear boxes for the fridge to put all our items in.  Just imagine what you have in your fridge right now and imagine putting your fridge into the back of your truck and driving along the interstate.  Can you picture the inside of the fridge when you get to your destination? Holy cow... Milk and eggs everywhere and all my broken ball jars!!  Oh, and the food prep area.  I currently have quite a bit of counter space...now divide that into 1/6th! CRAP! That will be something to get used to.

CON - JONATHAN'S WORK - He does work at home now so he's used to us driving him crazy.  We may need to invest in more sound proof headphones for his job.  Hopefully me and the kids will be outside the majority of the day but that won't always be the case. There is always the option of him driving somewhere to work.  There are many places with free WiFi that he can go to and we can stay in the 'house' and get our work done.

CON - MAIL - This was Jonathan's con.  I don't think this is much of a con.  I hate mail.  They only good mail we ever get is checks for Jonathan's business but we can have those sent to a PO Box and pay someone to make deposits for us each week or every few weeks.  That's not that big of a deal to me.

CON - RENTING THE HOUSE - Another one of Jonathan's cons.  I have no doubt that we can get someone to rent our house.  We both know people who have multiple properties that they rent out and I'm sure we could pay them to take care of the details while we're away.

CON - STORAGE OF STUFF - They only things that we'll need to store will be important documents.  I don't plan on keeping anything in our house.  Everything can be replaced. I'm not super attached to anything here... although I do love our couch :)

CON - FAR AWAY FROM OUR CHIROPRACTOR - This one does suck.  We have an awesome Chiropractor that we go to every week.  He's amazing and will be missed when we're gone, but that is another money saver there, too!

CON - CHURCH - We don't really have a church that we consistently go to anymore so this isn't much of a con for me.  I love to do simple church with our family.  There are always churches that we could visit if we wanted to.  Teaching our kids to live out the gospel instead of having the mind set that 'church' is only on Sundays and only in a building is a huge PRO for us.

CON - BIG ADJUSTMENT PERIOD - This will be hard.  I don't for one second think it's going to be all rainbows and sunshine all day from day one.  I know it's going to be hard.  You take 6 people who are used to their own space and shove them in a small trailer where no one has much privacy and expect them all to be happy...that's just not going to happen.  I love our huge house.  I don't love cleaning it but I love that I can be downstairs doing my own thing and the kids playing upstairs in different rooms or the big playroom and me not having to worry about them getting their toys in my way, or them not having to worry about being quiet while I work on something.  It's nice that we all have separate places but that will change.  It will take a long time to adjust to the feeling of us all being right on top of each other all the time.

CON - OUR ADOPTION - I don't even know what to say about this.  This is a whole other blog post in itself.  We just aren't sure what's going on with that right now.  We'll touch on that in another post.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Video

Jonathan Longnecker / August 28, 2014

Guys. We are the biggest ninja turtle nerd family you've ever met. Seriously.

All 4 of my kids love the turtles - and each have chosen their favorite. Jett likes Leonardo the leader, Adali likes Donatello the scientist, Jax likes Michelangelo the fun one, and Ada likes Raph the hothead. It's actually kind of weird how much the turtles parallel our kids. Anyway.

We've watched just about every episode of every season of every incarnation of the Turtles, seen the movies (yes, even the new one!) and we're addicted to the toys.

When Nickelodeon bought the rights to TMNT several years ago I had no idea the Turtles would be back with such a vengeance. But it's pretty awesome to be able to share a love for something you had as a kid with your own kids. Of course, now that the Ninja Turtles are everywhere again, so are the toys.

I'm pretty sure we have every one they've made. We watch toy fairs to see when the next characters are coming out. Guys, we have a problem. To be fair - the Playmates toys are actually really good quality and pretty cheap for what you're getting. They're a good size and lots of fun to play with. Unlike the tiny little super hero toys they make that are nearly twice as expensive and no fun to play with.

I didn't want our kids to have all these toys and just play with them occasionally. I wanted to teach them how to make something awesome with what they have. So naturally we made a Ninja Turtle Video.

We hope you like it! We had a blast making it :)

Wanderlust

Ashley Longnecker / August 27, 2014

It's no secret that I'm a bit of a hippie.  I'm a dread lock wearing,  oil loving, kombucha drinking, Whole30 eating girl that has a desire to minimize and simplify my family's life.

I get rid of toys if my kids haven't touched them in about 6 months.  We only get our kids one or two pairs of pants/shorts and enough shirts to get through most of a  week without doing laundry.  Our kids have a pair of flip flops and a pair of Chucks and that's their shoe options.  We keep things simple.  We make our own laundry soap.  We make art for our home.  We make our own tables.  I cut our kids' hair and Jonathan's hair.  

We try to keep our lives free of clutter and extra activities so we can spend time together as a family.  I highly doubt we will look back at our lives when our kids are old and grown and say, "man, I wish I would have sent them to school/daycare so I could have worked." or "I wish we didn't spend so much time with our kids".  

I see so many people rushing around with their kids trying to get them to every sporting event, and every activity they get invited to, every piano or guitar lesson (or both).  Makes me exhausted just listening to their busy lives.  Which brings me to my next crazy idea (and yes, I have many of them).

I want to travel.  I want to take at least 2 years with my family and travel.  I want to see the US.  I want to travel to lots of beaches and national parks and waterfalls.  I want our kids to experience this country we live in.  I have only seen a handful of the states and I would love to make my way through at least half of them in those 2 years with my family.  I have researched, and researched for quite some time.  

I've listened to podcasts, read blogs, talked to people who have traveled full-time with their families.  If Jonathan told me today that he's ready, I would have a for sale sign in our yard tomorrow and all our items on craigslist tonight.  I would sell it all and go right now.  I have an idea of the route I would want to take and places I want to go first.  I've priced travel trailers and fifth wheels and trucks to pull fifth wheels.  I've researched how to paint the inside of the trailer so it would feel more like home. I've researched healthy cooking over camp fires and how to make some money on the road.  Jonathan can work from anywhere with good internet and I can figure out how to sell some homemade items for extra cash along the way.

I want to go.  I want to meet people with the same interests that we have.  I want to meet people who want to go and experience life with their families in tow.  I don't want to wait until our kids are grown and gone.  I want to see the world through their eyes and learn with them. I want to see their faces when they see Niagra Falls, and NYC and I want to be there with them when they see the giant Red Woods.

I want to be there when Jonathan lets them start their first fire or teaches them how use a compass.  I want to be there when he teaches them to play the guitar.  I want to listen to them sing a song they made up around a camp fire.  I want to watch the movies that they will make when we're on the road and listen to the stories they write about their experiences.  I want to live life with them and I want to make every day a family adventure.

I'm ready to go, are you, Jonathan?  

FIVE!

Ashley Longnecker / August 25, 2014

Guys! We only have 5 more days on our first Whole30 journey.  I can't even believe it.  If you don't count the few times I ran to my room crying at the smell of fresh pizza, cookies, and biscuits, and waffles... then I'd say we've done really well.

Eating clean is hard when you have picky kids.  On one hand I want them to be super healthy and conscious of what they eat, but on the other hand I don't want them to stress out over if they have had one too many bananas in the day, or if they should eat a chocolate chip cookie because they have already eaten a granola bar that day.  I want them to be kids.  I want them to play.  I want them to be carefree and enjoy their childhood.

In the meantime I can be a good example and teach them how to cook a healthier version of spaghetti, or a healthier version of chocolate chip cookies. They'll learn by what we do, not by what we preach at them.  

Be a good example for your kids today.  Choose an apple over that banana muffin, but do it with a smile. Then go outside and beat them in a good game of kickball!

Whole30: Nobody's Perfect

Jonathan Longnecker / August 19, 2014

You know, a lot of times we see people going on and on about their perfect diet and their perfect lives with their perfectly photographed food and - well - it's easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed. I know we do. You're probably imagining them living in some perfectly designed Martha Stewart kitchen where every dish turns out flawlessly and they've adhered exactly to every specification of what they're allowed to eat. Just to be clear - that's not us. We're trying our best to really do this Whole30 thing right, but we are not perfect. No one is. So don't get discouraged! Don't give up! We're going to tell you how we've totally screwed up so far this month. Ready? Set? Go!

Potato Chips

I know you're laughing at us right now. Of course you can't have potato chips on Whole30, right!? Well..see just recently white potatoes got added to the "go" list and we grabbed some potato chips cooked in the right oil with just sea salt - no other ingredients. We thought we were good! But then we read the part about no fries or chips. Sigh...

Sweet Potato Chips

These are pretty much our lifesavers. We can munch on these provided they are clean and have the right ingredients, dip them in salsa or guacamole. Awesome snack! But there was one type - the Terra Spiced Sweet Potato Chips - we were eating all the time and then realized they had some evaporated cane sugar in them. Man, they were like the best ones, too. Super lame!

Chilean Lime Avocado Oil Chips

Yeah, we like chips. Don't judge us. It's just - you need something crunchy now and then, you know? Anyway, they're pretty clean but not clean enough. Also, they're white potato chips. But they're dang good.

Honest Fizz Drinks

Thankfully, there are lots of naturally flavored seltzer waters that we can drink. This is not one of them. It looks so nice and honest and natural doesn't it? Turns out naturally sweetened means "stevia sweetened." Marketing got us, dang it! We didn't actually drink these, but we bought a bunch of them and had them in the fridge before we noticed. Hey kids - you want to try a new drink?

Eating Out

We have tried our best not to eat out this month, but we're a busy family and sometimes it happens. It's extremely hard to eat anything Whole30 approved, decent, and somewhere the kids will eat, too. Build your own burrito bowl places like Salsaritas and Chipotle work pretty well as long as you put the right stuff on it. Unless you said "olives" and the guy behind the counter thought you said "cheese" and proceeds to dump cheese all over it. Yeah there were a few strands of cheese left even after he tried to clean it off. And I ate them. I tried to get the side salad at Chick-fil-A and forgot that it had cheese on it, too. I got as much as I could off, but ate some. Also, a side salad without dressing is gross. Finally, we did cheat a little on our youngest's birthday. We went to Red Robin and got bunless hamburgers with sweet potato fries. I know the fries weren't approved, but they were dang good!

Wrapping Up

Eating only whole foods is hard. It requires a lot of prep work, planning and commitment. But in a culture where nearly all the food we eat is mass produced to some extent it's nearly impossible to do this Whole30 thing perfectly. And that's ok. You do your best, keep going if you mess up and don't worry about everyone else. You're not doing it for them anyway, right? Right.