Valley Verde...

I wish I was a better photographer so I could just ATTEMPT to photograph the amazing beauty in Arizona. We are traveling north from a weeks stay near Sedona. While we were there we were fortunate enough to meet up with Jane and Terry Owen, who are now travelers as well! Jane and I taught together at Meadow View Elementary years ago. When we first talked about taking the year on the road with the boys Jane and Terry were incredibly supportive of the idea and have kept close tabs. We are so glad they have finally made it out of Colorado after THREE attempts and various truck issues. Seeing them here in AZ felt like a hug from home. We adore them, the boys were super excited to see them and in all it was a good grounding, and a wonderful dinner. They had to leave too soon!

    We met up with several other Fulltime Families at the Valley Verde Thousand Trails. There was little internet so while some of the guys went into town during the days to work, Alan would head out at night to find some internet to work.  I am finding that part to be stressful but it’s really Alan who has to go out searching and he doesn’t seem to mind a bit! So I am letting that go.

     The social piece of this is so incredibly important and really an eye opener for us as we traveled alone for most of the year. Now that we are traveling in a group many things are so much easier! The kids for example, run from rig to rig like wild animals. They are enjoying the childhood of our youth, out in the morning, back to refuel mid day and then home exhausted at night after hours of playing tag, making lego movies or swimming. It’s so great to see them doing all those things we have fondly remembered and that so few kids get to do these days. I meet with other Mom’s for coffee under the trees, we chat about roadschooling and different philosophies. We compare notes and share ideas. Then we plan our days either solo or giant field trips. This week we all went to Slide Rock canyon. The beauty is indescribable! As you can see, the water makes a perfect natural slide spilling from pool to pool. It was way to cold for most of us but the boys each tried it, as did my incredibly brave friend Kimberly! 

Aiden was hooked and spend the rest of the day sliding down until his belly was worn raw! Then we hiked back out, it was gorgeous!

Next we are moving on to Lake Powell in the Glenn Canyon National rec area with four other families. We are learning to move within the group and as a group. Having community on the road is

an amazing change for us and has really enriched our travels. Here is a lovely blog post from our beautiful friend Jema, complete with picture of us leaving Las Vegas!

http://www.studiojema.com/weaving-community