New Orleans

     After a couple of days of 5+ hour drive days we arrived in New Orleans, one of our bucket list stops on this epic journey across America. Now that I am working the new job I have to miss out on some of the outings. I was a little disappointed in a way but after looking at the bigger picture, we get to keep going, I decided that a few missed sites isn't that big a deal.

On the first morning I drove the family in to the French Quarter so they could see the Cafe Du Monde for breakfast. As much as I wanted a Cafe and Beignet, I had to get back to the rig for a full days work.

On the first morning I drove the family in to the French Quarter so they could see the Cafe Du Monde for breakfast. As much as I wanted a Cafe and Beignet, I had to get back to the rig for a full days work.


Laura and the boys had a full day of tasting the food and seeing all that New Orleans has to offer. After work I joined them at the market and we tried our first plate of crayfish, Not impressed! We also tried some real Louisiana gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and shrimp po'boys. While we ate this culinary feast we listened to Jazz and people watched for a while. This is truely one of my top ten stops so far and Aiden was able to get a real Mardi Gras mask for himself

Another one of my bucket list items was to see a real plantation and wouldn't you know it, there are four of them just outside of New Orleans. We chose to tour the Oak Alley plantation right on the Mississippi river just 45 minutes from our KOA. Some of the other plantation houses around were beautiful but Oak Alley was quite something.

Front Door

The large oak trees that line the path up to Oak Alley Plantation were planted somewhere around 1730, that's right, almost 300 years ago. That in itself is amazing but they don't know or have a record of who planted them or for what reason. Another fact that I didn't know is that this plantation produced only sugarcane which I thought was only found in Florida.

View From the River

This house was built by the Roman family around 1836 almost a 100 years after these trees were planted. Another fun fact about this planation was that the Roman family lost the property in 1866 and it had several owners after that but when Mr Hardin bought it in 1917 the house itself had been used as a barn for cattle. This land had a ton of history starting around the revolutionary war. We have seen and learned so much in just nine months.















 On our last couple of days Laura was able to use our reciprical museum membership at the children's museum in New Orleans where they had a blast. We did not get a chance to see the WWII museum but I think we will save that for our next visit. Now its off to San Antonio for some sun and BBQ.

Wait, Here is MY take on it!!! AKA Laura's perspective on our visit!!!!

I LOVE NEW ORLEANS!!!!  HOLY WOW!!! I had no idea!!!! Its everything, the architecture, the people, the scenery, the music, the feel and the smell. No Wait. It mostly smells like vomit and urine so not that part. But the rest is fabulous.  Each block of the French Quarter hides a little jewel i  it's center, a courtyard that is lined with tables and fountains and belongs to one of the hundreds of tiny restaurants or cafes that will make you the most mind-blowing culinary experience you have ever had until the next meal. The PEOPLE, OMG, they are fantastic, and they take the saying "big easy" seriously! Everyone has plenty of time to talk to you, share a laugh or a piece of advice, a recommendation FOR FOOD! An Indian shop keeper talked to Aiden for half an hour, giving him a hard time, then helping him pick the perfect Mardi Gras mask. The Religions, both Christian and the older Voodoo based ones, have seeped into the pores of the area, each step seems to kick up a spirit or a blessing. We even got to see a Dixieland band preparing for a funeral. We tried Gumbo and had a tutorial about how to eat it, with Tobasco. Went to the legendary Café Dumond, TWICE!  Some more yummy gator, can’t get enough! Tried crawdads and then decided they were better left to the homeless guy on the corner who loved them! Tried Jambalaya and become devout lovers of red beans and rice. At the grocery store, we got to add to our list of “foreign to us” foods with a sighting of not only pickled pigs feet but pig LIPS!

    We saw a paddleboat on the river, and studied all about the birthplace of Jazz and it’s legendary musicians. The boys even got a Junior Ranger badge for Jazz, it was given to them by a Park Ranger who played baseball for the Twins.

     The boys studied simple machines at a great Children’s museum that they adored and begged to go back to.  But my favorite was the historic plantation Oak Alley. *Sigh*  It was built by an older man to keep his young Creole bride away from the French Quarter and in the lap of luxury. But, as young people are want to do, she preferred the city, silly thing. We saw the slave quarters and were able to spend some time really looking at that piece of American history. The boys could feel the actual shackles, they saw the living conditions and we read the first hand accounts of daily life. It was an awe expiring, surreal experience. The TREES! They are 300 years old and just to be there, among them, is a spiritual experience all on it’s own!

There just are not enough words to explain the glorious place that is NEW ORLEANS! I’ll be back, again and again and again….

Worlds Best Roadschool Convention

We are just finishing up here in San Antonio and ready to hit the road for Tucson! We are all eager to get to the "World's Best Roadschool Convention!" I am going to be giving a short talk about using Thirty One products to organize your full time rig, and the kids are going to get some good "kid" time in with some people their age! Alan, of course, will be learning all their is to know about internet on the road.
Hope to see some of you there!

Back in Bradenton FL

     I know Laura went over that we are back on the road but it appears since she has turned 40 she is forgetting how to blog and how its supposed to be a daily thing, hehe. So to catch you up properly, we left Pine Island and spent a week in Bradenton FL at the apartment. While there, Laura found this great place on the Peace river where we could go and look for Megalodon and other fossilized teeth.

Fancy Tooth Finder

We traveled about 45 minutes due east of Bradenton and found a little campground and parking area right on the river outside Arcadia FL. The campground was ready for these eager tooth hunters as they sold us this wonderful sifter that you see here. While we didn't find any Megalodon teeth we did however come across several shark and ray teeth during our two hour excursion.

The Booty

This was a great half day trip and we recommend it to anyone coming to Florida on vacation, just watch out for the gators if you come in April/May.









Laura took the boys back to De Soto National Park because it was such a beautiful place.

How'd they get to be so sweet!!

   

     We also decided to watch another sunset on the Florida gulf coast before we headed west for the spring and summer. The thing I love about Florida, everyone near the beach stops and takes in the sunset every day that its visible. This is something that Laura and I have decided to do at least twice a week.

WOW!!

     Our last day before traveling west, Laura took Aiden to the Mott Aquarium, now Jacob was slated to go but he chose to be naughty and was stuck at home watching me work. Aiden was so excited to tell us about the Manatee's, Sharks and of course the Sea Turtles!

     This was a nice break before our long trek back west to see the wonders of New Orleans, San Antonio, Tuscon and of course the National Parks along the way.

Parenting fail number 5,693.... and counting...

We are back at it!
Dancing in our seats, bopping down the road, on the way from Bradenton to Tallahassee FL. We know we’ve been sitting still too long; Alan has to re-acquaint himself with the rules when pulling this beast! Turns out it is NOTHING like riding a bike! We are a little gun-shy after the last major issue with the rig but we also know that is just part of the trip. These rigs aren’t meant to full time and they aren’t made very well so fixing it often is part of the adventure.

     Tonight we are shooting for the camping world in Tallahassee. If you get there early you can snag a spot near their repair bay with electricity- WAHOO! It’s amazing how our priorities have changed, but so very much for the better! We have done a great job making small daily changes to diet, exercise and spirit. Next is to really honor when we eat out so that it is more like when we were kids, not an expectation but a treat. We love trying the cuisine of the region but we can get a LITTLE carried away. (And I am not convinced shamrock shakes are really a necessity in expressing our joy for St. Patrick’s Day, but whatever.)

       On the way to Tallahassee we went over the Suwannee River, which, of course is also a famous song. The first few bars of which are even on the sign indicating it is the same river in the song. Not one to let an educational opportunity pass I whipped out the phone and called up the first YouTube video relating to the song. Bing Crosby, can’t go wrong right? WRONG! I didn’t remember that whole line about “darkies”!  Needless to say the song was abruptly cut short and a long discussion around racism quickly ensued! So THAT’S why we don’t really sing it anymore. PARENTING FAIL!  And speaking of parenting fails….    

 We are super excited to get to the homeschooling conference after New Orleans, I am going to be speaking about how to use Thirty One in conjunction with homeschooling and general Fulltiming. And one of my favorite people, Kimberly Traveglino has invited me to speak on her radio show with MaryBeth Goff. I’ll be talking about using ThirtyOne as a “location independent” business to help support our lifestyle. I have never been on the radio but have been looking into starting some voice over work so this will be a good way to get my feet wet and really hear myself. If I sound like Sylvester, I can pretty much skip the voice over work!

     I have spent the last six months really processing what it means to change my self-identity.  I still tell people I am a teacher but it’s a weird conversation each time as I am not really sure when I will return to a classroom or where that might happen. This is the conversation I find myself in at least twice a week…

“So, you LIVE in your fifthwheel?”

“Yep, we are traveling the country for a year, studying Revolutionary war history and doing other hands on –learning. “

“So the kids are… HOMESCHOOLED” (This statement inevitably comes with a cocked eyebrow at the very least and always with a certain look that indicates a guard has fallen over someone’s countenance, they are scanning for crazy, I know it.)

“Yes, they are, I was a teacher for 13 years prior to this.”

“OH! Okay.” Now the veil is lifted because I have somehow made it ok. As if I now have some kind of skill that makes it acceptable for me to home school.

The truth of this is that in Many, Many, Many, MANY ways, 30 kids were a lot easier than two, for a myriad of reasons. But I think it’s time that I publicly fess up, this has been just short of an academic disaster. The progress that can be measured by state tests would show up as minimal if not worse. So there, I said it. I’m a teacher and I stink at teaching my own kids. So we are re-vamping, trying to enroll in an online school out of Colorado and if that doesn’t work I am purchasing a complete curriculum. Because, while they have had amazing experiences and may understand things on a level totally unattainable from their peers, it won’t test well. And that my friends, is the way of this world. They know the first five presidents, they know the preamble, they understand the amendments and more importantly, they have seen where these things came from. They have walked the same hallowed ground, but the school district won’t measure that. Without the structured school day, they have learned a lot, but not the “right” things. So for that reason, no matter where we go next year, whether another year out, or staying in Colorado next year, I’ll be keeping at least Jacob out of public schools. He isn’t ready to go back and a system that pushes him along further and faster than he’s ready to go, that wasn’t doing him any good.

    I am excited to go to the home school convention and connect with other home school parents to help us figure this out. There are lots of new ways to implement curriculum that I know nothing about. I am excited to learn about lap books and we have started to work on languages orally. Listening to Spanish on CD as a family!  I’ll video the next set of lessons, it’s hysterical!

     We have also reworked our travel schedule to travel more slowly and stay in one place longer, a week is the minimum and often a few weeks  at a time. I hope that will give us more time to work on the basics. We will see. I think being cognoscente of the issues are a good start, and now we are trying to find a way to make this work on more levels now that we know more what to expect. For the time being, “school” is an everyday occurrence at some level. And I am holding them more accountable for their learning by having them create more evidence pieces rather than just talking about it. It’s a work in progress. Now, off to the French quarter to learn about the birthplace of Jazz! (Another piece NOT covered by state standards!)

Boudin anyone?

See you down the road Grammie...

     We left Pine Island the day after my 40th birthday, I take it as a good omen that excitement and adventure will continue throughout the next decade. I am super excited to be 40, each decade is better than the last. We left Pine Island and came up the coast of Florida about two hours to Bradenton. My in-laws have a lovely two bedroom apt there that we are staying in for the week. It is HEAVENLY! We all have a chance to spread out, ironically the boys spent the first two hours in the bedroom with me, sprawled out on the king size bed! We take awhile to untangle ourselves from each other.

     The second day we were here we got the call that my Grandmother, 93 had passed away. I was able to go and visit her just before Christmas, it was the first time I had seen her in over 20 years despite the fact that we called back and forth every Sunday until I was 30! I no longer believe in coincidence. Of all the places we could have wintered in Florida, by sheer chance, the last job, at Pine Island brought me within an hour drive of my Uncle, Aunt and Grandmother. They are all on my deceased mother's side so I haven't had the chance to spend much time with them. It was a blessing to be able to see Grammie, and to spend time with my Uncle and Aunt. They are amazing, so kind and loving and welcomed us right into the fold. I truly feel like I was meant to be here so that we could all reconnect. And to do it, before my Grandmother passed away, was a true blessing. In this lifestyle, guardian angels are a must, I am so glad to have another one watching out for us.

 Love you Grammie!

Leaving Pine Island

     Well, turns out there is a part of being a nomad I am not so good at, it’s the leaving part! We’ve been here since November and it’s time to pack it up and move out! It’s also the night of my fortieth birthday and I am so filled with gratitude and excitement for the coming year! Living my dream at 40 begs the question, “What next?”

     We have had an amazing season here on Pine Island and learned so much! Again and again we saw how important it is to embrace the moment and really live fully with our children and in our marriage. We also now understand more than ever how important it is that we not give up on our weight loss goals and we continue to work toward our optimum health. If we plan to live as long as most of the people here we want to be able to enjoy those years fully, as many of the guests here do!

    We had a fantastic time exploring the area, getting to know the local library and their fantastic staff and especially the people here at the Pine Island resort. We both worked outside our comfort zones, learning new things, and working with people we would never have had a chance to meet otherwise. I felt like I really had to be flexible in my thoughts of “who I am” in order to be successful here. It was very liberating!  Gin and Rob Ost taught me lots about cooking AND new ways to look at life! Rob shared a story with me that I wish I had heard last year while thinking about taking a break from the classroom. He said take a bucket of water, swish your hand around in it, make waves.... then pull your hand out. The water is still in the bucket, the surface returns to normal, everything goes on. It's very reassuring to know that no one is irreplaceable, and life will go forward with or without us so we need to make decisions for us. 

     We met so many great people, saw so many different ways of living, it was an amazing experience. And, now, just as SUEPARKER predicted, we have friends who are going to be spreading out all over the country, and quite a few in Canada, who have invited us to come visit in the coming year.

     Watching Aiden broaden his social circle has been fun to watch. He has been offering for weeks now, to take Bridgeeta to the dog park by himself in the evenings. Since it is on property, not far from our space we let him. Last night we went with him to the dog park as it was near dusk. When we arrived we realized Aiden has created a whole network of older people that come each night and he plays with their dogs! They all know him, and he knows…their dogs! He knows each one’s name, personality, who gets along with who and so on! So great, and it has helped in the boys lucrative dog sitting business as well! I am so proud of them both, all season I have received countless compliments on their behavior and level of respect for people around the park. People truly seem to enjoy having them around and I am glad to see them developing the ability to make friends of all ages.

    We have been blessed to make lots of great friends here, My friend Dana made us some amazing curtains. I Love them, they make the camper feel very homey! 

Also, a picture of Aiden and Mr. Eric, whom he ADORES! This is last weekend, the four of us were out wading in low tide when a three to four foot hammerhead shark paid us a visit! YIKES!!!! We are so grateful for the support and friendship of the Lee's and can't wait to see them up in Michigan!

  We will miss Pine Island, and the people we met there! Can't wait to see them down the road.



   (Also, I want to give a big shout out to the Coyote that FINALLY killed the damn rooster that lives behind the park.  It CLEARLY had no idea what time sunrise is and felt entitled to crow 24/7. It’s a really nice parting gift and I didn’t mind the brutal murder one little bit. I’m sorry, I didn’t. I am 40 now, I can speak my mind.)

Tracking our states visited since June 2013

visited 29 states (58%)
This is our map for THIS TRIP but as a family we are up to 47 states!