The Great Smokey Mountains, TN and Graceland!

This post is embarrassingly late.  Like, a year and some months late!  But, I did write most of it much sooner after taking this trip and just finally added the rest of the pictures and a tiny bit more of the story.  Enjoy.

 

After our somewhat rocky arrival, we took a day at our campground, Twin Lake RV, in Gatlinburg to relax and get settled. 

Gatlinburg is a very cute, tourist town.  The whole town mainly consists of the little shops and restaurants, all geared towards tourists, stretched out along the main drag.  There's a big Ripley's Believe It Or Not and an aquarium also, neither of which we visited.  Gatlinburg is also the closest, little town to the entrance of The Smokey Mountain National Park, so you have to drive down the main drag,  which is always PACKED with people walking and crossing the street and cars moving about 5 miles an hour.  It turns a very short drive into the park, into a 30 min+ trip real quick!  There was always great people watching though and the stores were all interesting as well.  We did eventually find an alternate route into the park, along the Pigeon Forge Pkwy much later into our stay which especially came in handy over the weekend with the traffic was practically at a stand still in Gatlinburg.

Gatlinburg

Joe and I's biggest draw to take our vacation here, was of course the National Park!  So the first thing we did was load up the kids and Cody and drive into the park and visit the closest ranger station, Sugarland.  It was close to 7pm when we got to the station and they were close to closing.  We were able to walk through the small museum that showed several animals that live in the park, as well as get the park paper and map (essential items to navigate any national park).  We also got the girls Jr Ranger materials.  Our visit was so brief due to them closing, that we had some time and decided to walk around the building and found a trailhead there.  We still had some daylight and decided to walk the 1.5 mile trial.  It was a great little hike. 

Gorgeous little waterfall

The next day, we made a full day of being in the park!  We attended a ranger talk geared for the kids.  It was an 1.5 mile hike with a ranger that lead to an old, one room school house used over 100 years ago.  The ranger talked to the kids the whole time about what it must have been like to grow up in the Smokies back then and told us this was the exact trail the kids would have hiked along in those days, except they'd be barefoot.  We learned so many cool facts on that hike, including boys would often wear dresses, since they grew so fast and dresses were easier then letting out hems constantly, millipedes smell like cherry coke, little girls had the job of hauling the rocks out of the garden every spring and stacking them to make rock walls, and kids only attended school 2 months out of the year and during the winter.  Once we arrived at the school house, the ranger went over some of the lessons the kids would learn, how they would have only one book, and a notebook and pencil would cost 2 eggs at the general store.  He talked about the games kids would play at recess (stick baseball, and build stick houses, etc), and also talked about how kids were punished (switched, dunce caps, and keeping  your nose against the chalk board).  It was probably the best ranger talk we've ever gone to.  The kids were entertained the whole time and it was so fun to be inside a one room school house!  Maybe it's just the teacher in me...

There was an old graveyard near the school house that we visited.  Half the graves were unmarked and another third of them were children or infants.  It was interesting to learn that it was not uncommon for people of the area to live well into their 90's, but illnesses in infancy or childhood killed many. 

We walked back to our meeting place at Metcalf Bottoms Picnic area and ate our sandwiches and drank some of the gallon jug of water that Cody had carried the entire hike and back, and let the kids play in the river.  After that, we headed out to Cascade (one of the busiest areas of the park) to see what it had to offer.  This area of the park is mainly made up of a loop you drive that takes you past several historical homesteads and farms.  It also has some of the largest meadows in the park, so it's a good place to spot wildlife.  I was REALLY hoping to see a bear!  Driving the loop took over an hour and we didn't see much wildlife, but it was beautiful and I think the people watching was better than seeing a bear!

This is how some people drove around the loop!

We stopped at the major homestead on the loop and learned a lot about how people lived in this area over 100 years ago.

Unlike most of the national parks we have been to, this one did not have any grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, or any amenities beyond primitive camping, camp stores, and ranger stations.  Another major difference was that this park did not charge an entrance fee.  This all has to do with when the government purchased the land BACK from owners 100 years ago, they made certain agreements about how the park would be run, etc.  This park is unique in that it was once owned almost entirely by homesteaders, small farmers, loggers, and miners, and was actually reclaimed as a national park.   

It was a very crowded loop and took awhile to get around, but was worth the trip and although we DID NOT see a bear, and Loralai was in a terrible mood, we were glad we came. 

The next day we set out to tackle DOLLYWOOD!

But first we had to make the huge mistake of taking the Gatlinburg trolley system to try and get there.  We got on the trolley, waited at a stop for over and hour, missed our connecting trolley cause their station markings are terrible, saw a lady totally fall and eat it right in front of us, waited for our original trolley to return and 2+ hours and $4 later returned to our RV, where we all loaded into our truck and DROVE ourselves to Dollywood.  Ahhh!  NEVER AGAIN!

Don't be fooled by the smiles and cuteness in this picture.  Our trolley experience was awful!

Parking is $10 and you are trolleyed to the front gate.  We opted to purchase the $90 package that got us 3 days at our choice of parks (Dollywood or Splashtown).  A child was $70 and 2 years and under were FREE. 

Our trip here started out a little bumpy.  Despite all the info and blogs I'd read about the place, it took us some time to figure out their systems, etc.  We went straight to one of the kid sections of the park.  The first ride we got in line for, BROKE, after we had waited for some time and we had to leave without getting to ride.  Then I went to take Bean on a ride and right as we got to the front, the man told me she was an inch too short to ride!  That's when I noticed that all rides were color coded for height requirements and Bean was not going to be able to ride ANYTHING!  Then we tried to hunt down the real train that rides though the park and runs off real coal....it was out of service that day.  So I got a little pissed at this point!  I might have cursed Dollywood and seriously considered asking for my money back.  Luckily Joe was in better spirits than me and suggested we go eat and figure things out better.  I'll admit, the burger and listening to Dolly music in air conditioning did help.  After that I was ready to try again.  Joe took L on some rides and I found some "baby" rides that Bean could go on.  And best thing about them....NO LINES! 

Daddy rode some of those baby rides too!

So did Uncle Cody!  Hehehe

Beyond this part of the park, Bean was actually very content to sit and ride in the double stroller we had rented for the day ($12 for a double and a nice ride), thanks to Uncle Cody who spiced up the ride with some CRAZY fast driving while pushing the girls around.  Joe and Cody (The Boys) went off and rode a couple of hair raising roller coasters while I took the girls to a splash pad.

Lu was fearless and would have ridden EVERY ride there if only she was 2 inches taller!  The only ride I was able to go on was the merry-go-round since I was obviously preggers.  Boo!  But we all ended up having a good time and we got our fill of Dolly music (that plays all throughout the park all day) for a very long time!

Whoo!  My one ride!

Joe and I nailed them with water guns as they rode by!

The next day it was back to the national  park, to a new section we had yet to visit.  We attended a Ranger program on water creatures and water quality.  It was geared to children and fine, but would have been better if we had been on time and both girls hadn't needed to leave to go to the far away, bathrooms right as we arrived.  But whatever, we did learn SOMETHING and got credit for another ranger class (of which you need 3 to get your Jr Ranger badge).  After that we walked around an old homestead farm that was located in the same area.  It had pigs and everything!  We really enjoyed this.  It was really interesting to see how people stored their crops and worked their farms 100 years ago! 

There was also a ranger station here that we visited with a museum that told more about how people lived during this time. 

It was here that I struck a deal with the store manager to give us his employee discount if I bought several jars of Smokey Mt preserves.  These are delicious preserves that are made by Mennonites that live in the area.  There are so good!!!!  And made great gifts to bring home. 

We stopped for a picnic on the way home and took some photos of The Smokies and some look out points.  Still, no bears!

Somewhere in here we took a day just to relax at the RV park.  Joe worked on RV repairs and I took the kids swimming and did laundry.  We went out to eat in Pigeon Forge at a family style restaurant.  It was pretty good. 

It wasn't long before we were ready to try out Dolly's Splashtown!  It was a nice, although I thought kind of small water park.  There were 2 large kid water playscapes, a wave pool, lazy river, and several big water slide type rides.  I pretty much hung out with Bean at one water playscape and on our walk to the second water playscape, took a dip in the lazy river and then the wave pool.  And that was our day.  The boys took off to do a few of the more daring water slides and took Loralai on one as well, while Bean took her afternoon nap on me and I watched Netflix on my phone.  Gotta love technology!  It wasn't too long before Joe returned that we saw an older man that worked there slip and fall.  This fall was pretty serious as he was bleeding and appeared to have passed out for a few minutes.  Lifeguards and Medics rushed to help him and eventually took him away on a stretcher.  Why Joe and I seem to witness more falls on vacation then anything else, I don't know?  We hope he's okay.  Once that passed, Bean woke up and we took turns playing with the kids on the water playscape and going down the water slide there with Lu.  Yes, even me!  Yahoo!  And then it was time to go home. 

Ready for the water park!

Tired Baby!

Water and phones don't mix  So that's all the pics I got.

We took another relaxing day after that and just hung around the RV.

They next day was a BIG HIKING day!  The most exciting hike of the day for us was hiking a very small, 3 mile piece of the Appalachian Trail.  This is a very famous trail that people often take 6 months of their life to hike!  The trail runs from Maine, down all the way south to Georgia.  Of course this sounds like and awesome thing for Joe and I to do and we are already discussing when we think our youngest (still a bun in the oven) will be old enough to join us.  12, 13 sound about right?

Had to climb EVERY rock!

This was after a 1 mile hike straight up to a look out tower.  Whew!  Exhausting!

Had to include this one!

Okay, so here is where I start adding photos and comments 1 year and some months AFTER this trip was taken...

Later that day we head back to Sugarland Visitors Center to collect Lu and Bean's JR Ranger Badges!

And we got our "Not-so-Junior Ranger certificates".  Cute and unique to just this park.

The last day of our time in Gattlinburg, was one, if not THE best day of the trip in my opinion!

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We went into town in the afternoon and just looked around.  I had seen these "sky lifts" and had a coupon for them, so we decided to take a ride.  Of course I would be the one that was TERRIFIED of them; my own idea!  But Lou comforted me on the way up and I was a little bit better on the way down.  Actually, I was probably worse!  Going down it's harder to ignore how far you have to fall!  But having Joe and Bean in my cart, made it better!



 

 





After, we went to eat at this funky restaurant called, The Mellow Mushroom.  All psychedelic and trippy mushrooms all over!  Really cool vibe and Joe and I thought it might be an original establishment, but later noticed some other Mellow Mushrooms in other towns on the way home.  Good food!  I got this thing in the photo above, but they specialize in pizza.  And it was fun sitting up above the town and being able to people watch.  There was a haunted  house across the street from us and these actors kept jumping out at people as they walked by.  Hilarious!

 



From there, we did a little  more walking around and stumbled onto this place!  Where they happened to be giving out free moonshine samples!  Here's Joe volunteering to drink those samples.  I mean, Tennessee Moonshine?!  Gotta do it!

 

And then we danced...  It was a pretty magical night!

 



 

And the next morning we packed up and headed out of Gattlinburg, TN!

 

 

We were headed home by way of Memphis, TN, with and overnight stay at Elvis' Graceland and RV Park!  Eekk!!!  We got there late and the park was Whatever.  The next morning was all about touring Graceland.

 

The entire tour was given by audio recording.  Really good!

This was the first room, right when you walk in the house.

The kitchen was my absolute favorite room!  I can't even really explain why.  It just seemed so cozy, and a little like my grandmother's kitchen. 

This room was called the "Jungle Room" and was just out from the kitchen.  Elvis decorated it himself.  Several songs were recorded right in this room. 

Green carpet, waterfall, animal hides on all the furniture and a standing ashtray by every seat!  It was the 70's y'all!

This was his lounging room, with 3 TV's and a bar, across from the pool table room that was completely covered with fabric, walls to ceiling!



Admin offices.

Play scape that Lisa Marie played on.





After the house and grounds, we entered another building that held lots of Elvis memorabilia, like his records and window scenes of different periods and events in his life, like his wedding, etc.  This is where they also had all his elaborate Vegas costumes on display.

 Then we went to see all of the cars!  So, so many!!!  This does not even scratch the surface!

Kids were getting tired at this point, so we took a minute to eat some BBQ at a restaurant on the grounds, of which there were 2, and then headed over to see Elvis' 2 planes!

Here's his "little one", Lisa Marie.

Later Elvis bought this larger plane, that I did not get and outside photo of, but check out the inside!  Lisa Marie had her 9th birthday aboard this plane.

Elvis' bedroom on the plane

Seeing Graceland was amazing!  And totally worth the 100's of $$$ we spent on the tour!  This trip would be followed by months of me being obsessed with the life of Elvis and reading several books on him!  Strange and very interesting man!

From there, we set back out on the road, headed for Arkansas for one more stop before we arrived home, at Diamond Fields State Park.  We were so impressed with Arkansas' State Parks!!!  Inexpensive and SO NICE!  Clean and great RV sites that were flat, with picnic tables, grills, and trash hooks and well spaced.  Not to mention, Arkansas is BEAUTIFUL!!!  Trees, trees, and more trees! 


This was the park we had intended on staying at on our way up to Tennessee, but didn't for various reasons.  I'm so glad we made it a stop on our way back!  Not too many pics, but the kids had fun mining for diamonds with Daddy and we hiked and ate at a restaurant near the diamond fields and spent a day at their little water park.  We loved it so much, that we stayed a day longer than planned!  It was the perfect end to our awesome vacation adventure!

Had to include this shot!  Uncle Cody loved playing with the felt board!

So this trip definitely had its bumps, but looking back on it from a year later, I have nothing but good memories!  I love the RV lifestyle!  And love that we were able to bring my brother along with us! 

More RV Renovations! Kerville Triathilon! And Attack of the RV Ants!

Jonah and I sanding stairs.  I now have little splatters of primer all over my ergo carrier.  Oh well, last baby!

So our goal was to finish the flooring and stairs in the RV before Joe's triathlon in Kerville, TX on Sept 27th so we could take the rig with us.  We did meet that deadline!  Well, sort of...

 The PROCESS (Taking about 2 weeks)




 



Done!

We were able to get the living room complete, except for the slide part of the flooring, under the couch and dinning table.  We even finished them to the point of laying the quarter round down!  The stairs went in on Wednesday and look awesome! Jonah had a blast climbing up them and smiling real big all weekend!  We would then set him back at the bottom and he'd do it all over again.....and again.

So we feel pretty proud of ourselves for meeting our deadline!  However, there were some things we did not get done in time for the trip!  Like the flooring in our bedroom.  So that was just splintery flooring that was unfinished and Joe found a screw popping up through it with his foot too!  Good thing we don't do much walking around in there.  Pretty much just room for the bed!  We also did not get the bathroom flooring done, since it requires us to pull the toilet to do it, and we didn't have time for that!  In related bathroom news, our shower looks like this...

Something to do with a leaky skylight, taking off the old-super-weird-plastic-sliding-door-like shower curtain thing and still needing to replace that with our awesome new more homey shower curtain thingie.  Good thing RV parks have public showers to use!  Cause that's what we ended up using this weekend. 

Everything went smoothly with the RV renos this weekend, except..... we did get a big scratch right in the middle of our new floor!  It happened while driving, we think by a screw that was hanging down out of the slide.  It was the movement of driving that caused it to scratch the floor and wasn't something we could have predicted.  Being that I was imagining the new floor all crumpling in on itself the second we took the slide in, one little scratch didn't seem so bad.  Really it just looks like another seem in the floor, if you aren't looking for it. 

We pulled into http://www.guadaluperiverrvresort.com  at about 3pm, to a well spaced spot and lots of amenities, like 2 pools, spa, river front, trails, playgrounds, etc!  We hardly end up using any of these, but were able to get a spot, backing to the river for $49 a night.  That's a pretty good price for a "resort" park.  And even if they did charge me extra once I got there for wifi and cable (Boo!), they did not throw extra kid or pet fees at me, which I appreciate. 

So we set up, and quickly left to go get Joe registered for the race and pick up his packet, set out his bike, and drive the course.  This took HOURS!!!  I manned the kids and Joe focused.  He was a nervous wreck with this being his first race!  We finally head back to the RV and the rain starts coming DOWN!  I make dinner and we all are laying vertically before 10pm.  Terrible nights sleep though with the storm and coughing and forgotten sound machine.  I had forgotten how loud RV's are!  If someone in your family breaths heavily, you hear it and wake up!  Hence the need for the sound machine!  Not only this, RV's are not known for their high insulation ratings!  You can hear everything that goes on outside too!  So to the man in the RV parked across the road from us, SHUT UP!

Triathlon

Just before the Start

We all wake up at 5am.  Ugh!!!!  Get to the race at 6am.  Race starts at 7:30am.  We were doing the race with some friends of ours, who are not newbies to this like us.  Guys go in the water for their 500M swim and they're off!

Joe getting out after the swim portion

It was a rainy, misty morning and we were all soaked by the end of it!  The kids were total troopers!  Especially Bean, who HATES to get wet!

I don't know Joe's exact times.  Maybe I should find out?  Okay, let me go find out....  K, I found out.

500 Meter Swim  15:04
15 Mile Bike  49.:25
5K Run  29:38

Total Time with Transitions = 1:40:59

He came in 13th in his division.  I was so freaking proud of him when I saw him come around the corner towards the finish line!!!  I was so excited for him, that I might have been so loudly screaming and jumping up and down, that the announcer may have made some comments about it, 3 times.  I mean, ME?, LOUD?!  Anyways, YAY JOE! 

The rest of our day was spent refueling our guys with food and hanging out at the RV.  Baby slept and everyone had a buddy, even Darby.  Happiness. 

Ants

We discovered the white noise phone app Saturday night.  Hallelujah!  Much better nights sleep!  But, we were starting to notice a lot of ants in the RV right before bedtime.  So many in fact, that we had to have the girls sleep on the couch, as their beds were covered with them!  As was the floor and bathroom, and by Sunday morning, even the walls!  It was total ant take over!!!  The only sort of safe zones were our bed (thank goodness), and the couch.  Everything else was covered!  Joe went out to Lowe's to get ant killer of all kinds with the girls first thing that morning.  When he got back and started the massacre, he realized how many there actually were!  They practically covered one entire wall on the outside of the RV!  Looks like they were getting in mostly through the electric cord we had plugged in.  We got non-toxic spray, bait boxes, and poison.  Joe also filed down the nail under the slide before we wrapped up and pulled out (half an hour later then check out, but we had ants to deal with!).  In all of our travels, we have NEVER experienced an ant problem!  Nor had we had any kind of pest problem!  As a matter of fact, we were those RVers who would giggle at the travelers that would spray a ring of poison on the ground around their RV or sprinkle chemicals around every part of their RV that touched the ground.  "Look at those silly, scardy cats who are poisoning our Earth with their toxic chemicals, so they can avoid the rare chance of an insect getting into their RV!"  Well, call me a silly, scardy cat, but laying down bug poison is now part of our set up routine.  Never again will I almost be chased out of my RV by ants that can take over in 1 day!  It can happen so fast people!  SO fast!

Kids sleeping on couch since beds were covered in ants.

And that was our weekend!  Fun!  Stressful!  Exciting!  New Experiences!  Friends!  Great!

Exercise Plan for the Road

So, although we are not ON the road at this point, Joe and I have started exercising nearly every day, and have been doing so long enough (4 months), that I think it just might stick and have therefore worked up the nerve to write about it. 

What does this have to do with our RV trip?  Well, we both really love the way we feel.  It's not crazy- different from how we felt before, but we do breath easier, play a little harder, and feel stronger.  Oh, and did I mention I can do a headstand now!?  That's really added to my party tricks repertoire. 

And now back to what this has to do with our trip!  Well, as we learned from the last time we were out on an extended RV trip (5 months in 2012), working out while on the road can be challenging, especially if you have kids!  Why?!  Well for lots and lots of reasons!  Moving destinations every week or two means you don't have a gym membership.  You might be able to pop into a gym or sportsplex or studio for a one time class, but you won't get the childcare, and studios (yoga) can be expensive for a one time class!  And being the kind that really love small towns (I mean really small towns), there often isn't any such place to go!  So.....  That mainly leaves home exercise and outdoor activities while RVing. 

1. Home Exercise

Can be great!  But there's not much space in an RV to workout in.  Add to that 3 kids and a dog, or a baby sleeping and you are quickly pushed outdoors.  So I needed to find a exercise that was NOT too embarrassing, since I plan on doing it outside most of the time.  So far I've got 3 ideas!  1. Yoga.  I love yoga!  It'll make you STRONG!  ....and teach you to do cool things like headstands.  Plus you don't have to bounce around too much, so it's low on the embarrassment factor when having to be performed outside, at say somewhere like a busy campsite.  For instance, Zumba, would not be a great workout for me to perform outdoors in places like this.  And I mean, perform.  Eek!  Plus, I think I can just about make up my own yoga routine and won't need a video to watch.  Not every time, at least.  2. Hula Hoop.  I'm still working on this one.  As in, I can't do it yet.  I'm trying though.  I try about every other day.  I could do it as a kid.  I know I can do it again!  Just hasn't happened yet.  But I've got a great teacher!!!  Loralai.  She's a pro at it!  I'm getting close.  I can feel it!  Hula hooping is also a great exercise with lightweight equipment, and cheap to replace and can be done while watching 3 kids....if I could just keep the darn hoop up!  .....getting there.  Plus, not too embarrassing to do in public.  And, can also lead to new party tricks!  Bonus!  3. I'm also thinking I could do jump roping.  But so far in my life, I have really hated doing this.  But I have deemed this the year of learning new things, so who knows?

It's so EASY Mom!

2. Outdoor Activities

So last trip, I thought....we'll hike and walk, or bike everyday!  And we did those things a lot!  But....our kids are little, and Loralai does not like to walk or hike, so she whines....ALOT!  This can create an aversion to walking and hiking after awhile.  And when we do walk or hike, we are often times moving at a snails pace; or a whiny 4 year olds pace.  Doesn't really get the old heart a pumping, if you know what I mean.  Plus, sometimes we stay in places that are not conducive to family walks.  Like right off the freeway.  One thing that would have helped last trip was if we had had a good stroller, instead of the POS umbrella stroller we used.  I'm still mad at us for not upgrading on that trip!  So this trip will be a 1000 times better just because, we will have THE BOB!  It's a jogging stroller AND a double!  We can even fit all 3 in there if we have to!  So not only will walks around town go better, but we can also RUN with it!  That's right, we are running family now.  Never thought I would say that!  I've said that I hated to run all my life!  But desperate times, call for desperate measures.  And 3 kids, no time for myself, and at least 30 pounds to loose, are desperate times!  I needed something that burned mega calories, while also building muscle, could be done with zero equipment, anywhere, done in 30 minutes, and with or without kids in varying moods.  That's running.  So for the past 4 months, we have been running.  It only takes 30 minutes to run 2-3 miles and make yourself feel like you're gonna die.  Now that's a good workout!  And it's so short that Joe and I can take turns going if we can't (or don't want to) take the kids.  Darby is even a running dog!  She hauls butt for about the first mile.  Runs along side you like a well trained dog for the second mile.  And tries to lay down in the shade every chance she gets on the third mile.  But hey, she's a stubby little chug and we all have our limits.  Besides, it's rare that I run 3 miles or more (although I have!).  I usually run just 2 at a time. So she's the perfect partner for me!

Along with running 3+ times a week, we will also still aim to hike and bike as much as we can!  Loralai is working on mastering the bike riding and we have two seats on the backs of our bikes for the littles.  Add to that a hiking backpack and ergo and we are ready to hike too!  Probably have to bring some cupcakes too to bribe Loralai with.  Kind of like dangling a carrot on a stick for a horse.  I seriously might try that!!! 

Also, Joe is participating in his first Triathlon in one week!  If all goes well, and he likes it, we could look for other triathlons or 5ks or 10ks happening in cities around the country to participate in!  Something to aim for!

Plus, we could look for running groups on meetup.com in different cities that we could go on runs with!  Could be a neat way to meet locals while on the road and keep in shape!  I read this once full-time RV blog where the wife was really into running and she did this type of thing.  Of course, she was like a lifer, long distance runner (totally NOT me!  but never say never.).  Anyways, it's good to have goals.

Here's another picture of me doing a headstand, cause me after a run is not as pretty!

So there you have it!  Our exercise plan for our RV trip!  In the meantime, we'll be getting stronger, trying to memorize yoga moves to do on our own, learning to hula, running further and faster, and working on getting Loralai to be an ace on two wheels!

2013- The Year of Jonah!

2013

What a SWEET and SURPRISING year!!!  I'm 8.5 months late writing this summary of our 2013 year and considered just skipping writing anything about it at all.  But then I started thinking, "What did happen in 2013?" and after a tiny bit of thought, realized that it was too important of a year to miss.  So albeit brief, mostly due to my memories fading over the past 8.5 months, here was our VERY IMPORTANT 2013 year as a family!

Jonah.  Joe and I started out the year with a parents-only-cruise for one full week around the Caribbean.  We had a fabulous time with my sister and her husband and met lots of new friends!  It was such a nice get away for us!  That was the trip that also weaned Juliet from nursing.  My baby!  Well I should have known better, but that trip was also partly responsible for the conception of our Little Jonah Boy!  Jonah makes our 2nd Valentines week conceived baby.  2nd!  From this year forward, Joe or I will leave town for the entire week of Valentines Day.  Seriously!  So I spent 2013 pregnant.  It was a great pregnancy, filled with 40lbs of weight gain, water aerobics, waddling, feeling baby kicks, and in the end, high blood pressure that resulted in an induction, 6 days before my due date in a hospital.  His birth was unmedicated, although I had enough tubes and monitors hooked up to me to make you think otherwise.  He was my easiest birth yet!  And PERFECT!  Absolutely PERFECT!  And a BOY!  Sweet from the very beginning and totally in love with his family!  So this year began with Jonah, and ended with us all cooing over his little newborn sweetness!

In other news....  This is the year that Juliet took dance!  And loved it!  She went to Dragonfly with her friend Gram and spent lots of time at Nana's, including her first sleepovers at Nana's house!

Loralai took Gymnastics and learned to hula-hoop!  And started 1st grade with Mr. Stuemke!  Her reading and writing really took off this year!

We also gained another family member, Ms. Darby Penny Shaw, born April 15th, 2013.  Our sweet little Chug puppy!  So as you might guess, lots of this year was also spent cleaning up messes and throwing out chewed shoes and toys and going to training classes.  We love her SO!!!  And she loves us right back!  All of us!  Loralai smothers her with cuddles, Bean hates for her to get anywhere near her play things, and Jonah thinks she's a riot and loves to grab her ears!  She is my constant companion and lap dog, and she doesn't listen to anyone as well as she does Joe! 

Somehow, amongst all this, I managed to break new records with my Real estate business and sold over 5 million in properties!  My best year yet!!! 

We joined the mini-van club, and love it!  Total luxury and ROOM!  Although, I am aware that our cool points have gone down.  But we can afford to spend some cool points to have a sunroof and heated seats!

We had my little brother, Cody stay with us for the summer and took a family vacation to The Smokey Mountains for 2 weeks (see prior blog posts).  And had a mini Prosser reunion and spent lots of time with family!

We took lots of mini trips with friends to Enchanted Rock and Fredricksburg, TX, and New Orleans!  We spent many evenings at our neighborhood lake, or over at friends or family's houses.  The kids played and grew and swam and cried and laughed.

And those are the highlights of our 2013.  It was an amazing, family defining year!!!

RV Renovations, Full Speed Ahead!

She's coming along nicely! 

Side Note- You know, we've never named our RV.  Doing all this work on her makes me think it's about time she had a name.  She deserves one now!  So, we are taking name suggestions. 

We put our 3 day, Labor Day weekend to good use and made some major progress on the RV!  Joe's been working on her for a couple of months now, here and there.  But when it finally came time to paint, that's where I entered!  Once I was in there though, working side-by-side, I realized there were a lot of reno projects I could help with!  Thank goodness for cloudy days, which kept the temps in the 80's-low 90's (not bad for August in TX), since we needed to leave the doors and windows open while painting for ventilation.  Mom watched the kids for a few hours each day and our weekend went just like this...

Here's how she looked before we started this weekend.

Saturday

Did nothing.  We're bums.

Sunday

Sanded and primed and painted all of the  new shelves Joe has built in place of the TV center that used to be in the RV.  This was my job!  Don't think it was a simple one either, just cause it's painting!  It was about a 5 step processes to first sand, ,then wipe everything off, then prime, and paint and paint again.  Whoo!

Step 1- Sand

While I did this, Joe built the new steps to the master bedroom, installed the new wall frame that goes behind the desk, and okay, okay, he helped me paint a little too.

Monday

We only had about 2 hours to work on the RV this day.  I did some touch up painting and second coats, rehung a cabinet door we had taken off to paint, and caulked a few holes for future painting, as well as did the chalk board paint.  WE LOVE CHALK BOARD PAINT!  I made a small chalk board for me that I can use to write our plans for the week, or our menu, or use as a board to help when teaching the girls school lessons.  There's another chalk board that will be under the desk, that the girls can use to draw on whenever they like. 

It don't look like much, but to us, this is some major progress!

Joe put up the wall that faces the bedroom.  Cut the wall that will face the living room (which means something new for me to paint), and insulated the wall as well.  He also finished the hinged stair toppers. (Now that the stairs are built, I have those to paint as well.)

Good thing I like painting!  We'll see how long that keeps up.  I will say that  now that we have started painting, it makes me want to paint the whole RV, or at least all the wood cabinets.  I love how the colors came out!  Gives it an accidental cottage look.  And I LOVE the cottage look! 


Here are a few tips for anyone renovating an RV, or anything really, that I picked up this weekend...

1. You will get paint on everything you are wearing.  In other words, don't do what I did, and "just know" you will not get paint on you cause you're so careful.  YOU WILL!  RV spaces are even smaller and bumping into wet paint or dripping on your pants is inevitable.  So wear something  you don't mind getting paint on.  However, do not wear PJ pants.  See following tip to see why...

2. You will take way more trips to Home Depot than you plan to.  We took our first trip and once in the parking lot discovered that we did not bring the samples to compare to flooring and paint.  At least we got lunch, and Jonah was sleeping.  So we head back home, grab samples and head back for our 2nd round.  Inevitably, we get the wrong sized board for the steps and Joe had to return Monday for that.  So 3 trips in 2 days.  Really not too bad, but definitely a reason to not wear PJ pants while painting. 

3. Do as much work as you can OUTSIDE!  It's small, and cramped, and hot in an RV!  If there's a wall or cabinet you can paint outside before installing back in the RV, do that! 

4. You'd think we'd know this by now, but USE LATEX paint and primer!  It is such a pain to clean brushes with mineral spirits that you used to paint on oil based paints.  So we end up throwing a lot away.  Latex paints do not create this problem.  They also do not require you to rub paint thinner all over your skin to get it off 

So after this weekend, we are feeling pretty proud of ourselves!  There was a moment in the RV that we were both working together and listening to good music, and it just felt awesome!  We are getting there! 

And get this!  While on one of our 3 trips to Home Depot, we discovered sticker backsplashes! This is so HUGE!  You can't do traditional backsplashes in RV's cause they move too much and they are heavy!  So we were looking at painting or doing metal, or just leaving it in it's current ugly state.  Then we stumbled upon sticker backsplashes!  As happy as we are to have found these, you'd think they would be cheap right?  I mean they are stickers!  If you bought this for a house, it'd be like buying something that looks like a backsplash, but really isn't.  Like an inflatable that looked like a stone statue or something.  Well fake, it may be, but they are NOT cheap!  One little single sqft is $8.  I said $8!!!!  Who, besides anyone renovating an RV would buy these?!  But, of course we will, cause the area we need to cover is tiny and this will make it look so good!  Excited!!!

Stay tuned!  Lots more renovations to come!  About 4 more months until our planned departure date of January 4th-ish.  Our current deadline is to finish the desk area, bedroom wall, and flooring in time to take the RV to Joe's triathlon race in Kerville, TX the weekend of Sept 27th. 

Full Speed Ahead!

What's Been Happening Shaw's!?

Well, here it is, July 2014.  Time flies!

We've had some big changes at the Shaw House!  The biggest being the addition of our newest little baby, Jonah William Shaw!!!  We have a BOY!?!!  I didn't think we made those kind! He was born November 8th, 2013.  You can read his birth story here.  https://www.facebook.com/notes/aubrey-shaw/jonahs-birth-story/10151757994846629  He's 8 months old now and such a sweet, active little guy!  All smiles and just happy to be with his peeps. 

Since Jonah's birth, we have pretty much been in Baby Jail though.  You know the place if your a parent.  That period after a baby is born where you can't do a damn thing or complete a single task to save your life!  0-6 months is the worst of it, at least for an exclusively breast feeding mother who can't pump more than 3 ounces at a time.  Meaning it takes me 2-3 days to make one single bottle.  I'm not complaining though.  At least he will take a bottle.  Loralai as a baby, not so!  Once they hit around 6 months, something earth shattering happens; they can eat food!!!  This equates to Mama being able to LEAVE for longer stretches of time without getting the death ray glare so bad when I get home.  Somehow though, there is still NO WAY for me to get anything done at the house with a baby (and two other kids)!  The house is ALWAYS a mess!  There is ALWAYS laundry piling up on the beds that needs folding!  There is constantly a sink full of dishes that need washing!  The cycle goes something like this day after day.....  I can't clean the livingroom, cause the kids are playing in there and they just mess it back up as quickly as I pick it up.  Quicker even!  So I think, I'll go put all that laundry away that's piling up.  But how do you carry loads of laundry all over the house when you have a baby?  So then I think, I'll go organize my bedroom/baby room.  But the only time I have my hands free to do that is when he's napping.  And guess where he naps?  My room!  Then there's the kitchen.  I swear if my kids just see me in the kitchen, they suddenly realize how hungry they are!  And that means I have to make them food, which messes up the kitchen and stops any cleaning efforts!  I'm screwed.  I'm in baby jail! 

But we've been here before.  We'll get through it.  Sometimes I yell.  Yell at the kids.  Yell at Joe.  Yell at the dog.  Sometimes I just start drinking at 4pm (or maybe a wee bit earlier).  I mean what's the point, and it calms my get it done drive.  Sometimes I still try.  I'm always defeated, but sometimes I do still try.  Sometimes I hang out with other moms who are equally as beat down as I am, and just know we will get through this one day.  And probably miss it a little too. 

It's this kind of captivity though that can drive you crazy!  And just because you can't actually accomplish ANYTHING doesn't mean you can stop dreaming about how you want your life to be and your goals.  SO.....  It's probably this crazy life situation that has led us to want to leave on another RV trip!  Something about being on the road just makes you focus!  Focus on what's important.  Family.  Experiences.  Living life.  I don't want cleaning the house to be my main focus every day!  And when you live in 300sqft, it's not.  You have very little stuff and can clean it all up in 20 mins flat.  You and the kids aren't focused on "who can we hang out with today".  It's just us.  So it becomes "what can we do as a family today"?  We all get so excited about the new places and experiences.  Every place is a new adventure.  You rarely get bored.  I'm also able to just focus on being a mom.  Work takes a back seat and I spend my energy planning activities and going on walks with the kids.  Joe has no yard to mow.  No house maintenance to worry about.  No trees to trim.  Sounds great right?!  Especially to parents of 2 kids and a baby under 2 years old! 

So because the cure for baby jail for us seems to be leaving on an RV trip......here we go.....again.

This time is a little different though.  We will have 3 kids.  We will be taking our little Chug dog, Darby.  We will be leaving for at least a full year!  We will officially be home schooling Loralai through half of 2nd and 3rd grade.  Ekkk!  I was a teacher for 4 years for 2nd-4th grade, but Ekkk!  This is Loralai we are taking about!  Prayers are appreciated! 

So we are now 5 months out from our goal departure date of January 4th.  We were thinking about buying a newer, bigger RV for this trip, but then decided that we LOVE our RV and it does have 3 kids bunks (perfect for us!), and RV shopping is time consuming and hot and SUCKS.  So, we have decided to keep our beloved, bumper sticker covered RV and to do some major renovations to her instead! 

Stay tuned to see our reno's, via Joe.  Which include...

1. Changing TV entertainment center into a desk.  Joe works EVERYDAY from our RV when we are on the road and last time we were out he had no desk.  So he'd work laying on our bed, or at the dinningroom table.  This time he'll have a REAL desk!  And I'll have a one too when his work day's over!

2. New wood-like flooring.  Our RV is 13 years old and still has the original, crusty, who knows what has spilled on this carpet in it.  Yay!!!

3. Slide out pantry.  I'm happy we have a pantry.  Many RV's don't.  But our current one is like a dark, deep cave that you have to mine to find a can of green beans!

4. Bathroom Reno.  Bigger "toothbrush" drawer.  Shower curtain redo.  Etc.

5. Pull out cabinet trash can.  Priceless.  Dog, kids, and we area constantly knocking it over as it's forever in the way!

6. Propane Generator.  So we can boondock!  Boondock = FREE camping in gorgeous places!  ...and Walmart.

7.  Small kitchen renos such as, counter extender that folds down, knife rack, spice holder, rearrange cabinet shelving so they can hold more, etc!

8. Turn dining bench under storage into Darby's kennel!

9. Rebuild stairs to master bedroom so they create more storage for putting rain boots and hiking shoes, etc.  More Storage in an RV = GOOD!!!

10. Screen door reinforcement.  Joe's gonna make it so if a baby leans on the screen door, it no longer flies open!  Yay!  He's also putting a bar on the outside so little kids have something to hang onto when climbing up the stairs.  Nana is very happy about these renos!

11.  We will also be doing some painting and other small changes like USB plugs installed, shelving, bunk curtains and gates, replace all RV curtains, reinforce dinning table (just make it more sturdy and better), and some other things too. 

Check the blog for reno updates as they happen and other trip plans!  Here we go again....

2012

I decided this year to write a synopsis of our year, each year, as a way to look back at our time together, travels, and growth.

This was a year of great travel for us!  We took a leap and did something outside of our box.  We saw so many great places and spent time with so many wonderful people! 

For Lu, it was a year of growing older, a year of dresses and dressing herself, of putting up with her little sister being in EVERYTHING she wanted to do (prior to this year, Bean was more just a baby and not such a bother).  A year of learning new skills, like how to ride a bike, whistle, blow bubbles, and roller skate.  This was the year she started school, and began reading!  This was the year she watched Matilda for the first time (mistake) and loved to dance and dress-up, and do crafts.  And when she'd get mad she grew from throwing monster fits, to writing notes that would read, "NO MOM!  NO Dad!  NO BEAN!  NO NANA!" and taping them to her bedroom door so we'd be sure to know just how mad she really was.  This was a year of swim lessons, making new friends at school, sleep-overs at Nana's house and first sleep-overs at friend's houses.  Favorite Dinner- cheese burger hamburger helper.  Best Friends- Mabel, Naomie, Tobin, Maddison.  Favorite Movie- Anything with fairies.  Bedtime- 8pm.  What she wants to be when she grows up- a Mom.....and a doctor.

For Bean, this was the year she grew from a baby to a little kid!  She learned to walk and talk!  ...and talk  ...and TALK!  This was a year of hitting/pinching her sister when she didn't get what she wanted, or sometimes just cause she was bored.  It was a year of diaper changes, ridding in hiking packs, lost shoes, paci's, and belly laughs.  It was a year of getting sticky dirty while trying to keep up with Loralai.  It was the year she learned to give kisses and now won't let anyone leave the house without a kiss and a hug!  There were ALOT of smiles this year!  This was the year she started sleeping in her own bed (kind of), and loved to sing along to silly songs in the car.  It was a year of crawling into laps (even during dinner time), and sleeping on Daddy's shoulder when she got tired.  We played ALOT of "babies" this year and "night-night time", and did a lot of scribbles with crayons, and chalk, and paint.  It was a year of Mommy and Me Gymnastics and first sleep-overs with Nana and Elmo birthday parties.  Favorite Dinner- Ham.  Best Friends- Gram, Leo, Quay, Effie, Maddison.  Favorite Movie- Barney!  Bedtime- 8pm.

For Joe and I, we are more in love then ever!  It was a year of personal growth for us both.  Of making ourselves uncomfortable in an effort to change and see ourselves more clearly.  We laughed a lot and amazed ourselves at the risks in travel that we took.   We learned to lean on eachother more and communicate better.  We had birthdays in the RV and rare date nights and bought a new mattress for the first time as a couple.  This was the year we sold that raggedy ass investment property, YAHOO!!!!  And I got bangs for the first time since I was 9 years old.  The year Joe grew his first FULL beard.  A year of  friend making and potlucks and dinners. 

It was a good damn year!