Update on the RV Life

Well, we originally planned to be back to Texas on August first, but we ended up coming back a few days early so The Hubs could go to a meeting at his old job. So we came back a few days early to get settled before he went to the meeting. We were really hopeful that he would be offered a position and he was. He started the next day!

While we were still in Michigan, we had decided it wasn't working out quite like we thought and as soon as The Hubs was able to find a job, we'd start looking for a rental house. Sweetie Girl just hasn't adjusted well to sharing a room with her brothers. She is an extrovert and loves being around people, but she also likes her alone time. She likes to go in her room and shut her door and play with her girlie toys and be by herself. She also has a number of toys that she doesn't want the boys playing with and it's been hard to keep them away from the boys in the RV. Her attitude has suffered from her lack of alone time.

We have a fairly decent size RV, but with 5 people and 2 dogs, it's not easy finding a place to yourself. I tried hanging a curtain in her bunk to allow her more privacy and we let her play at the foot of our bed, but there was never a place for her to be completely alone.

So we found a house to rent and have been waiting to get in. Friday that wait ended, we got the keys on Thursday afternoon and we started moving in on Friday! We're super excited! The bummer is that since we anticipated living in the RV for closer to a year, we sold all of our living room furniture, our bed frame, as well as our washer, dryer and fridge. We bought a fridge, washer and dryer and we're going to look at a couch and loveseat tonight.

I'm excited to have 1400+ square feet of space! Two bathrooms (this is a must with 2 boys!) with bathtubs. The kids and I have missed being able to take baths! The boys will still share a room, but Sweetie Girl will get her own room again! We'll have a garage and a fenced yard even though it's pretty small. I'm also pretty excited about a full size fridge, and our own washer and dryer again, oh and a dish washer, I'm definitely excited about a dish washer!

We also made a pretty tough decision. We decided to put Sweetie Girl into school. We've been homeschooling her for the past year and a half. Last Monday, they tested her to see what grade level she was at. Unfortunately, they only really tested her in reading which she hasn't been super interested in learning since we read to her all the time. She's totally been content to let us read to her. They suggested we put her in First Grade solely based on her reading skills. After stressing and worrying over it, we decided to go ahead an put her in First Grade. We originally wanted her to go into Second Grade no matter what, but I was really stressing about the whole thing and I just prayed that God would help me know where she needed to be. I was no longer as worried and I switched to preferring for her to be in First because that's where I thought she would thrive the most.

I was pretty worried about telling her and although she was upset at first, I think she's ok with it. Thursday night we went to Meet the Teacher night and she started her first day this morning!  It's going to be quite the change for us. I've loved having her home, but I think it's going to do wonders for her relationships with the boys! I'm sad and excited all at the same time! It'll give her the chance to make new friends and the great thing is, we'll only be a half a mile from the school. She's pretty excited that we'll get to walk her to and from school.

Below is a picture of our house!

And here is a picture of Sweetie Girl this morning before school! 

I'll update with more pictures as we get settled. We're really excited to have more space. I need to get use to not knowing where everyone is at all times! 

Rocky Top Motel & Campground- Green Mountain Falls, CO

We've come full circle in our RV journey, but the journey isn't over yet. We began this journey in Colorado and made our way back even if it was just for a weekend. 

Please excuse the condition of  our windshield in my Welcome to Colorful Colorado picture. After driving for 3 straight days, it's hard to keep the windshield clean! 

We had amazing weather and view in the mountains! It was greatly appreciated after 2 extremely hot days in Missouri and Kansas! 

Playing at the campground playground. They were happy to be there! It started hailing right after these pictures, so we had to go inside.

We didn't see many friends, but we collected the rest of our stuff and loaded it into the RV and we had a birthday on Saturday and one on Sunday. The Hubs and Baby Boy have birthdays one day apart. We started the morning out with a couple of pictures of the Birthday Boy! 

 Then we headed outside to open presents! Baby Boy got a new Superman shirt! This one is an athletic sleeveless shirt. He gets hot really quickly, but he loves his Superman shirts. He needed something that can keep him a little cooler. He also got a Superman Action Figure as well as the Imanginext Hall of Justice. It came with a little Superman and Batman.

After presents we went to the playground in Green Mountain Falls so the kids could play while Daddy went for a run. We got to talk with a Police Officer and she gave the kids stickers! The boys LOVED it and Sweetie Girl was excited to see a woman Police Office! She's voiced in interested of being a Police Officer several times, so it made her day! 

When we got back and Daddy had a chance to shower, we had cupcakes. Baby Boy wanted a Superman cake, but we went with cupcakes for now. We'll celebrate again and hopefully I'll be able to make him one! We sang Happy Birthday to Baby Boy and then again for Daddy since we were celebrating both of their days! Daddy was force to celebrate with Superman Cupcakes, but I don't think he minded too much! 

Singing Happy Birthday, blowing out the candles and the first bites! 

Chocolate smiles are the cutest! 

Apparently I should have just given him frosting because that is the only part he seems interested in eating these days! We had a fun time celebrating! We were able to celebrate with my family in Michigan and we'll get to celebrate his birthday in TX with The Hubs family! 

Wakeeney KOA, WaKeeney, KS

We got up early the next day again to drive the rest of the way through Missouri and most of the way through Kansas. We stopped at a KOA in WaKeeney, KS. They had a pool, but we didn't have time to get in because we had to do laundry and the kids swimsuits were in the dirty clothes. We went to the playground instead. You can see how hot it was by how red the kids faces were in these pictures. It was ridiculously hot in Kansas. I guess I never realized it got that hot there. It was 112 and it wasn't much better at first in the RV since we can't run the AC while we're driving. They had an Ice Cream Social each night, so we got the kids some ice cream for being good in the truck all day and to help them cool off a little faster.

All the sites in the RV park were drive through sites which makes it easier to get in and out especially when you're only staying for one night. 

When we started the day we weren't sure where exactly we would stay that night and ended up driving a bit farther than we had planned so the next day would be a shorter drive. There weren't a ton of options on our route, so we had to decide if we wanted to drive a shorter day or a bit longer. Everyone was doing well and with how hot it was, we were hoping if we stopped a little later, it wouldn't be as hot. With the hot temps though, it didn't really matter what time we stopped. It was extremely hot either way! 

This park seemed more dedicated to one night stays than any long term camping and was almost completely empty by the time we left the next morning. It was nice and clean and the laundry room was nice since we really needed to wash the boys clothes. 

Shoemaker's RV Park- Bevier, MO

We got up early on the morning of July 20th. We woke up in Michigan, drove through Indiana, Illinois and into Missouri.

 We stayed at Shoemaker's RV Park in Missouri. They had all sorts of things to do! There were literally 4 playgrounds, a huge homemade water slide that went into a little pond. At the playground closest to our site, someone had made this car track. There's a picture below. The kids LOVED it and spent almost the whole time playing with the cars! When we buy our next house I will be creating a track in our yard!

It was ridiculously hot and the AC obviously doesn't run in the fifth wheel while we drive, so it took several hours for the RV to get cool. Once again, there were lots of things we didn't get a chance to do and wouldn't have minded staying a few more days. 

Warren Dunes State Park- Sawyer, MI

We had planned a day to go to Lake Michigan with the kids, but we had some attitude issues the night before we had planned to go, so we cancelled the trip. The Hubs knew that I was really bummed about not getting to go, so he planned for us to stay at Warren Dunes State Park for one night before we left Michigan! We drove a short day, set up, got changed and headed to the beach. Unfortunately, the water was closed do choppy water. We let the kids go in just enough to say they were in Lake Michigan. There were TONS of people swimming without a care in the world. I'm not sure many of them even noticed the danger flag, otherwise they didn't care. The kids were basically in long enough to take these pictures. 

            

There was this little stream near the lake and the kids had just as much fun playing in that!

We had lots of fun and it would have been fun to stay for a couple more days, but we enjoyed our one afternoon anyway. I was nice to have a short day of driving before we jumped back into the next several days of driving most of the day. 

Visting Gigi E!

The Hubs parents grew up in Michigan and his Grandma still lives in Michigan as well as his Uncle J. We planned a day to go visit! She got us an ice cream cake for dessert to celebrate all the birthdays and our anniversary! It was delicious and we all ate way more than we should have. 

Gigi E got the kids some gifts and they all enjoyed spending the afternoon together! 

We wish we had planned to spend more time with Gigi E! We're hoping Gigi E can come visit us during the holidays! We enjoyed seeing Uncle J and his Golden Retriever, Bliss as well! 

Mecosta Pines Campground, Morley Michigan Part 2 + Grandpa and Grandma S Part 2 + Uncle R and Aunt A

I bought the kids candy necklaces for our drive back to Mecosta Pines from PH Hoeft State Park. I didn't get a picture of Little Man with his because while I taking this picture, he broke his and then these 2 broke theirs a couple minutes later. So unfortunately, they didn't last anywhere near as long as I thought they would. 

On our drive from Texas-Michigan I did a pretty good job of making sure I had lots of things for the kids to do, but as the summer went on I didn't do as good of a job and we had more grumpiness because they got bored pretty quick. 

The kids were excited to get back to the pool and to see Grandpa and Grandma! We also got to see Uncle R and Aunt A! They were in the states for a visit from Israel! We were all very excited to see them! It was the first time our whole family was together since Sweetie Girl was a baby. We took a family picture, but I'm still waiting for The Hubs to edit it and get it to me. I'll share it when I get it. 

The Boys fell asleep a lot driving to and from Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Baby Boy got a birthday card from Grandpa and Grandma H. They came with cardboard cars to make and the guys had fun building them!  

Playing in the Little Muskegon River at the campground! Uncle R and Aunt A joined in and everyone had a blast! 

 Having fun on Grandpa and Grandma's patio! We got to take some fun pictures! 

Sweetie Girl reading with Daddy! 

We had loads of fun! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but we were having so much fun that I forgot to take more! Hopefully we'll have the chance to get together again. Hopefully it'll be a little soon than the last time!