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we’ve grown accustomed to good-byes

July 9, 2011 By 14 Comments

We meet wonderful people everywhere – state by state.

The girls find friends to dress-up with, to play rough-and-tumble with, and to scream extra loud with.

fairy wings weve grown accustomed to good byes ariel and alice weve grown accustomed to good byes

Tim & I meet people to play Catch Phrase with after the kids are in bed, to go running with, to have crazy adventures in NYC with, and to pray with around campfires.

stephanie and colleen weve grown accustomed to good byes sunglasses at valley forge park weve grown accustomed to good byes

And then, in a blink – we’re waving again.

* Big shout-out to Mike & Colleen, Mick & Eileen, Jay & Kristen, Jay & Sara, Dirk & Valerie, Roger & Janette, Troy & Suze, Dave & Carol, and so many others we’ve had to wave good-bye to on this grand adventure. Miss you.

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official book count in our RV

April 10, 2011 By 43 Comments

We have one pink bin for children’s books in our RV. I counted today and it has 72 books in it (which is far too few).

pink book bin official book count in our RV 72 books official book count in our RV

I’m not sure how many we had prior to our RV life, but I would venture to say that we had at least 1000. Even then, we went to the library once a week.

Now, we have a tiny percentage of those books AND we don’t have library cards. Killing. Me.

2 year old reading official book count in our RV 4 year old reading official book count in our RV

We still read books daily (but we’re getting bored with our sparse selection). I have “Madeline” memorized word-for-word. Try me.

I think we went to the local library almost every day that we were in Woodbine, Georgia last week. We would sit in the children’s area for 1-2 hours at a time to read stacks of books…even our 2-year-old was captivated & quiet.

How many children’s books are in your house? Do you recognize any of the books from our pile?

If you had to pare down your children’s book collection, which books would you keep or give away?

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official toy count in our RV

April 9, 2011 By 27 Comments

We have 1 toy bin in our RV. It often also doubles as a doll bed:

toy bin official toy count in our RV

We have a doctor’s kit.

playing doctor official toy count in our RV

A play telephone.

play telephone official toy count in our RV

A real harmonica.

playing the harmonica official toy count in our RV

A set of Ukranian stacking dolls.

russian stacking dolls official toy count in our RV

And two games – Letter Bingo and the Give Kids The World Village edition of Candy Land.

letter bingo official toy count in our RV candy land give kids the world edition official toy count in our RV

That’s all. Under 20 toys. Everything fits in one rectangular bin and we keep it in a drawer.

Our experience on-the-road is teaching us what we (partly) already knew – that most toys can’t hold a candle to hiking new trails, meeting new people, reading stacks of books at the library, baking in the kitchen, and doing arts + crafts.

When we settle down again in a house, I don’t think we’ll fill it up with tons of toys. [Exception: I want a dress-up trunk full of costumes...and some puppets.]

Now, books? Books are a completely different story. (I’ll write about that in an upcoming post).

How many toys are in your house? If you had to cut your toy collection down to 20 toys, what would you keep?

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here we are in Woodbine, Georgia

April 3, 2011 By 27 Comments

crooked river pier here we are in Woodbine, Georgia

We’re kickin’ it in Woodbine, Georgia (bet you’ve never heard of it) for a whole week – maybe more. The owners of this campground are young and from Australia. They have 4 kids and are super friendly – and the rates are among the most reasonable we’ve come upon.

We walk down to the Crooked River at least a few times every day (and try not to have heart attacks as the girls walk precariously toward the edge of the pier).

I’m glad we’re going to stay put here. We desperately need a little reprieve from the go-go-go. We’re tired, perhaps even a little distressed.

I’ve lived long enough to know, however, that “pain” often eventually equals growth…and good outcomes.

Do you live in Georgia or the Carolinas? What non-profits, businesses, or parks do you recommend that we visit?

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It’s hard too

March 1, 2011 By 25 Comments

fire truck zilker park Its hard too“I want to play with Ava,” my 4-year-old said this afternoon, with tears streaming down behind her adorable pink glasses.

“We can call her,” I said, gently.

“I don’t want to call her. I want to PLAY with her.”

(I didn’t quite know what to say…”Maybe in a year?“).

This part is a little harder than I expected.

We miss our friends. We miss familiarity. We miss the hum and melody of daily rhythms.

Slowly, we’re finding our way though. Together.

P.S. We leave on Saturday for Houston…then onward through Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Mobile, Tallahassee, and Orlando. Let us know if you have recommendations for how we might be able to serve in those areas…and/or if you want to have dinner.

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rich + skinny (minus the rich part)

February 21, 2011 By 30 Comments

sweet pose by the water canyon lake rich + skinny (minus the rich part)Today, we pulled into our new campground in Austin. We’ll be staying here for two weeks (the campground is sponsoring our stay). We could tell instantly that it was a very ritzy place with luxury motorhomes, boats, and vehicles at every turn. As I was looking out the window, I said to Tim, “There are A LOT of rich people here.” Our 4-year-old suddenly blurted out, “WE’RE not rich. We’re skinny!”

I’m still trying to figure out exactly what she meant by that, but…I’ll definitely take the “skinny” part as a compliment. ;)

As we travel, we’re seeing quite a few spectacular sights around this great country. I’m curious what YOU would like to hear about.

  • Do you want to read bullet post about the “Best Things to Do in XYZ City”?
  • Do you want to hear verdicts about whether we would want to live in XYZ city?
  • Do you just want to read splashes of our everyday life as we go from place-to-place?

We’ve debated starting a separate travel website, but…that’s a crowded niche and tourism isn’t necessarily our passion. That said, we do have a unique vantage point – seeing so many places, with small children in tow. And we DO want to chronicle this amazing journey.

Tell me: do YOU want to see travel-related content here on Metropolitan Mama? If so, what “form” would you like that to take?

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5 Worst Things About Living On-The-Road

February 20, 2011 By 18 Comments

tim with the girls canyon lake 5 Worst Things About Living On The RoadBefore I begin, I want to be sure to emphasize that we are really enjoying this new lifestyle. We have a truck, a 5th wheel, and our family – and we’re seeing the country together. We’re making magnificent memories, stretching our brains, and expanding our hearts.

That said, the mobile life isn’t all sunsets and roses. In no particular order, here are the 5 worst things about living on-the-road so far…

Unreliable Internet. When I told Tim I was going to write this post, he said…”Can all 5 things be that we don’t have a super fast Internet connection?” I couldn’t help but smile – and agree. As far as we can tell, almost all campgrounds advertise “free WiFi.” Also as far as we can tell, said “free WiFi” almost never works. We’ve been tethering our phones with 3G, which works pretty well most of the time…but it’s a far cry from our exceptionally speedy cable connection back home.

Driving in-town or in bad traffic. Pulling a 36-foot trailer is stressful…and I’m not even the one doing the driving! My heart rate especially elevates when we have to drive anywhere crowded or that involves sharp turns (not fun at all). Note to all drivers: If you see a big motorhome or camper, please be observant, offer grace, AND keep your distance (do I sound like a snow bird yet?).

Driving in new places or with bad directions. Again, driving with a massive trailer behind you isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Taking a wrong turn can be terrifying (and potentially dangerous). When we first arrived in Canyon Lake, we accidentally missed a turn and had to reverse onto a side road to get turned around. I had to get out to “shout directions” to Tim with ongoing traffic coming and I was trembling with fright a little bit afterward.

sitting on a tree limb 5 Worst Things About Living On The RoadNo real sense of “community.” This is probably the number one reason why most families don’t stay on-the-road indefinitely. It’s hard to build and foster strong friendships when you are a nomad. Don’t get me wrong – we are encountering fabulous people everywhere we go. Still, it’s not quite the same as having neighbors right next door. I can already sense that our girls miss having the familiarity of close friends a little bit (and maybe…so do I).

The Unknown. Every day is an adventure. Essentially, we’re pioneers. We can try to plan, but we never can know FOR SURE what to expect. The weather might change our route. The campground that we intended to stay at might be dirtier or scarier or nicer than we expected. The expenses might be more than we anticipated. We might be delayed by snow, ice, wind, hills, repairs, etc.

Now that I think about it, though, The Unknown is also a positive thing. I feel like I’ve grown more as a person in the past two weeks than I have in the entire past year. Facing obstacles is requiring us to be innovative, to have faith, and to lean on each other. And all of those things are exceptionally good.

What would scare you the most about living on-the-road?

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