It’s been a minute since I’ve last written over here and I am so sorry. We’ve been busy living life at full throttle. There have been dance recitals, visits from Grandparents, trips to pack for and end of the year celebrations for…well…everything.
But here I am again with not only something new to say (surprise, surprise) but also the moment to commit the words to paper. This moment feels fleeting, so I won’t linger.
In one of my first blog posts, I mentioned the journey my family has been on to find a balance between work and play, to find a simpler way, a slower way of living (we’re just going to ignore these last few weeks and pretend my family didn’t drift back into jet speed). Our first step was to eliminate tv in the morning which led to dramatically cutting it down in during the day as well. We have found the less time the girls spend in front of the tv, the less they ask for it. (You can read a little bit about that journey ‘here‘).
After the high from the success of limited tv, I’ve felt a little stuck on what the next step looks like. I want my family to have a slower pace of life that is more meaningful and acknowledges the beauty of the world and the people around us. I don’t want to isolate us though. I’m not sure the answer here is to buy hundreds of acres of land in the woods somewhere and live off the grid. For some, that way of life might work, but for us it would not. You only have to see my girls in public to know they were not meant to be isolated. I’ve never met two children more social. I have made so many new “friends” simply by letting my children loose in public.
So going off grid isn’t an option.
In March, my parents asked if the girls and I would be willing to fly down to Florida and then travel in the RV with them for two weeks as they made their way back to MN for the summer. Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity. Winter is taking its sweet time with no end in sight and the girls, and I were feeling a little stir crazy. I also thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see how my girls would do living in something under 300 square feet with three adults. Would we love it? Hate it? Was this the simpler way of living I was looking for?
So, we boarded the plane, packed the RV and began the journey.
First stop, Hardeeville, South Carolina.
Now, my husband and I have trained our girls to be good travelers because travel is really important to us. However, RV life is next level, yet the girls have been amazing. They’ve embraced every nuance and can’t get enough of the people and places we get a chance to see.
Hardeeville is only a short ride to Savannah, so we spent our first couple of days touring the city, taking trolly rides, eating ice cream and popping in and out of restaurants and boutiques in Market Sqaure. We also visited several museums with the girls impressing me with their ability to listen quietly and take it all in.
Soon we found a rhythm of visiting the city during the day and relaxing by the pool in the evening. All to soon though, it was time to pack up and head off to our next destination, Sevierville Tennessee, nestled against the Smokey Mountains.
Has living in the RV been the simple life I’ve been looking for? Well, we’re halfway through our trip and still have a week to go. While I’m not ready to sell our home and move the family into an RV, I am willing to say there are definitely aspects to this kind of live that we seem to be thriving at. Things like, spending most of our day outdoors, exploring new things together and going letting the sun dictate bedtime and morning.
I’ll have to do some more introspection to see exactly how we can apply these things to our lives when we return.
If we return 😉
Moms With Messy Buns 