We had the most amazing experience yesterday!
The three older kids were on a ride, and while waiting with the younger three I struck up a conversation with a cast member (Disney employee). He was an international exchange student from Brazil spending his summer vacation working for Disney. He asked where we live, and of course we didn’t have an easy answer! When we explained that we live on the road, he got excited and said, “Oh my gosh, you are the second family I’ve met who are living on the road!” He told me that it was in this very same spot that he met the grandmother and the little boy, and as he told me how intelligent the little boy was, and how they had an older girl as well, I knew exactly who he was talking about. I told him that I was excited to go home and email the family to let them know about my interesting encounter.
About twenty minutes later I look over and see the back of someone’s head and I think to myself, “Hmm, I wonder if that’s them. Wouldn’t that be amazing it if was!” Just then, my new Brazilian friend came running over to me and told me excitedly, “They are RIGHT HERE!!! That family, they are HERE!” I went over and sure enough, it was Patti from Focht Family on the Road!
The Focht Family was the very first family that I found who was actually living on the road full time. They were our original inspiration, and I’m still in shock and awe that we ran into them!
Then they told us that they were headed next to Lazy Days, one of our most favorite campgrounds. We thought sure this was a sign from above that we were meant to be there because our very good friends we headed there and had asked us to join them.
Katherine and Samantha really hit it off, as did Matthew and Little Josh. Nathan and Bonnie were even nicer than I imagined them to be!
As we were walking we came upon a Disney Camp Rock street party. Katherine and Molly went up when they called upon the crowd to join them. There was a film crew there taking footage for the Extreme Makeover Home Edition and both girls were caught on tape as we were asked to sign a release. If they make the cut, look for them in about 6 weeks on the episode featuring the Dickenson Family from South Carolina (I think).
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
It’s been a couple of months now, so we officially have our feet wet.
A few weeks ago Gary and I realized that we were not going to survive financially without renting out our house, so we talked to all the children and everyone agreed that we did NOT want to return to Maine any time soon. Gary contacted a broker and she went over to look at the house. A few days later she called and said that she knew that we hadn’t entered into a contract yet, but she had a family and could she please, unofficially show the house. We agreed, and later that afternoon found out that they loved it and hoped to move in less than a week. Yikes!
Gary flew home to ready the house, and that is where he is currently. I’m “home” with all the kids, and my mother, who decided with very little warning to come visit for a week. The day before she left to come down she thought to invite Noah’s buddy, Stevie with her, so he is here visiting as well! It’s a full house!
A few weeks ago Gary and I realized that we were not going to survive financially without renting out our house, so we talked to all the children and everyone agreed that we did NOT want to return to Maine any time soon. Gary contacted a broker and she went over to look at the house. A few days later she called and said that she knew that we hadn’t entered into a contract yet, but she had a family and could she please, unofficially show the house. We agreed, and later that afternoon found out that they loved it and hoped to move in less than a week. Yikes!
Gary flew home to ready the house, and that is where he is currently. I’m “home” with all the kids, and my mother, who decided with very little warning to come visit for a week. The day before she left to come down she thought to invite Noah’s buddy, Stevie with her, so he is here visiting as well! It’s a full house!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Crazy Hard
When we were making the decision to do something radically different with our lives, I did a lot of online reading. There are hundreds of people out there doing what we are. Everything I read was so positive and supportive of this lifestyle. No one was talking about how HARD it is. I’m not sure how my writing is perceived, but let me tell you, this is the hardest thing we have ever done. And so far it hasn’t gotten easier, but harder. Crazy hard! Also, expensive!
We are having a great time and wouldn’t want to be doing anything different, but this life we are choosing requires great sacrifice, over and over again.
It scares me a little because we are making major life decisions on a daily basis, and our cortisol levels are running high, which is never a good state to be in for making major life decisions. Cue more cortisal.
I feel good about things, as hard as they are. I feel like we are making sacrifices to live our dream, and even though it’s a lot of work, things are happening so fast and with that “woosh” feeling that it makes me think that it’s exactly as it should be.
We are having a great time and wouldn’t want to be doing anything different, but this life we are choosing requires great sacrifice, over and over again.
It scares me a little because we are making major life decisions on a daily basis, and our cortisol levels are running high, which is never a good state to be in for making major life decisions. Cue more cortisal.
I feel good about things, as hard as they are. I feel like we are making sacrifices to live our dream, and even though it’s a lot of work, things are happening so fast and with that “woosh” feeling that it makes me think that it’s exactly as it should be.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The Eclipse
We were invited to have dinner with our friends, and near (what we thought was) the end of the evening the baby needed a diaper change so I opted to walk home with him for a change. On the way back, we asked our favorite security guard for a ride back up to our friends house and he asked if we would be staying up for the eclipse. I said hell no, but once I mentioned it to Rainy, she put on a pot off coffee, filled a bowl with popcorn and proceeded to force us to stay awake!
We thought staying up until 3am was something that would happen about as often as a lunar eclipse. We were wrong about that as well. LOL
Alan doing dishes. I love you, Alan!
This is my favorite picture. I call it "boink!" because as it was taken, Josiah walked into the awning. It was so dark out that I couldn't really see what I was taking pictures of.
this is crazy this is crazy this is crazy
The kids all wrote an essay about their lunar eclipse experience, so we can refer to this insanity as "an educational field trip."
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Sunday, December 19, 2010
We are staying at the same campground for a month, so while things do happen that are blog-worthy, the sameness makes it feel as though there is nothing to report.
We met a fabulous family from New Jersey. I don’t’ even know where to begin, but suffice it to say, I feel like she “gets” me. She knows about things that are important to me, but that no one else knows/cares about. Certain details that I never get to talk about, or if I do talk about them, no one understand!
They are Rainy and J.C, their travel buddy Josiah, and their children, Jacob and Alan. They are traveling missionary musicians. I just LOVE them. We have plans to sit together this week and “do school” with our children, but I fear that she is going to kick our butts. On a good day, we get some math done. Her normal day goes from 9-3:30 with a break for lunch. Yikes!
I’m sitting now in the rec room trying to prepare for the week. I’ve been here for an hour and have not even finished the printing of ONE subject for ONE child. God help me. I still need to get it al printed then bring it to Staples to have it bound, and that’s just the math. The rest of it, eeek. I don’t know where to begin.
Christmas is right around the corner and we still haven’t quite figured out what we are doing. Ideally we will be able procure Disney tickets, but that is not a definite. I don’t want to go with the Christmas crowds, however our month is up on January first. Gary and I don’t want to stay here at this campground another month, and I don’t know that we really have any other good options. Everything is always so stinking complicated.
We were able to get in on a Groupon for another amusement park. It’s called Old Town, and when we visited Orlando 6 years ago we opted to take the kids there rather than Disney. It’s much like a carnival, only permanent and it’s just a fraction of the cost of most amusement parks. This Groupon was for 50% off, so it will make a nice addition to their limited gift haul this year.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Last night we headed over to the Disney Contemporary Resort. I couldn’t help but imagine this was where Jen stayed with her family on their 1980’s Disney trip. I have no idea if they stayed there or not, but it’s what I imagined. (I have since asked and they did not stay on Disney property for their 80's Disney vacation.)
We went into the second building first, where only hotel guests are allowed. We rode the elevator up to the 15th floor (the 16th floor was only accessible with a key) and stepped out to enjoy a view of the Magic Kingdom.
We walked across the skywalk over to the main hotel. It’s such an amazing feeling just to be present on Disney property. The monorail runs right through the Contemporary Hotel, so we decided that a ride was in order. We stepped off at the Polynesian Hotel and enjoyed the shops there. I wanted Gary to buy a pair of Mickey Mouse Crocs but he didn’t want to spend the money. Sigh.
The kids colored pages with a Disney cast member who was there for a semester as part of a paid internship. Apparently all the hotels have activities for the guests much the same way most campgrounds do.
Being that we were all tired, hungry (and broke! LOL) we went back “home” to the motor home to cook dinner. I had planned on making mashed potatoes and stuffing but I’m missing at least one pan so I wasn’t able to. Instead we had spaghetti with sauce, salad, and garlic bread. It was delicious. For dessert we had more of the Floridian chocolate.
When we were finished eating, the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom began; we had a front row view out our camper window. We couldn’t have had a better view if we planned it.
One of my main reasons for always wanting to visit Disney World at the holidays was to see the decorations. I feel like I am having the Disney experience without the thousands dollar price tag. It occurs to me that if we HAD decided to break the bank and head down here at some point, we would be having the exact experience that we are now, only we are seeing ALL the hotels, not just one, and we are doing it for free. The rooms at these places run about $500 per night to start, and we would need two rooms, so there is no way that we could do it for less than $10,000. Wow. Unreal.
That said, I’m having a great time wandering around all the free areas at Disney. Just walking through each gift shop really is such a thrill. I’m still unsure if we will be able to take the kids to one of the parks, and if we do how many days we’ll get to go, but for now we are just enjoying what we can.
We went into the second building first, where only hotel guests are allowed. We rode the elevator up to the 15th floor (the 16th floor was only accessible with a key) and stepped out to enjoy a view of the Magic Kingdom.
We walked across the skywalk over to the main hotel. It’s such an amazing feeling just to be present on Disney property. The monorail runs right through the Contemporary Hotel, so we decided that a ride was in order. We stepped off at the Polynesian Hotel and enjoyed the shops there. I wanted Gary to buy a pair of Mickey Mouse Crocs but he didn’t want to spend the money. Sigh.
Matthew accidentally knocked over a display of vinylmation characters.
at the Polynesian Resort
Matthew thought the M was for Matthew.
The kids colored pages with a Disney cast member who was there for a semester as part of a paid internship. Apparently all the hotels have activities for the guests much the same way most campgrounds do.
Being that we were all tired, hungry (and broke! LOL) we went back “home” to the motor home to cook dinner. I had planned on making mashed potatoes and stuffing but I’m missing at least one pan so I wasn’t able to. Instead we had spaghetti with sauce, salad, and garlic bread. It was delicious. For dessert we had more of the Floridian chocolate.
When we were finished eating, the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom began; we had a front row view out our camper window. We couldn’t have had a better view if we planned it.
One of my main reasons for always wanting to visit Disney World at the holidays was to see the decorations. I feel like I am having the Disney experience without the thousands dollar price tag. It occurs to me that if we HAD decided to break the bank and head down here at some point, we would be having the exact experience that we are now, only we are seeing ALL the hotels, not just one, and we are doing it for free. The rooms at these places run about $500 per night to start, and we would need two rooms, so there is no way that we could do it for less than $10,000. Wow. Unreal.
That said, I’m having a great time wandering around all the free areas at Disney. Just walking through each gift shop really is such a thrill. I’m still unsure if we will be able to take the kids to one of the parks, and if we do how many days we’ll get to go, but for now we are just enjoying what we can.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tonight was amazing.
We went back and forth about eating out. We wanted to go over to see a dinner show, but also felt like we really should eat at home. We drove over to investigate the options for spending the night in the parking lot of the Capone Dinner Show because the alcohol is included in the cost of admission; I didn’t want to drive after drinking, and Gary didn’t think I should just forgo the free rum. Spending the night there was not possible, so we drove on.
We stopped at a Ponderosa Restaurant. Gary went in to investigate while I parked. He came out rather unimpressed, so we got back in the camper (not before Joshua accidentally stepping in a puddle of sludge!) and headed to Cici’s Pizza.
After dinner I noticed that we were close to Disney so we decided to drive over to see if there was a place to park the motor home thinking that we could walk around Downtown Disney.
The first two lots were full, and realizing that we weren’t going to pay the admission for Disney Quest, we drove on. I remembered that the Floridian Hotel had the gingerbread house that I have been pining to see for many years, so I thought we could just drive by. I didn’t think they would actually let us in just to gawk, but I was wrong. Not only were we directed to a huge cast parking lot, but we were met by the hotel manager on a golf cart who drove us right to the front door. As if that weren’t enough, she found us a little while later in the lobby and told us that she wanted to be sure that we experienced her hotel’s magic, and handed us a bag full of the complimentary pillow chocolates. I didn’t count them, but I’m guessing there were 30 or 40 of them!
We took pictures of the massive Christmas tree and the amazing gingerbread house, then wandered out by the pool to have a look. We headed down to the beach to enjoy the hammocks, but before too long we could see the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom so we walked closer to have a better view. It was incredibly exciting for all of us!
We went back and forth about eating out. We wanted to go over to see a dinner show, but also felt like we really should eat at home. We drove over to investigate the options for spending the night in the parking lot of the Capone Dinner Show because the alcohol is included in the cost of admission; I didn’t want to drive after drinking, and Gary didn’t think I should just forgo the free rum. Spending the night there was not possible, so we drove on.
We stopped at a Ponderosa Restaurant. Gary went in to investigate while I parked. He came out rather unimpressed, so we got back in the camper (not before Joshua accidentally stepping in a puddle of sludge!) and headed to Cici’s Pizza.
After dinner I noticed that we were close to Disney so we decided to drive over to see if there was a place to park the motor home thinking that we could walk around Downtown Disney.
The first two lots were full, and realizing that we weren’t going to pay the admission for Disney Quest, we drove on. I remembered that the Floridian Hotel had the gingerbread house that I have been pining to see for many years, so I thought we could just drive by. I didn’t think they would actually let us in just to gawk, but I was wrong. Not only were we directed to a huge cast parking lot, but we were met by the hotel manager on a golf cart who drove us right to the front door. As if that weren’t enough, she found us a little while later in the lobby and told us that she wanted to be sure that we experienced her hotel’s magic, and handed us a bag full of the complimentary pillow chocolates. I didn’t count them, but I’m guessing there were 30 or 40 of them!
We took pictures of the massive Christmas tree and the amazing gingerbread house, then wandered out by the pool to have a look. We headed down to the beach to enjoy the hammocks, but before too long we could see the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom so we walked closer to have a better view. It was incredibly exciting for all of us!
Then we wandered around the gift shops inside the hotel, taking many pictures of kids in a myriad of hats. It was a blast.
I have always wanted to go see the interior of the Disney hotel, the Grand Floridian in particular because of the gingerbread house. In fact, whenever I have thought about planning a Disney vacation I’ve been terribly torn because I wanted to see the Christmas decorations, but I also wanted to visit the parks at a time when it would be less crowded. I feel like my dream has already been fulfilled. What an exciting evening!
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