Turing dreams into reality

As many of you know, and most of you don't, this 3 week trip is just the beginning of something bigger. Drum roll please....Next summer, we will be hitting the road, full time, with our tiny house (aka trailer) in tow. Launch day, June 30, 2017. Destination, the entire United States. Timeline, approximately 1 year. Not kidding. It's happening. Now, are we crazy? Totally. Are we excited? Completely. We have talked about this for a while now, but it was more or less joking and dreaming. Until we got a serious look on our face one night while I was reading a blog about another family doing this and it was like a light bulb flickered in our heads. Wait, we really could pull this off. We really could do this. From that moment forward, we haven't stopped planning. I thought the idea would eventually fade away, but it never did. We continued to get more and more excited about it. The dreams got bigger and plans became reality. When we started to tell our families and close friends, we received nothing but support. Our parents had a few hesitations about it, mostly because the idea of being gone for a year is hard to imagine, but the adventure and opportunities outweigh that and they understand. We will be back. And, we love Face Time. Most of the responses we get from people are wishing that they could do the same. Which then just pushes us to do it, because we have this opportunity to open the world to our children. If we didn't do it, we would completely regret it. 1 year, the entire United States, 3 kids, 2 dogs and our home in tow. We could not be more excited.

We have given ourselves 1 year to prep because there is a lot that needs to be done before we can go. We need to upgrade the truck. We currently have a Ford F-150, that just wont get us where we want to go for an entire year. We have even talked about trading in our trailer we currently have for something a little longer with a little extra space. As far as the inside of trailer, this is where things get fun. Have you ever searched Pinterest for Trailer remodels? If not, do it. The possibilities are endless people! Check out my Pinterest board full of inspiration. Between Travis' woodworking skills and my big ideas, our trailer renovation will make a trailer into a cozy, organized, tiny living, dream home.
 
We will be introducing homeschooling into our lives for 1 year. Jake will be entering 2nd grade in the fall of 2017 and Bryce will be entering 4th grade. With my degree in Liberal Studies and years working in classrooms, I will finally put that to use again. I'm a little nervous about this idea. Kids always push their moms to the limit. Seeing how much they can get away with before a mom breaks. Will they listen to me as their teacher? Will the tantrums ensue? We shall find out! 2nd and 4th grades were two of my very favorite grades to teach,  so I am excited to jump in to that curriculum, which I am familiar with. 

For all of our oh so faithful friends and family members, clients and future clients, don't panic. We still will be actively doing photography. We will still be taking weddings for the year 2017-2018, so please continue to share us with your family and friends. Flying Travis home, editing on the road, continuing to share our love of photography, we are still on it. We will be back and forth to capture all of your moments, milestones, weddings and more. Do not fret! We are also excited to meet new face and capture new families moments on the road. When we hit a city where you may know someone, share us! I can only imagine the images Travis will capture on our adventures as well. 

One main concern of ours, before we decided to really hit the road for sure, was Jake. Between his $900 prescription that we need to make sure was covered and available on the road to his in ability to sit for long periods of time, to all the MRIs and check ups and doctor appointments and blah blah blah, we need to make 100% sure that traveling with him was safe to do. I spoke with two of this doctors who were so completely on board. They were willing to follow up on him monthly with blood draws across the US. We even talked about weening him completely off his medication, which makes me too nervous to do. Filling his medications could be a challenge, but its something I'm willing to take on. If all else fails and this ends up being too much, we come back. Nothing lost. Yet, with the doctors on board, and most of the KT specialists on the East Coast anyhow, we got the go ahead.

So, that's it. For all of our friends across the United States, be ready for us. We will be doing our best to see you. For those of you who have traveled to places around the United States and know some MUST see places, we want to know about them! For those of you need photography services around the United States, were on our way. We are enjoying this last year here with everyone, beginning to sell things and make lists of what to take and what to store, and making plans. We couldn't be more excited for an adventure.

This current 3 week trip we are on is great practice to find out what we need and want in a tiny home, teaching us patience with our kids and with each other, and giving us incite into trailer life. Were excited and glad to have you following our crazy adventures. You only live once, right?