#RVofChaos Part I

I don't even know where to start.  On a whim, in February, after drinking some really great wine on a Friday night, we Googled RV rentals.  Fifteen minutes later we had a one-way RV rented for 12 days from Chicago to San Francisco.

The next morning we Googled the miles required for that journey and for a brief moment, we panicked.  A straight drive would be 2,200 miles. Whoa.  The farthest I had ever driven with the kids was to LA...6 hours :) Chicago is pretty far away. But the RV was booked and we were committed. And excited. I checked out about 100 books from the library, including:

• The Complete Idiots Guide to RVing 
• Camping with Kids
• Utah!
• Colorado Camping
• 50 Best Utah Hikes
• Kid's Guide to National Parks
• US State Parks
• etc etc etc

And every night, after the kids went to bed, I would read and plan our journey.  I am known to be less of a planner and more spontaneous in decision making, but sooo thankful I did the pre-planning. This proved to be a very important step in our extended cross-country road trip, especially with the little ones.

So Spring Break rolled around and it was time!  The kids couldn't have been more excited.  We woke up early, bags packed to the absolute fullest, and we headed for the airport to fly to Chicago.  

The first night in Chicago, we stayed at a hotel downtown and glammed it up before starting our camping journey.  The kids took their last bubble bath and we had our last sleep in plush beds for a while.  We went out for Chicago-style pizza for dinner and then took a dip in the pool before bed.

(our favorite hotel activity, jumpin' on the beds...shhhh!)

In the morning, we walked to the West Egg Cafe for breakfast...in the SNOW!  It was snowing! And we were about to start camping...

We stopped by Target on the way to the RV rental center and scooped up the 1,000 things you need to camp that don't fit in airplane luggage (pillows, pots, pans, camp chairs, doormats, charcoal, food...). We checked in, got our brand new 2016 RV and moved in.  It was awesome.  And snowing.

Next up, pulling in to our first campsite on Night #1...

Lucca texting Daddy

Lucca has figured out the art of texting on my phone. Her favorite emoji = Baby Angel!

New Year update

January 2015 in a nutshell!  We are preparing to move next weekend, so it's been a crazy topsy turvy 2015 so far...Packing, packing, packing.  A quick update on life as we know it at this very {fleeting} moment:

LUCCA:

Loves..Palace Pets

American Girl

FASHION!!!  Loves to change her clothes and put outfits together.

Dance & Gymnastics

Writing in "cursive" and doodling in notebooks

Reading

Loves setting the table for dinner and making it fancy

Such a caretaker, especially if someone is sick/sad. Very nurturing. Would make a perfect nurse.

Lost her 1st tooth!

JACKSON:

PLANES...still!  All.The.Planes.

Hot Wheels, especially "loopty loops"

Watching My Big, Big Friend on AppleTV

..and "Egg Videos" on YouTube

Anything tech - especially my iPhone

His imagination has taken off and it's so incredible to watch him play.

Adores Lucca.

Keeps having bad dreams about Aliens and Pirate Ships

Asks to have sushi for every meal.

KELSEY:

Very much ready to be set-up in the new house.

Over winter. Ready for summer!

In love with every moment I spend with my family.

Riding my awesome turquoise bike.

Doing T25 workouts, which means I can't walk every other day.

RUSTIN:

Already working on his 2nd freelance project of the new year.

Dominating the market.

Brings me a Peet's coffee every morning.

Runs for fun.  #crazy

Just turned 39!  We celebrated at Hopmonk.

We are healthy, happy, loving each other and loving life.  If Rustin and I could freeze time with the kids being 5 and 3, we would.  We love to tell Lucca she can't turn 6 - but, she's fine with skipping 6 altogether and moving on to 7. Or 8.  This 1st month of the year has been a whirlwind and we are surrounded by boxes everywhere we look, but a fresh start is on the horizon and we can't wait!  

My 2015 is officially starting in February.  And it's gonna be amazing.

December Daily 29

Stone Mountain becomes Snow Mountain in the winter & we spent the entire day there having loads of fun! Tubing, building snow castles, riding the train and gondola and absolutely freezing our faces off on top of the mountain.  

CUTE kids in snow bibs..

We came veryyy prepared for the snow

My guy 

Lucca getting Daddy in a predicament that resulted in Daddy having wet feet for the rest of the day. Oops.

Exploring the top of Stone Mountain. It was FREEZING.  

We had a blast. Love my family so much. 

December Daily 28

A beautiful day for ice skating with cousins at The Avalon in Alpharetta!  Lucca was a pro, Jackson made it around once :)

Pinkberry for an after skating treat..

And a nice fire to warm us up after ice skating and ice cream..

These two ❤️