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COVID on the Road

As everyone knows in March of 2020 everything shut down. No one could travel, go out to eat or do anything except basic necessities like run to the grocery store. We had already sold our house a week before the shut down and had moved into our apartment to begin the transition to RV living. We were worried that everything would come to a halt and our plans would need to change, but little did we know, COVID created the perfect path to our new way of living.

I was working full-time when the shutdown happened. Working full-time while trying to homeschool and/or entertain three kids is hard! Especially when one of the kiddos is under 1 year old. My boss was getting frustrated about my split time between being a mom, teacher, and employee. I was getting equally frustrated at not performing like I would like at work. Zach and I had already planned on me “retiring” from work (mostly because I could not do my job remotely at the time), but we weren’t sure of when I would officially quit. When COVID hit and everything was crazy, we knew I would need to finally set the date to become a full-time stay-at-home mom. I gave my notice in May and my boss asked me to stay on until July.

Zach’s job on the other hand became completely remote for the foreseeable future, so we took that as an open door to get ready and start our RV journey early. In September of 2020, we moved into our RV and by October we had taken our first road trip that led us to the east coast on a five month expedition.

Living in an RV has allowed us to stay away from people and be safer than ever while traveling. We can do grocery pick-ups at most walmarts and local grocery stores. We wear our masks, even if most people in that part of the country didn’t. Most “popular” sites around the country are very desolate compared to the norm because of COVID, so it has allowed us to get in places much easier than normal.

Most people are spending more time outdoors during this time and I think that is a wonderful thing. Even if you do not own an RV, grab a tent and go to your local park for the night, weekend, or week. Take a family walk in a nearby park. Grab a bike and take a ride around your neighborhood. Use COVID as an excuse to get active and see the positive it has created in your own life. Yes, there will be negative surrounding this last year, but think about all the moments you got to spend with your family.

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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How Do We Keep Up with “Normal” Life Things

Doctor appointments, dentist appointments, and car repairs oh my! If we are traveling all the time, how the heck do we keep up with “normal” life while on the road? Well, the short version is we schedule everything when we return (for the most part).

Having four kids means we have quite a few doctor and dentist appointments. Luckily, we have been back for all our appointments, but with a newborn, they require a LOT more appointments. They see the doctor when they are a few days old, a few weeks old, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, etc. Huxton saw the doctor this last week for his 2 month checkup. I discussed with his doctor that we would be heading on the road, so we wouldn’t be back for his other checkups, so they gave me their recommended shot schedule. Our plan is to visit an “in-network” pediatrician on the road where we are for the other appointments we would miss. I also discussed Lawsyn’s 2.5 year check-up and she was fine with her skipping that checkup. For the rest of us, we are good – for now.

The dentist is the same situation as above. The kids saw the dentist in January, so we will probably visit an office on the road.

Now, car repairs are a different animal. While in Louisiana, we had to get some repairs on the Beast. We also had to do more repairs in Florida and also when we got back home. Our vehicle is 19 years old and has mostly original parts, so we are slowly replacing everything (not our intention). When on the road, we have not been stranded yet (knock on wood). But our plan if that happened would be to call roadside assistance, which we have on our RV and possibly an UBER if needed. We do thorough research on the repair shops we visit by reading over reviews. I think this should be done no matter what you are doing – eating, getting repairs, getting your hair done, etc.

Finally, for the rv, we got tires replaced and got some a/c, fridge, and water heater repairs done from highly rated rv repair folks. We had three tire blow-outs and 1 flat tire while on the road for 4 months. Zach from Rolling Restoration recommended we get two spare tires for the RV and boy am I glad we followed his advice. We get our tires from Walmart and get good quality tires because the rv is HEAVY. We don’t want to risk being stranded because of a flat tire.

Although life gets a little more challenging when it comes to traveling around in an rv full-time, we do our research and make a plan. We don’t have a house payment or the costs that come with owning a house. We DO have more car expenses and rv expenses, but we made sure and got insurance to cover a vast amount of issues that could arise.

How does your family make it work?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV WifeMake sure and subscribe on our home page for updates when we post more articles like this one!

Biloxi, Mississippi

Who else does the Mississippi chant when they spell out the state? Just habit. We decided to leave Louisiana early and head on to Biloxi, so we got into our RV park late at night. What we didn’t realize was that the RV park was gated. So when we showed up, we were stuck in the parking lot. Lucky for us, the RV park handyman was coming home late that night and let us in. So, we got one night free (winning!).

Now onto what you want to hear. First off, let’s talk about the beach in Biloxi. When I told my mom where we were staying, she told me the beach wouldn’t be great, more like a lake. She was right. The sand was nice, but the water was brown and flat. We didn’t swim in the water, but the kids had a blast on the beach just playing in the sand.

Second, we went right after a major hurricane wiped out and destroyed a bunch of property, trees and casinos. The casinos looked like a lot of fun (if you don’t have kids with you). Luckily they had a street fair in a local town that was super fun for us. We ate Pop Brothers popsicles that were fantastic and walked around and shopped a little. That day ended up being perfect.

Lastly, I would highly recommend visiting Davis Bayou Nature’s Way Trail and Ship Island Pier if and when it opens. It was closed when we went by due to Hurricane Zeta. We ended up driving around the park (what was open) and saw some gorgeous coastal homes near the park as well. Very cute and quaint town near the park. Picture perfect.

Let us know what you think about Biloxi. Any recommendations?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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Real Emotions – RV Edition

Zach and I have always been busy people. When things slow down, we usually try and find something to make ourselves more stressed out and keep us busy. For example, have more babies, change jobs, buy a house, sell our house, go back to school, etc.

Zach is done with his MBA now (he graduates on Saturday) and we are done having kids (I am still sad about it). We are really struggling with what is next for us. As most of you know, we sold our house back in March 2020 and have lived in an RV full-time since September of last year. We just had our fourth child in March and had to come back to our hometown (Austin,TX) to deliver him. We have been in the Austin area since January and we are so ready to leave.

I always imagined having the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood with the perfect family, but as most of you know, that doesn’t really exist. Perfect is not reality. Maybe some people are satisfied with the white picket fence life, but what surprised me the most was that life was not what I wanted. I was constantly sad about the little time I spent with my family and how I wanted to travel.

When we headed back to Austin in January after our first east coast tour, I was so excited to be near our family again. But, after a couple of months we were ready to go! I have struggled emotionally with the next steps we should take. What path is right for us? What will satisfy this hunger in us for adventure?

In Austin, housing prices are OUT-OF-CONTROL. This makes me second guess our decision of selling our home and not buying another one. Did we make the right choice? Maybe we could find a new city or state in our west coast journey that would be our new home. Who knows? I need to work on being content with where we are, look forward to the trips ahead of us and let future decisions be just that, future decisions. Do you struggle with where you are? Are you unsure about what your future holds?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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What We Used – Homeschool Curriculums

My mom homeschooled all of her kids (there were 5 of us). Some of us were only homeschooled for a few years and others our whole lives. So, when I knew I was going to start homeschooling, I went to the expert on what she used with us and what she liked or didn’t like. I did a TON of research, read reviews, tested my kids on what levels they would be at, etc. I wanted to really challenge my kids and I probably went overboard our first year, but most days we still finish by noon (or shortly after).

If you are homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling, I hope the list of things we did this year are helpful. I didn’t follow one particular program, but I did take what I thought would work best for my kids to create my own curriculum. Make sure you do your own research and take your child’s learning style into consideration.

I have added links to the items I purchased from each company.

Reading – Sonlight Readers – We used the readers for my 3rd grader and we will use them again next year when he is in 4th grade and when my other son is in 1st grade. I didn’t feel like the kindergarten readers were necessary. The readers have a schedule that comes with the books, so it tells your child exactly what chapters or pages to read each day. My son really loved all of his readers.

Language Arts – Good and Beautiful – I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Good and Beautiful language arts program. I used it for both my kinder and 3rd grader. HIGHLY recommend. My kinder guy went from knowing letter sounds at the beginning of the year to being a very confident reader. If you get ANYTHING from this post. Get this!

Writing & Grammar – IEW – I linked to the exact packet we got for our first year. Recommend this for 3rd grade and older. My son has become a much better writer this year. His grammar knowledge is probably better than most high schoolers.

Math – Saxon – I personally love Saxon. I feel like most people/kids love it or hate it. I used Saxon when I was in school and it seems to work well with my kids as well. Saxon has a spiral approach, so it continues to test the child on things that they have learned before. You would need to test your child to know which level they should be at. The tests can be found here.

Handwriting – Good and Beautiful – My kiddos enjoyed their handwriting books. This company does a great job at making their books very colorful and enticing.

Typing – typing.com – A free online typing program that my kids enjoy. Always a bonus if they like it!

Latin – Latin Primer – We only did the first 14 lessons, we are going to continue with this book next year for my 3rd grader.

Piano – Joy Tunes – Kids LOVED this and so do I. You can create up to 4 profiles and it teaches you how to play while adding in current or popular songs to learn along the way. Kept my kids entertained.

History – Our Star Spangled History – American history textbook with different activities you can do after each lesson, either baking something, acting something out, or building something. We are going to do Story of the World next year and compare the two.

Science – Good and Beautiful – Space Science, Water In Our World, and Geology – We liked these science units. They contain about 12 or so lessons that you do 2 times a week. You will have to gather supplies but it isn’t too bad. I would like to find a science curriculum that comes with everything in it because it is a challenge in an RV having everything you need on hand.

What curriculum do you use with your kids? Any recommendations?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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RV Bathroom Organization

Our first and only home, we sold back in March 2020, was a three bedroom, two bathroom house. Think of all the things you could fit in the cabinets, drawers, and showers in both of those bathrooms. Now take one of those bathrooms and shrink it down to the size of a powder bath. How do you fit all of your crud into that tiny space? We have 6 people in our family now, so it is definitely like trying to figure out a puzzle. I despise cluttered spaces, so I had to get creative. I went crazy on amazon (as usual..can you say addiction) with different hooks and hanging things. Below is what I ordered and used for our small RV bathroom. Enjoy!

I bought a few different types of organization hangers. This one I got for my face products, toilet paper, etc. I used some strong stick on hooks that I also got on Amazon since I couldn’t hang this one on the door. I also like the hanging pocket ones because there is less to put up when we are ready to travel. In an RV, you have to secure everything before your get moving or else you will have a mess on your hands. I can’t tell you how many times I forgot to secure puzzles or books and they were strewn about the RV when we got to our destination.

I was so sick and tired of seeing soap bottles in our shower. We really don’t have space for everyone to have their own favorite soap, so I bought this soap dispenser. It is small and compact and can hold a full size bottle of soap. I do keep extras under the bathroom sink, but I don’t have to worry about putting the bottles in the tub when we are ready to hit the road or bottles falling on me as I try to take a shower in our tiny tub. We also have this shower curtain which also stores things like the baby’s soap, toys, etc.

The space behind our mirror is about 2-3 inches deep, so it was very difficult to find some bins to store our things a little bit neater. Walmart came thru for the win! These are silverware containers.

Here is another storage solution – shoe organizer. We hung it from the bathroom door and use it for hair products, lotions, extra baby wipes, etc.

What do you use in your rig or at home to stay more organized?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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When Traveling Gets Hard

We have been in our RV for seven months now. A couple of months we were in Austin but from October to January we were on the road. That is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all on the road. That is also time away from family and friends. Has it been hard? Yes. But, have we been together creating new memories? Also yes.

We are planning our next trip to the west coast and expect to be gone from May 2021 until early 2022. When telling our family the plan, they were hurt and upset. We aren’t trying to stay away from anyone, but you can’t travel from Washington to Texas pulling a travel trailer with four kids on a weekend to come home just for holidays. There are always airports, facetime calls, etc.

For Halloween, we didn’t get to do a traditional trick or treating knocking on doors to get candy. But, we did get our kids dressed up in costumes and do a scavenger hunt, where they had clues at different spots around the RV park with bags of candy for each of them. They thought it was super fun and people who saw me hiding candy in a palm tree probably thought I was crazy, but anything for the kids…right?

For Thanksgiving, we were with family that we rarely get to see, so that was nice to be around people we knew. I did actually want to cook Thanksgiving in our RV and see how creative we could get, but maybe next time! (haha)

For Christmas, Zach’s parents flew into where we were going to be and spent Christmas with us. It was a very nice treat for our kids to be with their grandparents. They stayed in a hotel room and we ordered food to go and ate together in the hotel lobby. They had carried all the kid’s presents and ours on the plane and had everything laid out for them in their room. We were incredibly surprised at what they were able to bring. They even managed to fly with a new YETI cooler for us! Talk about commitment.

No matter what your situation, just remember that holidays are a time to be with the people or animals that make you feel at home. Just be in the moment with them, even if that is on the road, hundreds of miles from ‘home’, and your Christmas tree is 1 foot tall.

How do you create traditions with your family on the road? What do your holidays look like?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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Travel Days – What We Take/Do

When you have a few kids and you travel often on the road, you can’t stop every hour to eat, use the restroom, etc. You would be broke and a 3-4 hour trip would take 6-7 hours. Believe me, we started our RV journey not really being prepared on travel days. I remember our first road trip from Austin to Galveston. A trip that was supposed to be 4ish hours took 8 hours! YIKES! Hopefully, what we changed and now do when we go on road trips can help you as well.

Food

For meals, we put together an ice chest for cold drinks and food. Sometimes we make sandwiches and sometimes we just throw in lunch meat, cheese and have some crackers for a homemade lunchable, We make sure to pack plenty of drink options for us. The kids really only drink water and milk, so they have water in the car (no way in heck will I let them drink milk in the car – been there, done that, never again). We also pack a gallon ziplock bag for each kid with non-refrigerated snacks. My kids will not stop eating unless you make them, so to ration our food, they get what is in the bag for snacking on the road and when they are out, they are out. We pack things like fruit, crackers, goldfish and usually a little treat. We also do one for ourselves. These ideas should help save you from tantrums and spending $50 for every meal on the road.

Bathroom Breaks/ Rest Breaks

We usually time out our breaks around a meal and it is usually lunch time. When we stop, we let the kids stretch their legs outside, we get our lunches out of the cooler, change diapers (for kids who are still in them), and use the bathroom (usually in the RV). Using the bathroom in the RV is a HUGE time saver for us. When we all go into a gas station to use the restroom it adds at least 30 minutes to our trip. If we go in the RV, it adds 10 minutes. We also let the dog go to the bathroom and top off with gas. We try to stop every 2 hours and maybe try to push 3 hours if we can. If we need to use the bathroom, we stop wherever it is safe and go in the RV potty. Seriously saves so much time.

Entertainment

My kids have their own Amazon pads. They are pretty inexpensive and they can download games, movies on Netflix, etc. so they don’t need wifi. This is the majority of their entertainment on the road. Lawsyn enjoys looking at books and coloring, so we pack some coloring books, pencils and books for her. The boys help us pass things to the third row if we have someone back there. Knoxton also brings books to read and Brixton sometimes brings some circuits that he builds. Usually Lawsyn and Brixton will take a nap at some point during the trip. For us, Zach has a bluetooth Bose speaker that we listen to audiobooks on or music. But most of the time we just talk.

I hope this was helpful for you! What are some tips you have for road tripping? How do you keep your kids entertained or cut back on food costs while on the road?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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Newborns in an RV

Having a newborn and caring for that newborn is no small feat. Having a newborn while living in an RV is on a whole nutha level. Although most people live in a house while raising a newborn and not in an RV, these necessities are universal for all. This list will also be helpful for those mommas (grandparents, dads, etc.) who walk into a Buy Buy Baby store and freak-out with baby overload. Let’s also not discount that fact that this was baby numero cuatro (4), so over time I have figured out what is really needed for those first few months of life. This article does not address the many things a mother needs to heal (witch hazel pads, squirt bottle, wine). Sorry moms!

Newborn Essentials

–Bassinet – We bought this portable one so we can tear it down when we need the space and take it with us when we stay with grandparents.

–Sheets for bassinet

–Changing pad – You could change the baby on your bed/couch, but I don’t want to wash sheets when my baby boy starts peeing mid diaper change at 4am. If you know, you know.

–Covers for changing pad

–Stroller – Preferably one that your car seat can snap into while your baby is an infant.

–Baby wrap – This is helpful when they are so young and you can’t take your stroller somewhere or don’t want to.

–Dockatot – We only bought this because I was given a gift card from work, otherwise I would not have splurged. My daughter loved it, but there are other options out there that are more affordable.

–Blankets – We use a combination of 20 year old baby blankets from Gymboree (they don’t make them as good as they used to) and these or these.

–Diapers – Newborn size

–Wipes – The Water Wipes are a MUST, because most diaper wipes contain chemicals that hurt your baby’s bum.

–Vaseline – Use for bottom after diaper changes because baby poop is very acidic and hurts them.

–Wiper – This is for their bums so you don’t get vaseline all over your hands and it swipes amazingly well.

–Onesies – I know everyone wants all the cute outfits, but the zipper pjs are the most practical. Also, try and find the onesies where there is a second zipper that starts from the bottom so the baby can stay warm on his upper half while you change him. I would say get 5-10 newborn sized ones and 5-10 0-3 month sized ones (depending on when you do laundry). Babies grow so quickly that most babies outgrow newborn size in their first month. Also look for newborn onesies that have a fold over on the sleeve that covers the baby’s hands so they don’t scratch their precious faces off.

–Carseat– For obvious reasons

–Head Support for carseat – The babies are so small at the beginning and they do not have any head strength, so this is to keep their heads from wobbling around in the car.

–Diaper bag – We have this one, but you need to store all the things in it for your new baby.

–Baby Soap

–Foam Mat – We have found that you don’t need anything fancy for your baby in the beginning for bath time. You can always upgrade to a fancier gadget when your baby is more mobile.

–Wash cloths – The baby ones are much softer for your newborns sensitive skin.

–Burp cloths – We like these, because they are practical and actually soak up spit-up.

If bottle fed…

–Bottles – These bottles are a must! They do have a lot of pieces, but they have helped reduce the amount of colic in my babies.

I hope this was a helpful list. Please note, this is also a list that I made, but each baby and family has their own individual needs. Please get what you need (or don’t need) and what your doctor or pediatrician recommends. What did you like to use/have with your little ones? What do you recommend?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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A Day in the Life

Living in a house versus living in an RV is a completely different lifestyle. When you live in a house, you can send your kids to their rooms, take a relaxing bath in your master suite, or even cook a large meal for your family. These are all things that are challenging and not necessarily possible in our rig. We can send our kids to their room, but that is also Zach’s office and we can definitely still hear them. I CAN’T even try to take a bath in our RV, believe me, I tried and I almost got stuck. And cooking a large meal for our family is more of a juggling act of what can fit in our oven or on our tiny three stove burner. Let’s walk through what our day looks like with a full-time worker (Zach) and homeschooling our two oldest while entertaining a one-year-old and a newborn.

Brixton is usually the first one up in the morning, followed by Knoxton and then Lawsyn. Brixton usually gets up between 6:30-7am, Knoxton usually 30 minutes later and Lawsyn 30 minutes after that. The boys are allowed to watch TV in the morning before our day gets started. Once Lawsyn gets up though, we are all up for the morning. Sometimes Zach and I get up at the same time and sometimes we let the other one sleep in for an extra hour or so. Once we are up, the boys have to turn off the tv and get dressed, help with chores, eat and then start school.

Knoxton knows what to get started on for school, Brixton has to wait for me to get started. When the kids need school breaks, they can play with Lawsyn or do something quiet. Lawsyn on the other hand needs activities to keep her busy. She does puzzles, colors, or looks at books. Some days she is easily entertained and some days she is SCARY. Parents of toddlers know what I am talking about. Ideally, I would like to be done with school by lunchtime, but most days we are finishing up after nap.

After lunch, we either do recess outside or take a nap. The nappers are me (because I have a newborn…duh) and Lawsyn and sometimes Brixton. Knoxton gets to read and have some more tv time unless he has more school to finish. We are obviously not anti-tv people. For naptime, the older kids usually have to watch an ‘educational’ tv show.

Then, after nap, we go outside. When Zach gets done with work for the day, we go for a drive most days. I HAVE to get out or I go nuts. Then we eat dinner and do our bedtime routine (bath, reading, brush teeth, and tuck-in time). Lawsyn lays down between 7-8pm, Brixton at 8-8:30pm and Knoxton gets to read until 9pm if he is not tired.

Then mom and dad get to party! Just kidding, but we usually eat dinner, watch shows or work after everyone goes to bed. My parents always ate after the kids went to bed and we never understood why, but now being parents to four kiddos, it is a nice ‘date’ every night to eat together in silence or have adult conversation. We still sit with the kids when they eat, but we prefer to wait until much later. We really cherish our time at night. I think that is what has kept us connected after 10 years and 4 kids.

I didn’t touch much on the newborn, Huxton, but he eats just like a newborn baby, every 2-3 hours. Zach and I either hold him or he sleeps in this bassinet we bought. The kids also help feed and hold him as well.

What does your day look like? Any tips on keeping toddlers entertained while you teach school?

Have any questions for us? We would love to hear from you!

XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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