People. You know I get crazy ideas, right? Some of those nutty ideas just won't leave me alone. I don't remember exactly when I got the idea to do an epic cross country road trip, but once the seed slipped in, it quickly took root and has grown into a mighty oak.
I've spent the last year planning out the details of where, when, who, what, and how. I've really enjoyed the planning, though I'll admit that the big picture planning was more enjoyable than the nitty-gritty details (and some of those details are yet to be finalized!).
But now, ready or not, we are heading out!
Last week I hit the "what-the-heck-was-I-thinking?!" point, as the reality of the trip started to sink in. "So much driving! Nine weeks?! Seriously? This could be a disaster."
Once I got that out of my system, we settled down for the final preparations. There is so much that we had to do to get ready for the trip, but even more to do to get ready to be gone for two months.
My kids might argue that one of the best things about getting ready for a road trip is getting the car washed. And boy was our car dirty!
We front-loaded most of our homeschooling curriculum, so we finished most of it in the last couple weeks. We ended art, science, piano, and violin early.
We had to wrap things up with our co-ops and say good-bye. They will finish out their years without us. Aubree is not thrilled about being gone for so long; she's especially sad to be missing the end of her last year in Homes United. She knows she will have a good and worthwhile time once we're on the trip, but it's hard to leave her friends and miss out on fun activities, including dances, class parties, recitals, birthdays, hikes, back-packing trips, and end-of-year celebrations.
You see, we are so unbelievably blessed in the network we have in our lives. Between church, FLEET, Homes United, our neighborhood, family, and our friends, we have so much love and support. It's hard to leave for an extended amount of time. It's nice that it's just a temporary separation. The week leading up to leaving, our friends went out of their way to spoil and help us.
Elizabeth watched my kids for hours on what ended up being the busiest day of the week for me. She made them lunch, let them picnic on her deck, let them help her make homemade play dough, then let them play with it (and make a huge mess) at her house. This is Elizabeth's first year homeschooling, and we have loved having them as homeschooling friends.
Tallie and her kids went to Trader Joe's and bought us a huge bag full of their favorite road trip snacks. They even personalized their choices. For example, they bought Thane watermelon jerky, because it was the strangest thing they could find and Thane loves weird food. Even more than this incredibly generous gift, Tallie has been a wealth of information and support in planning our trip. She took her three kids and spent ten months touring the USA, Mexico, and Canada last year. She makes our trip look like child's play!
The Dance's came over for one final play date before we left. While her kids kept my kids happily occupied, Stephanie helped me pack.
Instead of taking individual suitcases, I decided to pack a day's worth of clothes for everyone in a packing cube. Stephanie helped me track down clothes, coordinate outfits, fold them, and pack them neatly. Her help made an overwhelming, monotonous task enjoyable.
As hard as it was to prepare and say good-bye, we are so excited to be heading out on this adventure. As much as I love, love, love our friends, communities, and activities, I am looking forward to taking a break from it all. I completely acknowledge that I eagerly and cognizantly get myself involved in a lot. I wouldn't change that, but I hope this trip gives me a chance to really be in the moments with our family.
As an extrovert, my go-to is to always have other people join us on outings and activities. Our trip will have lots of opportunities to spend time with cherished friends and family (hurrah!), and it will also have a lot of times when it's just our family. I think that will be good for us. I am certain there will be hard times, but I sincerely hope that the end result is stronger familial bonds, shared memories, lots of laughter, and a wonderful family adventure.
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