Month: October 2019

Y’all…we had quite the eventful move from New Mexico to Colorado.

We could not retract our RV jacks yesterday when getting ready to leave the park in Santa Fe. We were on a pretty big slope and we got the error message: excessive angle. After pushing buttons what felt like a thousand times, we got the idea to drive one side of the RV onto ramps. Once we did that our jacks immediately retracted with the push of a button. We thought all was well, and we headed on our merry way to Colorado.

When we arrived at our next destination our jacks would not extend and our 4 slides would not go out. It was after 5:00 so Google and Facebook were our best options for help. We tried all sorts of things, none worked. We took a break and went to eat Mexican food since we could not get into our RV for food. A really sweet couple talked with us for awhile and handed us $100. That was super sweet and lightened the RV stress. At 10:30 PM we surrendered trying to fix the RV and went to a hotel. This morning we made a slew of calls and ended up talking to our new hero, Joe (Good Sam tech support). He walked us through having a tripped breaker, not having a reset button like we should, bypassing wires, etc. After following his step by step instructions, down came our jacks and out came our slides! We are back in the RV with a part we will be replacing arriving at 8AM tomorrow. Joe will then walk us through the replacing process, and we will then have a breaker reset switch! All part of the adventure!

Once we felt good about our RV, we headed to Mesa Verde National Park.

I believe it costs $25 per vehicle to get in, but we get in to all national parks free because Cherish has a 4th grade park pass. That is such an awesome thing offered by national parks!

We arrived too late to get on a tour to walk through the cliff dwellings. But we did get to drive up the winding mountain and tour the museum.

The kids filled out pamphlets answering all sorts of questions about Mesa Verde. They were then given junior ranger badges. They really enjoyed this.

Then we went to a lookout point where we could see one of the cliff dwellings where Indians lived many years ago.

It was really amazing to see.

We are still loving living in the RV. We are trying to beat the soon-to-come extreme cold and snow by heading to Utah soon.

This morning we got up at 3:30AM and left our RV in Santa Fe around 4:00AM to head to the Balloon Fiesta.

If you know us well, you know we struggle to make it to church by 10:30AM. Getting up so early was really a stretch.

There was no traffic. I hear Monday is one of the less busy days. We parked in a parking lot on site for a parking fee of $15. We paid $20 total for tickets. Tickets are $10 per adult, and kids ages 12 and under get in free. This was awesome for us as all of our children are ages 12 and under!

Morning glow started at 6:00AM. We enjoyed watching balloons be set up and be filled with air. The balloons glowed as the fire blazed within them, and then they slowly began to rise.

It was cold this morning, very cold to us Texans. We were so mesmerized by the balloons that we happily embraced the cold, though.

After the morning glow, we slowly became surrounded with balloons on the ground that were starting to fill with air.

It was truly a sight to see! We were all in awe! And this was before the balloons even ascended.

At 7:00AM the mass ascension began. It was amazing! I think, “Wow!”, was spoken every few seconds. And I couldn’t quit taking photos.

Bravely had been asleep. When she woke up, we put her glasses on and she gave the biggest, cutest smile as she gazed up at the balloons.

River loved the morning glow, but she was a little creeped out when all the balloons started filling around us. Once they started going up, she loved watching.

Our older kids thought this was one of the most awesome experiences they’ve had, and our younger ones loved talking about which balloons were their favorites.

At 8:00AM there was a balloon flying competition. Competitors attempted to drop a marker as close as possible to a specific target. This kept the balloons in the air for quite awhile, which we were happy to continue to watch.

If you’ve never been, it is definitely worth taking a trip to Albuquerque, NM to see this in person! This was an experience I’ll never forget and that I’d love to experience again!

Today we rode the Sandia Peak tram.

We waited in line for about 2 hours. We all thought it was worth it, but recommend looking into less busy times if you plan to go.

The great thing about standing in long lines is you get to meet and talk with people surrounding you. We met some great people today and really enjoyed conversations we had with them.

The price is what we consider a medium splurge. It is $25 per adult and $15 per child over age 5. A woman walked well into the line and asked our kids who their parents were. Tapestry pointed to me. The woman handed me two adult tickets and said they were tired of waiting and had decided to leave. We were so thankful! That was a $50 discount for us, plus our three youngest rode for free.

We loved walking around looking at the views from the top of the mountain.

And we all really enjoyed the ride on the tram.

We had an overall great day! We are exhausted and in bed early tonight. We plan to visit a local church tomorrow morning and rest tomorrow afternoon. On Monday we will be waking up in what we consider the middle of the night to head to the Balloon Fiesta!

Going up mountains and into valleys here in New Mexico has these lyrics playing on repeat in my head and in my heart:

On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the one who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes to the one who sees me there
When I’m standing on the mountain aft, didn’t get there on my own
When I’m walking through the valley end, no I am not alone!
You’re God of the hills and valleys!
Hills and Valleys!
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone!

Yesterday morning I helped Ryan hitch up in the pouring rain. That was an experience!

We drove about 40 miles in the rain. Then the clouds faded and we saw beautiful blue skies ahead.

We settled at our spot in Santa Fe. We went out for some authentic Mexican food and then got some much needed groceries.

Today we went to Meow Wolf, and we all absolutely loved it.

The website describes Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return as an immersive, permanent art installation featuring an astonishing form of non-linear storytelling. This unique and exploratory space was formed from a collaboration of over 100 artists, resulting in a wildly imaginative, interactive experience.

The tickets are what we consider pricey, especially as a big family. We paid $29 per adult and $21 per child over age 3. Ryan and I both agree that the experience was definitely worth the price.

We were hoping our little ones would enjoy the experience and not be apprehensive. Every one of them had such an amazing time exploring. No fear.

We were there for 2 1/2 hours, and honestly we could have happily stayed 4 hours. Bravely got hungry and tired.

There was something new at every turn.

Just when we thought we’d seen it all, we’d find a secret room or hidden passageway.

Going through the tunnel in the dryer was a huge hit.

This was great for all ages, even Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was weird, unique, fun and just overall really cool.

Tomorrow we plan to have a low key day. Homeschooling with actual books, the playground at our RV park, walks, cleaning and reorganizing a few things, everyday life stuff. We may venture out somewhere tomorrow evening. We’ll see.

I will share how we balance free stuff and pricey, going out to eat and eating at the RV or packing meals and how we choose which RV parks we stay in along the way. It’s a learning curve, and we are experimenting with what works well for us and what doesn’t in all aspects.

We are all really enjoying this new journey so far.

We have been living in our RV for one week now. So far, we are all loving it.

We spent the first several nights at Lake Somerville near our hometown. It’s a gorgeous spot, right next to the playground with a great view of the lake.

We started getting used to everyday life in the RV…meals, showering, chores, all the things.

We had probably 200+ gnats come into our RV two nights in a row. We learned to turn our awning light off and to get all 12 of us in more speedily by night 3. We all got a good laugh as I vacuumed all those gnats the first couple nights.

We were very busy tying up many loose ends and getting together with friends and family as we awaited our house closing.

On Monday we closed on the sale of our house. We could not have been more ready or excited. That door closing meant the door to our long awaited dream opening.

Tuesday morning we made one last trip to our storage unit and then we loaded up ourselves, our belongings and our new home. It felt so good to get onto the open road, music blaring, sunglasses on, the truck and RV in my review mirror. It’s what we’ve dreamed about, prayed about, talked and kept talking about and planned for over two years. Not one of us could be seen without a huge smile.

But pause. Let’s backtrack for a minute. I think it’s important to share.

Shortly after our house closing, we found our van battery dead for the second day in a row. Thankfully, it was just the battery and we were able to get the battery replaced that day. Monday night Ryan was feeling awful, which is totally abnormal for him. It had built up for about a week and got to the point we thought he probably should be checked out by a doctor. He went to the ER Monday night and found out he was anemic. We debated leaving on schedule the next morning, but decided to move ahead. After 1 day of iron, Ryan feels like a brand new man and we are both happy we did decide to go ahead on schedule. I share all this because there is no perfect. Traveling or homebound, living in an RV or a house, working 8-5 or owning your own business, having kids or not, being married or not, life brings hardships, pain and trouble. We are not free of the pains and struggles of this life. We ARE going on a great adventure and we are truly so happy to embrace life from a new angle and in a new way, but hills and valleys remain. Ups and downs are a part of everyday life. I plan to share and give you a true account – good, beautiful, sad, bad, funny or hard – of this great adventure as we live it. We’d love for you to journey along with us as we grow through whatever we encounter along the way.