Month: October 2021

After traveling around many of the United States staying in RV parks over the past couple years, we decided to buy an RV park!

We have searched for and pursued different investments over the past ten years. We have had some that have fallen through from reasons ranging from a seller passing away to not getting approved for a bank loan. All the stars aligned for this one. We did put in a lot of effort to get to this point, but things that we could not have made happen did as well. We are very thankful for family and friends who have supported and encouraged us, and we are thankful to God for bringing together what we could not have on our own. We closed on the park last month.

It is an already established park that has been shut down for about a year due to the previous owner no longer being able to run it. It was thriving prior to closing, so we are hopeful for a good future here as we prepare to reopen.

We are currently doing the kind of thing we love, renovating! We are remodeling two buildings on the property and building out one that started with just studs.

The first building will be the office, laundry and rec room. The middle building we are calling “Manager’s Quarters”, which means we’ll be using that for personal use. The last building will be men’s and women’s restrooms. We’ll have two toilet stalls and two shower stalls in each.

Look at this team of helpers we have! Our oldest five have asked us to put them to work, especially the boys. They have been genuinely so helpful, and they are racking in some money.

We are currently living in our RV on the property, and we plan to continue to do so for awhile. We are thrilled to have more space and to be able to spread out a bit more with having that middle building in addition to our RV. Our kids are really happy to settle for awhile, and they are very excited about this new adventure! We are about 30 minutes away from our old hometown, so our kids are happily back at music lessons with their old teachers.

We have the best big trees here! You can’t beat having good shade trees in Texas. Our kids are spending a lot of time outside enjoying the playground, rope swings and four square volleyball.

We took polls and had some family and friends vote on the name of our RV park. Unanimously, all voted for the name Rolling by the Dozen RV Park, so that is what we chose!

We have 50 full hook-up spaces. Over half are pull-throughs. Our park is big rig friendly. We’ll have 4 coin-operated washers and dryers. We are going to offer high speed WiFi. We have a playground and picnic tables in the shade. And we have a beautiful pond with a waterfall. It’s a spacious, pretty park about ten miles outside of College Station, TX.

We are working on our website and reservation system, along with finishing up renovations. We plan to open the park in about a month.

Thank you for coming along with us on our traveling journey, and now you can join us on this new adventure! If you RV, come visit us!

We recently settled in Snook, TX. It’s a little tiny town with a population of about 500 people near Bryan/College Station. I’ll update more on that in the near future.

Yesterday, Cherish turned 12! One of the things Snook is known for is Slovacek’s Sausage, so Cherish decided she wanted to try some kolaches from there. She chose strawberry, raspberry, cherry, apple and sausage filled kolaches.

We made Cherish a kolache stack and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She blew out all twelve candles in one breath. The kolaches were so good that several kids said they are going to choose those over donuts for their birthdays, too.

After breakfast, Cherish opened gifts. Tapestry has been teaching Cherish to play ukulele, and Cherish has wanted her own ukulele for awhile. I got her the cutest one with the best reviews I could find. She loves it!

And this surfer swing we got her is a big hit with the whole family, young and old.

Cherish asked me to take her, Tapestry, Liberty and Jubilee to Mod Pizza and the mall.

If you’ve never been to Mod Pizza, it is worth trying! You choose what size pizza you want and go through the line picking toppings. We love going there, but it is pretty pricey for our whole family so we mainly go for special occasions.

We have hit the stage with our older girls where they just love going shopping at the mall.

I told Cherish she could pick an outfit, and I bought a long sleeved shirt for each of our ten kids. Cherish chose the cutest clothes!

If you have shopped with girls, you know how it is. They used some of their own money to buy some extra clothes and some jewelry, make-up and hair things from Claire’s.

I will say that our girls are pretty frugal and very thoughtful with how they spend their money. We don’t shop at the mall unless it’s a special occasion like a birthday, so this was so much fun for our older girls!

After shopping, the girls thought that ice cream for supper would be a good idea. It was a win for sure!

We headed back to the RV after ice cream. The girls showed their brothers and sisters all the stuff they bought, and we surprised the other kids with shirts. They were all excited.

Then, we all read Cherish what we had written her in her journal. And we ended the evening playing outside until about 10PM. Cherish had the best day, and we had a blast celebrating her!

Happy 12th birthday, Cherish Jael! ♥️ Cherish, you are just so sweet and lovable. You are easy-going and generally happy. You’ve always been athletic and enjoyed the great outdoors, and that hasn’t changed. You have followed in Manning and Tapestry’s footsteps and now love to read. You barter candy in exchange for reading Manning’s kindle as often as you can. You are a great pianist. I love hearing you play. You are petite and proud of it, which makes me happy that you embrace it. I think you are so darn cute, and I would not add an inch to you! 😍 You jump to play cards with me if I am looking for a game buddy. You love having conversations. You are very into fashion and are always dressed super stylish. You love dangly earrings. You enjoy styling hair and often have a line of sisters waiting to have their hair done by you. You are besties with Tapestry and Liberty, but you’ve always been one to play or hang out with any and all. You are sensitive to others’ feelings, and you are very empathetic. Love and compassion really wrap up who you are, which means Cherish is the perfect name for you! You are a precious daughter to me, Cherish, and I love and cherish you so very much! ♥️♥️♥️

Yesterday, our second to youngest, River, turned five years old!

She woke up to birthday banners Tapestry, Cherish and Liberty made for her. She got dressed up in a cute dress because she is a girly girl who loves her dresses. Then, she went with her daddy to choose donuts from a new donut shop.

These were some special and different donuts that included toppings like Oreo crumbs, Fruity Pebbles and bacon.

We sang “Happy Birthday” to River. She had the biggest smile on her face as she worked hard to blow out those five candles.

Then, each kid chose two donuts and enjoyed every bite.

River opened gifts after breakfast. Her very favorite gift was clip on earrings from Mercy. We got her a Yoto Player, which was something new we had never seen. All the kids thought it was pretty amazing. It has little cards that you insert to play songs or stories.

After opening presents, Manning read River her new book. And then, she spent the rest of the morning enjoying her new gifts.

We went to Freebirds, River’s request, for a late lunch. River ate chips, a burrito and a cookie.

Then, we headed over to spend the rest of the afternoon at the children’s museum in College Station. River had a great time, along with all her brothers and sisters, there.

When we returned to the RV, we ate dinner and read River what each of us had written to her in her journal. Then, we ended the night with River in our bed eating popcorn and chocolate and watching Peppa Pig online.

River had an all around great day, and we loved celebrating our 5-year-old girl!

Happy 5th birthday, River Grace! 💕 You are the cutest and sweetest little girl! You are happy most of the time. You ask for what you want. You don’t hold back how you feel. You have a quiet but strong voice. You are small but mighty. You rarely take things personal or get offended. You hold your own. You give and share sweetly. You, also, like to receive. You want all things to be equal and fair. You ask a lot of questions. You want to know what we are doing and especially why we are doing it. You are a good back seat driver, often letting your daddy know when he should stop, go or turn. 😉 You love fashion and all things girly-girl. You like to build with LEGO’s, draw, color, play games and put on acts with stuffed animals. You and Treasure are little besties – quite the dynamic duo! You ask for me to kiss your neck often. You are so ticklish that it causes you to erupt in laughter. Your giggles are the cutest. When I feel someone behind me ticking me, it’s almost always you I find when I turn around. You are an adorable and precious daughter, River G! I absolutely love getting to be your mommy, and I love you very, very much! 💗