The Ramblings of a traveling family at home

Whenever we come home from our trips I have the overwhelming, almost manic desire to GET.RID.OF.IT.ALL.!

I look around and I see THINGS everywhere. THINGS to organize. THINGS to take care of. THINGS to wash. THINGS to donate. THINGS to throw away. THINGS to sell.

Yes, that’s it! Things to sell!

So when we got home at the end of February it was a Craigslist listing, goodwill donating, whole house cleaning and organizing frenzy!! We even took two weeks off of official”schooling” so that I could just get it all together! My mind and my things, that is. After living in a small space, it is physically shocking to come back to it all. I know I can live with less. I know I am happier living with less. So, it just seems glutinously silly to go back to living that way. So, as it is now, we have boosted the content of what is available in the Atlanta Craigslist circuit substantially.

If your looking for something in particular. Give me a shout. I probably have it, and I’m ready to make a deal!

Traveling has also awakened my need to express my creativity. I’ve started this blog and we plan on shooting  a lot more video and maybe even starting a YouTube channel. We watch a lot of traveling single couples and couples with children on YouTube and have really learned a lot and have stayed inspired to keep doing what we are doing. We thought maybe we can inspire someone else.

I’ve also discovered that I really like painting. It was really a fluke happening. My kids took a painting class with the Art Club they are a part of in our amazing homeschool group and I ended up learning so much. I am currently biting off more than I can chew trying to reproduce Mt. Whitney overlooking the Alabama Hills in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Yes, this is a pretty screwball plan seeing as that this will be my second painting. But I watched some Youtube videos and did some research on Pinterest. What could possibly go wrong? Okay, it’s a crazy mess but it’s fun trying. Here is an abstract painting of a barn I did last month. Okay, it’s my first so don’t be too harsh!!

We also have really been enjoying meeting with our homeschool group so regularly. We’ve learned acrylic painting and about Mandalas in our Art Club, how to survive in the wilderness, we had an Easter egg hunt, built marble mazes at our Junk Box Wars monthly gathering and enjoyed Lego club by learning about flags and what they represent and then creating our own flag. Our group is VERY active due to the undying efforts of our fearless leader Kathy Balman. Southeastern Homeschool Fieldtrips is 3,100 members strong and growing everyday. In the next few weeks the kids will be taking Jedi Knight training, hiking Black Rock Mountain, participating in the Science Fair, learning about cicadas in our Nature Journal class and learning how to gold pan in the north Georgia Mountains.

P-mans Mandala made in Art club

Testing their marble maze at Junkbox Wars

Learning to build an A frame shelter with few supplies at survival class

So, here we are in the middle of April and we are already starting to get that itch. You know, like the itch you get and you wonder what it is.  You put some cream on it but it will inevitably come back. That itch for us has been caused by the travel bug. It bit us and will always itch most when we are at home.

We will set out again at the end of May. This time our travels will take us to three main work destinations. We will travel through the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains and straight to San Francisco where hubby will be working for the week while we explore and find out what adventures we can get into. We’ll then backtrack to Colorado Springs ( for work)where we’ll see Garden of the Gods, spend some time with family and enjoy the Rocky’s in early summer. From there, we’ll go back To California to the San Diego (the corporate office) area where we’ll rejoin the other part of our life that we have made there. We now have friends we get together with and we have a homeschool group that has welcomed us even though we are only part-time participators. Until then, we’ll enjoy being at home and spending a lot of time meeting with the Atlanta Craigslist Buyers club!