The Lundy 5

I was invited to be a guest blogger at RVParking.com ! (Appropriately I used their iPhone app today in our search for a stop in TN.) I summed up our first half year of fulltime RVing and how we live, learn, play, and work together and LOVE it! I would love for you to check out the post at RVParking.com . Thanks!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, which we stretched into a week thanks to the hospitality of Uncle Jim and Aunt Katie. The kids had SO much fun with their cousins all week. They played all day and night and took turns having overnighters in the house and the RV. They usually just get to play for one day and don't really have time to get to know each other well. Thanks to that peace and quiet, we got a lot of work done! We had a great setup too, in the driveway close to family, food, and laundry with electric, water, sewer, cable, and wifi. With all of that, they're lucky we didn't stay a month!! We joked that since we lived in a preacher's driveway, we went to church 3 times in 5 days. But we enjoyed the services (and dinners!) and it was so nice to get to hear Uncle Jim preach (and sing) again. It's been too long. On Thanksgiving day, I held up the meal for a family pic (and am so glad!), but next year we need to make sure no one's hiding an...

Thanks to Facebook, Allen got in touch with some family members, some he hasn't seen since he was a few years old and others he hadn't met at all. They've been catching up a little online and we got to visit when we were in Ohio. The kids were super happy to hear about more uncles, aunts, and cousins! Monday we went to have the RV serviced in Cincinnati (nothing big, just DVD player, lock, etc) and we met Terri, Sharon, Linda, Rick, and their families for some Monday Night Football. It was great to meet more Lundys! Lizzy thought it was awfully cool that she and her aunt Linda both showed up with blue streaks in their hair!

These kids are happy, but this dog isn't so much! He doesn't seem to be a very adaptable RVing dog so far. Yeah we love him, and yeah we'll manage, but holy cow (well dog), he's a whiner. He just wants to be free to run, so we're not sure if he'll get used to the torture of the leash. The whole can't chase rabbits thing apparently is cramping his style, the poor, annoying little guy. It's all new though, so we're hoping he just needs to get used to it, like we did. Hoping hard! He's just lucky he's cute.

Each year our (now former) church is a collection center for Operation Christmas Child . This program (thanks to millions of volunteers, probably many of you) sent 8 MILLION Christmas gifts to children last year! 8 MILLION! Grace collects all the gifts from churches and organizations in the area, packs them into cartons, loads them into a semi, and ships them to a processing center. It was fun to be in town for the day they packed them up this year. It's awesome to see everyone (of all ages) helping out and having fun together. You'd hear the tape guns taping, people yelling SHARPIE!, kids pushing boxes, men carrying cartons, counting and recounting, and lots of laughter. It's a fun way for everyone to help a little with this great program. More yucky cell phone pics, but I wanted to post about some of what we did during our 3 week downtime at home in Ohio. Mostly worked, but who wants to see a pic of that?? :)

Our customized family stickers! We have Dad the kayaker, Mom the photographer, Josh the guitar player, Lizzy the artist, Matt the drummer, and the newest RVer, Jack the dog. All 3 kids pointed out that my stick me was way too thin. No more cool stickers for them! And yes, we missed North Dakota. In our defense, we didn't have the map yet and see the glaring hole! We'll hit it later, because there's plenty in the northwest we missed. But yes, it taunts us daily!!!

Thanks to our friends, the Wasouf family from the Troy Domino's Pizza , we had a great (and yummy) field trip! Emily, Yasar, and Andrew helped us make our own pizzas and the kids had SO much fun! The kids and I loved seeing the magic behind the scenes of a yummy pizza restaurant. They loved smashing out the dough, the gazillions of topping choices, and the way cool conveyor belt oven. They looked awfully cute (in my biased opinion) in their hats and aprons too. And best of all, their pizzas were great. And the chocolate lava crunch cakes were soooooo good too. Mmmmmmmm, great day!!! Only had my cell phone, but I had to take pics. Gotta love a field trip where you eat what you learn. Thanks so much to the Wasoufs! Troy people, order one soon! (937) 339-9421 Great, now I'm hungry...

Times have changed, but schools haven't. Interesting stuff. Instead of piling on another test, it needs to change direction. It's not just schools though. I'm reading about business theory and motivation and so many areas are stuck in old habits that no longer work well. Corporations, small companies, non-profits, schools... I'm right in there too though. We're about as "outside the box" as we can be (living in a mobile box and all) but there are still things I do, just because that's what we've always done , that no longer work, or work well, in my job and my family. So while I quickly point out that schools should change (and they should), I have plenty to ponder my own self too...

Remember the whitewater park for kayakers in Springfield, Ohio ? Yeah, there is one, and it's great! We went on Friday so Allen could have one last run before we left. It was great to see some of the OAC again (and we look forward to seeing them in May and Sept). Matt even did a few runs. We only had Lizzy's pink life jacket, but he said it was so fun it was worth it. :) It's so nice to sit by a rapid chatting with the kayakers as they surf. So much better than the big hikes on the usual rivers to catch a glimpse from afar! They did a great job on the rocks around the drops and it's a great place to come and hang out and watch, or play. Josh took this photo of Matt (and I'm jealous!) Jack was ready to hitch a ride, til Allen hit the water. Then, not so much. Allen surfing. The view upriver was so pretty! More pics...

We took advantage of this beautiful day, the neighbor's hoses, and our hardworking kids, and finally got the RV cleaned up a bit. We had bugs and goo from the past 6 months and 21 states, but no more! It's so shiny clean you can see yourself in it. See last pic. :) FYI, no rain doesn't help. That just layers the mud on thicker!

I need a decorator! Well, a friend who likes to give decorating advice for free I mean. ;) But for now I'm considering removing these weird valance thingies. It's pretty plain (aka too RV-ish?) without them, but it opens up our table nook area (which rocks when we have a great view)! But it looks more finished with them, I just happen to hate them. I can't sew and won't buy anything right now, but maybe we could do a different kind of valance on just the top, not down the sides? And maybe it'd look okay when we paint, eventually. Had to photoshop that in just to see. Dunno. I should have waited until we had a nice view to take the pics too! Anyway, any suggestions?? Had a question already too, yes you can paint RV walls. :)

After 21 states in 6 months, we still LOVE this nomadic life! We've updated our map with links and photos. Utah and Colorado were especially pretty in the fall! View Scrap The Map in a larger map

Amid all the election ads and craziness, there's a really important vote taking place again this year at DSP . It really affects the entire world, not just America, and is an important (and yummy) issue. I hope you'll take the time to vote! Listen to the candidates. They both have great messages. But only one can win. Message from Brownie . This ad has been paid for by the Chocolate Fudge Party. Message from Cookie . This ad has been paid for by the Soft 'N Sweet Party. Let your voice be heard! Go vote now for the ultimate handheld sweet! And not to push my agenda, but I'm voting for Brownie!!!!! :)