We’re In Ohio!

We kind of love it here!  I have been so surprised by the places I love on this adventure!  I have always fancied myself a bit more city than I am country but the places that I love, that feel ‘homey’ are considered more country in general… Wyoming, North Dakota, Ohio… who am I!?

Where We have Been:

We officially crossed the 10,000 mile mark a couple days ago.  We are currently at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, our 9th National Park (Voyageurs, Theodore Roosevelt, Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Wind Cave, and Badlands are the others on the list).  It is beautiful here.  The trees are just starting to turn colors.  We are on schedule to hit peak fall in Vermont, one of our goals.

From here we were planning to go to Frank Lloyd Writes ‘Falling Water’ house for my birthday. Then we found out that they don’t allow kids under 9 on the premises.  I knew the guy was a jerk anyway…  Now we’re going to better falling water at Niagara Falls.  So suck it Frank! 😉 (Architecture humor… and not even good stuff!).  Then we’re going to drop by Deeks Tiny House workshop (I think there is still a spot or two!) to meet people and check out the coolness that is Deek and his builds! THEN up to Maine for a trip to Acadia NP before we pivot back south for the cold!

I am very happy to have some fun announcements too:

First, it’s my birthday week!  Yeah!

Second, guys, Miles is turning 2!  While I hear these are supposed to be ‘terrible’ times I am not certain I agree.  Miles is so neat!  He’s got opinions, totally separate from his sister.  He’s kind, quiet and very thoughtful (totally separate from his sister ;-)).  The other day I was carrying him and he grabbed my face in his hands and said, “Momma, I love you. Very much!”  **heart melted all over!**  I suppose I could choose to focus on the part where his hands were filthy and he sqeezed my cheeks hard but dude, he said he loved me with zero prompting whatsoever!  Who does that at two, or anytime really?!  He loves super heros, the color yellow and his daddy.  But mostly Denver and me! 😀

To Celebrate

For his birthday this year we are taking him to a basketball game, or trying to! (Does anyone know of a basketball game happening in the New England states around the beginning of October??).  We won’t have a mailing address to send any gifts to (and he doesn’t really need anything else, he prefers sticks and stones to his current toys anyway) but we did start a fundraiser in his name to contribute to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (his grandpa passed away from Pulmonary Fibrosis a few weeks after he was born).  We will mark down in our annual family book just how much he contributed so he can be proud later in life, when he understands better, just how much he has helped people.  After the success of the last ‘rescue party’ we had for Hazel we decided that an act of charity should be a birthday tradition in our family!  So it is.  Feel free to contribute here if you have anything to spare, this is a terrible disease that effects too many people and needs a cure!

My New Thing

My new thing is under way!  I officially sent out my first email over at www.learningthelongway.com.  Sometimes when I don’t have a purpose to blogging I just don’t.  I like to do updates and whatnot for our own records and I love hearing from any readers but I also want to be considerate of your time and not just post things to make some quota.  Through this blogging adventure I have found I really like teaching though, hence I made Tiny House eCourses.  Now, I want to do something a little different that is more engaging for me that doesn’t just feel like talking into open air! I am starting to send out email tips (you have to actually sign up to get them at Learning The Long Way).  In them will be tips and [hopefully] engaging questions for the thought processes we have gone through to live this lifestyle.  Tips on how and why we do and did some things.  The goal is that I can share one useful thing a day to hopefully help others interested in this path.  The first email officially went out today!  If it sounds interesting sign up,! I would love to chat some more!