Author: Jess

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Daily Life

Trapped by Potty Training

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I’m so frustrated. Those that follow us on Instagram know that we are trying to finish off potty training with Cara. She’s been pee trained for months but the other one… well. She just hasn’t figured that out. I couldn’t stand the thought of buying another box of Pull-Ups so we told her that was it! She had to be a big girl and go in the potty now.

5 days and no action, so we finally bought a suppository to give her some relief. That was yesterday morning. This morning (since its about high time she had to go again) she’s still doing nothing. In the meantime I feel trapped. Unable to go anywhere or do anything since we told her she has to stay in the trailer until she goes. We were hoping she would get incredibly bored and that would be incentive enough, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. We’ve tried treats, stickers, leaving her behind, you name it. Nada.

I don’t know what to do. For some reason my brain can’t handle planning an outing or excursion for just Rachel, Andrew, and I. It just doesn’t sound… fun. Being left behind doesn’t seem to motivate her either since she says she’ll just have fun playing toys in the Airstream.

Do we just go about our normal day and clean up what happens? Would that be better than being in a beautiful city I feel like we can’t go see? I’m not sure what the answer is, but before too long something has got to change or I might explode.

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Faith

Doubt Your Doubts Before You Doubt Your Faith

faith

We had a moment during our Disneyland vacation. Okay, it was more like a handful of moments where Sam and I just looked at each other and thought, “What are we doing?” It would feel so natural after we were done to drive back to Utah and resume our previous life. Vacation over, back to normal. It was so strange, and real, and a bit scary actually.

Then we thought of all the good things that had happened since buying the Airstream, how much we love to travel, how well our kids were doing, all of the amazing places we’d been, and we tried to shake those feelings. We KNEW we just needed to get started again, and yet that seemed so difficult.

In the last General Conference, President Uchtdorf said something that has resonated with me ever since. He said, “Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.” How true is that? So often Satan tries to get us to forget the promptings, the assurance, and the comfort we have previously received from the Holy Ghost. When we started this journey we KNEW what we were doing is right – so we needed to doubt our doubts before we doubted our decision to travel. Could our path in life change? Of course. One of the things we are most aware of is the needs of our family. When traveling stops fulfilling our needs, we’ll stop. But I think that answer will come in response to thoughtful prayer and meditation, not fear and uncertainty.

Once we left Anaheim and started traveling again, our desire to return to Utah melted away. Of course, there are other fears and uncertainty, but for now that one has been put to rest. I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that guides, directs, and leads us. But also that He allows us moments of indecision and insecurity so that we can grow and become stronger.

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This Week on Instagram

This Week on Instagram: Feb 15-21, 2014

This Week on Instagram Feb 15-21 2014

This week has been slow & relaxed and we’ve LOVED it! We spent the weekend with family in Riverside, CA and then headed out to Casper’s Wilderness Park just south of LA. We needed to get away from the city, get caught up on work school. Done, done, and done. We’ve also started to finish potty-training Cara and the poor girl has been pantsless in the Airstream for 4 days. Not much success so far, but we are pretty determined this time around. We’ve also arrived in San Diego and are staying at an RV park in the city. Not the best views, but the beach, the zoo, Sea World, science museums and other fun activities are all under 30 minutes away. Can’t beat that.

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Homeschool

I’ve Unexpectedly Fallen in Love with Homeschooling

I've Unexpectedly Fallen in Love with HomeschoolingI never thought I would, but I absolutely love to homeschool my kids. Even more than that, I love to roadschool my kids. True, there are very frustrating moments (more than I’d care to admit) but mostly it has been the most amazing learning experience for all of us.

I’ve had many people ask HOW we do it. How I (we) spend all day with our children, how I figure out what to teach them, how I get time for myself. The truth is, we just do. There’s no magic secret, mostly just good old fashioned, shoulder to wheel… work.

In complete honesty, however, I’m not sure I could homeschool in a house. The easy part about roadschooling is that our surroundings are always changing. Each week we have a new city. New science centers, new hikes, new museums, new beaches, new playgrounds, new National Parks. We are not visiting the same ones over, and over, and that definitely makes the same type of activity more interesting.

At the same time, roadschooling does make other aspects more difficult. I would LOVE to be part of a group. I know there are plenty of families out there that homeschool and do music groups, PE groups, or group lessons. That would definitely alleviate the pressure of doing everything myself. However, that also comes with the price of a schedule.

More and more I realize how grateful I am to be currently homeschooling my children. My favorite aspect is the FREEDOM. Its like I can suddenly breath again. We are not tied to anyone else’s schedule. I get to see my kids ALL day (and yes, I consider that a perk. Most days.). My kids can PLAY. Kids learn best when they play, so why don’t we let them? As I sit in science center after science center in city after city, watching them explore, fiddle, and experiment, I wonder if they really are learning anything. Then my kids will surprise me with an observation and I’m just floored. They DO learn. While discussing California with Rachel today for Geography, I mentioned that its nickname is the Golden State and did she know why? Andrew, sitting across the table, pipes up with all sorts of information about the gold rush, why it was important, and what people were hoping to accomplish by coming to California. What the? I asked him where he learned that, and he simply said, “My Tag Reader Puzzle”. He picked all of that information up while playing a game.

Is homeschooling right for everyone? No. I don’t think so. Will it always be right for our family? I don’t know that either. Is it hard? Incredibly. Do I always have the answers? Definitely not. I figure we just take it one step at time, we pay attention to what our kids need, and we go from there. For now though, I’m just going to enjoy it.

Categories
National Parks Pennyslyvania

Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia

I remember visiting Philadelphia as a young teenager, but don’t remember many specifics. I’ve always wanted to go back, so when the opportunity arose to visit some friends while we were living on the East Coast we jumped at the chance!

When We Visited: November 2013
Ages of Kids: 8, 6, 3
Tip: If you want a tour of Independence Hall on a weekend, get there EARLY. We had no idea and didn’t actually get to go in.

We spent a Saturday morning exploring downtown Philly, and one of our favorite stops was Independence National Historic Park, or more commonly known as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

We arrived via train, and walked the last two blocks or so to the visitor center to pick up our Junior Ranger books. This was our young friend, Matty’s first experience with the program, so my kids deftly showed him the ropes.

IMG_2135Surprisingly there was quite a long line to see the Liberty Bell, but the kids really wanted to, so we worked on our books while daddy stood in line.

Afterward, we went into Independence Square and toured a couple of the outbuildings that used to house the House of Representatives and the Senate. Unfortunately, our guide was dry and boring and the kids were restless, so we snuck out about halfway through the tour. After talking with another family we encountered, we realized it was just our guide as their experience had been quite pleasant. 🙁

My favorite part was the printing shop in Franklin Square where we saw how Ben Franklin used to set the type on the old printing press, ink the type, and then press into the paper.

Overall, it was a great day! There is much more to see as the “park” is actually quite the collection of buildings and other historically significant areas in the downtown area. I felt we did the important parts though and the kids were excited about their badges.