The hard things

So far this trip has been absolutely amazing.    The memories we are making and our time as a family has been so precious and I am incredibly grateful to be able to do this. 

We know life doesn’t come without some hard things and that is the same with this trip.   Thankfully the hard things aren’t that bad and mostly something we just have to deal with.    In an effort to keep it real here are some of the harder things about this trip.  

Brad- the biggest hardship on this trip is Brad’s workload.  We are thankful he can work remotely but it has come with a new type of stress for him.  Now that we are on the east coast and 3 hours ahead of Seattle he has had to figure out the best time to efficiently do his work.    He also has had to miss out on some of the things we have done.  And there are other times we have to wait for him to finish work which requires a lot of patience from everyone.  

Kid's school - I am thankful we have the remote option because it took the pressure off of me to organize homeschool materials for all 5 kids.   8th grade math would have required me to go back to school....and really the 1st grade math kind of feels the same way.   No one wants to do their school work and it is hard to keep up the motivation.   

Planning - Some of this trip requires planning and some of it requires being VERY flexible.  It's a tricky balance and sometimes adds some stress.  I think we are all pretty good about rolling with it. 

Fighting- Guess what?  There is still fighting....and it is hardest when it is about really dumb things.  It seems like they fight over more dumb things but maybe that's because there is only so much in an RV.   

Complaining - Lots of complaining too.....although I do think it would probably be the same amount if we were home. 

Food/shopping - We still don't have a great system for food, especially dinner.  We can only store so much in our RV fridge so it seems like we are eating scraps or eating Top Ramen again.   This is also why we have eaten out (mostly fast food) more than we ever do.  

Routine - I thought I would have lots of time to read on this trip but it has been the opposite.  If I have any down time I usually spend it researching our next stops.   There is a lot of information to sort through.   

Exercise - If you know me you know that exercise is a normal part of my days but at times it has been hard to fit it in.   I have been able to do some things and I often go for walks in the morning but it isn't quite the same.  

Driving - some days it seems like the drive is extra long.  It also can be stressful, probably more for me.   

Little things that are hard but a lot of big things that are wonderful!  We are so thankful!