Already November and it feels like 3 years worth of living gone by! Too much to tell in one blog. Needless to say, we have been busy this year. In order to be closer to those we have neglected for too long, and to give the kids a new challenge to soak up, we drove the bus to the West Coast in July/August and have been there ever since!
While my husband gets to be closer to his mommy, the kids have been homeschooling with me, engaging with the world around them and have found themselves tangled into a homeschool group 2x a week called Spider. What a phenomenal experience for all of us!! Make no mistake, this is not easy. Let me say it again, for those of you who think we are living on a cloud or some idyllic dream that we are bragging about...this experience is not always easy. But neither was being an exchange student when I was 16 - and, yet, the richness of the experience is very similar.
We've taken hikes, swam, waded, built forts, huts, shops, biked, bounced, organized shells, rocks, colonized crabs, stalked seals and sea otters and loons, bears, coyotes, watched eagles swoop and soar overhead, salmon spawning (totally magical) and photographed more than our fair share of disk space.
We've had gourmet chocolates that were given to us on a tour at a chocolatiers, potlucked, Thanksgiving turkeyed, trick-or-treated, sampled smoked fish, salmon, investigated local BBQ, Indian, Sushi, and "gumboot" cuisine (not to mention the finest food served around - Omi's!).
We've ALL learned from local painters, singers, teachers, blacksmith (and son), carvers, makers, musicians, fisherman, storytellers, scientists, and students of life, culture, compassion, patience, kindness, learning, and citizenship.
Despite some of the hardships of living outside our comfort zones, we survive with our humor intact. Not survive, THRIVE! We could write a book from the things we are learning about life in a bus, living in another culture(s), homeschooling, etc. But for now I leave you simply with a blog. I have some ideas for future blogs: the intricacies of living in various set-ups with the bus (i.e.: when we have no power, no water, no heat!!), learning at home, food in a small space, life closer to nature, creativity and the life of a gypsy, the compassion of people on the road, what "multi-cultural" can mean, citizens of the world, etc. If you've read this far you must be interested. Leave us a comment about what you want to know and we'll write it.
Til then....keep calm and VonRowdy on!!!!
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