L i t t l e R i v e r M a m a : we are going places

big news for the shamblin tribe. like huuuuuge. (trump 2016? no?? just kidding. please don't punish the blog for that one.)

we can't believe this is happening. finally happening. my husband's dream is coming true. my kids are marking lists off their bucket lists. i still can't believe we're doing this.

coming summer 2016: Little Nest Heads West

a big round of applause for that ball of cheesiness. but it rhymes! yes, we are packing up our family of 6 & driving cross country. camping along the way. in our swaggin wagon.

we may be crazy.

but i'm TOTALLY into it.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

we're so thankful my cousin is getting married this summer (FOR MANY REASONS OBVI) -shoutout to katelyn+david!- but it was the concrete kinda thing we needed to make this trip FINALLY happen. we've planned to travel west the past 2 summers but it never happened because, well, life: working jobs, having babies, ya know how it goes. BUT this year...IT IS HAPPENING (God-willing).

growing up, this is the kind of vacation we took. we didn't take many but when we did, we drove, for weeks, all over the country. my dad didn't believe in flying. he said we should experience the country. take it all in. but c'mon, kansas...once we've seen some of you, we've seen all of you. anywho, we travelled sometimes with my dad's parents. my dad & his family once lived in wyoming before moving back to ohio, so the place is dear to them. we would canoe, stay in cabins, hike up mountains, catch our dinner from a lake & cross glaciers to get back. it was a pretty amazing childhood. and now, i get to experience some of that with my family & i cannot wait for them to see it all for the first time. with their own eyes. God made this planet of ours quite spectacular.

THE PLAN:

without being too specific, or too vague, we plan to load up our minivan (packing as lightly as possible) & driving our van west. our main destination is colorado for my cousin's wedding, but we plan on going north of there, over, around, down, then back home. THAT MAKES SENSE. (cue eye roll emoji.) 10 days, folks. 1 van. 1 teenager. 2 kids. 1 baby. 2 adults. we're sooooo outnumbered. this will count of family therapy, right?? i'm sure we'll be much closer by the end of this trip. and love each other more. and really appreciate one another. as you can tell...i'm the eternal optimist & i'll be relying on that entirely too much this trip.

we're also definitely camping out of our van in yellowstone. eek! (emma is over the moon!)

HONESTLY:

this took a little convincing. for me. so many questions & doubts & fears. but it's not like we're the only people to ever do this! i keep thinking of how my grandparents did it all back then with kids & no technology & little money. if they can do it, we can do it. and besides, life's too short. why wait??? for the "right time." for when we "have more money." for when "the kids are older." NO. no more waiting on life & it's elusive "perfect timing." NO. we're doin this! *thrusts fist into air*

GETTING CREATIVE:

if you follow me on pinterest, i apologize now for the potentially obnoxious flood of "tips to traveling with kids" pins. i'm not really that mom that has everything perfectly organized with labels & tabs. i'm more of a go-with-the-flow type mom. although i do consider myself quite organized. it's a good balance. BUT i do want to have a couple tricks (games, prizes, etc) up my sleeve for those restless moments while traveling for days & days in a 16x6 space with 5 other humans. i remember the good ole games we played during long road trips (license plate game, i spy) & of course we have dvd players & gameboys & kindle fires & iPads, blah blah blah, but we're still coming up with a strategic technology plan that will hopefully aid us in entertaining without absorbing all their attention. i.e. i'd like for them to have more memories of their trip other than which dvd's they watched in what order. :/ we'll also be making "moving & shaking" stops so the kids can get out of the vehicle & move it & shake it.

TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE:

that is my question. i obviously want to document this trip & would love to share with you but haven't quite decided how i will/want to do that. a daily ig post? a big blog post afterwards? multiple blog posts? multiple daily ig posts? maybe i'm thinking too much about this. i tend to do that. personally, i would be completely interested in watching a big family do this & because of that, i want to keep you posted on this road trip of a lifetime. i'll prob do that. whatever hits me. whatever i feel like in the moment. i just REALLY don't want to be THAT person who posts a thousand pics of their vaca & i'm over here like, please stop. (cue eye roll emoji.) let's admit it, i'm a tiny bit of an overgrammer already, so, there. TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS.

regardless, there will be sharing & posting & blogging eventually, one way or another, and for that, this is our tag #littlenestgoeswest.

follow along with us!

and pray we don't regret this.

on a completely unrelated note: i'm currently obsessed with wanting to dye my hair pink. and that's kinda big news, too. YOLO

enjoy these rad pictures of my family vacationing when my dad still had hair & super short shorts...