Our Great Big Adventure!

Before we get into it… I can’t believe I’m actually publishing this blog post! It feels like we’re sharing the biggest secret with all of you. Things are getting REAL. I hope you enjoy the news as much as we do. Our family is so excited for this next phase of our life together, and we can’t wait for the freedom it brings with it.

So with that said, we have a BIG announcement to make:

We’re officially becoming a full-time traveling family!

About two years ago, Steven and I set forth to build a family mission statement. As part of our brainstorm, we started to evaluate what made us tick – individually, as a couple and as a family. (If you’ve never done this with your partner or kiddos, I highly recommend it! It’s a lot of fun and also helps ensure that you’re all working towards the same goals.)

Some of our values that rose to the top included:

• Seek adventure big and small
• Live simply
• Stay true to yourself
• Have fun
• Be unconventional
• Raise each other up
• Be intentional in your actions
• Experiences > things

Once we had put pen to paper and saw this list, it got us thinking: Is the life we’re living today fulfilling these values? And if we go a bit deeper, what do we want out of life?

The short answer: sort of. We tried to be mindful of our free time, and place an emphasis on making the most of our weekends together. Over our 10+ years together, we had accomplished the goals we had set out at a young age – find careers that we loved, build a home together, start a family.

We could do more of the same, and probably lead a good life. We could continue on our current trajectory – Make more money. Buy nicer clothes/cars/furniture/things. Buy a bigger home. Take nicer vacations. (You get the idea!)

But for Steven and I, the more we accumulated, the more we felt hemmed in by our possessions. In fact, these things were also becoming a source of stress (anyone who’s watched Marie Kondo on Netflix knows what I’m talking about!).

It was time to re-examine our lives and set new goals.

So we started asking ourselves “what if…”

…What if we chartered an unconventional path?

…What if we invested more time and energy into experiences vs. things?

…What if we were more purposeful, especially with our time together as a family?

…What if we prioritized exploration, adventures and travel?

These questions stuck with us, and we revisited these topics often knowing that we wanted to shake things up, challenge the status quo and live life differently.

After a lot of heartfelt discussions, we made a point to draw a line in the sand. So last June, we went out for date night, prepared with a notepad and pens to capture our ideas.

Simply put: We decided to make room for more adventures in life. To simplify our living situation. To get out of our comfort zone, try something new and foster life-changing experiences for the four of us.

We kept coming back to a pretty large item that had been on our bucket list: Long-term travel.

I’ll be honest — it took us some time to get to this decision. So that night, Steven and I decided that we were going to give ourselves a year to figure out how to get there. By June 2019, we’d set out on a new adventure and see where the wind takes us!

Since that time, we’ve put a lot of effort into motion:

We made a decision to travel full-time. We want to see the world, and all that it has to offer!

We decided to sell our house. Although we discussed downsizing into a smaller home or renting our current home out, we wanted to a clean break and one less thing to worry about while we’re out on the road.

After looking at all options (and then some), we decided to convert our Sprinter van into an RV – and leverage Airbnb for slow travel to help us get a feel for new places.

We started donating and selling quite a bit of clothing, home goods, toys and furniture. Our plan is to store our sentimental items — the stuff money can’t buy — and break free of anything that can be replaced later on.

After a lot of thought, I decided to hit the pause button on my career to homeschool the kids. This will allow us to explore new areas without being limited by traditional school calendars. And I’m excited for something new to learn too!

Steven transitioned territories at work, which now includes most of California’s beautiful Central Coast. As such, it’s a natural fit for us to start our adventures there.

We’ve told our parents, siblings and closest friends about our plans, and answered a lot of questions! Hands down this was probably the hardest part of the process…

Because our families and friends mean the world to us, we’re going to make a conscious effort to invest in quality time together – coming back home for major holidays and family events. (And we hope that they’ll take advantage of this opportunity to come visit and explore with us too!)

While we’ve made a lot of progress, we know that there is a lot more for us to figure out. Our plan is to enjoy the California coast for the first few months, hit up as many national parks as possible and potentially venture out internationally over the next year or so. For the time being, we only have the first three months mapped out. After that, who knows? At this stage in our lives, we’re simply allowing ourselves permission to take a risk, try new things and go where our hearts desire.

With all of this, we want to make a conscious effort to not only travel, but become closer as a family. We want to lift each other up, learn from one another and accelerate personal growth in each other. We’ve decided to give it a year, but check in as a family every three months to ensure that we’re all still on the same page, and enjoying the ride.

We also hope that by making big moves, we encourage others to chase after their dreams! We hope that our family and friends will come visit us on our nomadic adventures. And finally, we hope to meet a tribe of like-minded families, and develop new friendships along our journey.

So here we are… 30 days away from the biggest leap of faith we’ve ever taken — hitting the road full-time on June 8, 2019. As our kids like to call it — we’re going on our Great Big Adventure. We’re doing it, guys!! ?

I’m sure you think we’re a bit crazy (especially those who know us well)… maybe we are! But we hope that we’ll find love, prayers and support through our families, friends and other like-minded individuals.

So that’s our big news. ? What do ya think? There are probably lots of other questions you have for us… don’t be shy! Let us know in the comments. We’re an open book, and are happy to answer any questions. Until then, follow our progress on our IG stories here!