Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel

View of the Airstream from the patio of our house on moving day.

I can’t believe it has been ALMOST SIX MONTHS since my last blog post. I’ve sat down so many times trying to write a post about moving back into a house – and every time I felt so overwhelmed that I didn’t get very far. Between a trip to Alaska to visit family, the transition back into the house, getting the kids settled into school, a few major family crises, the holidays and a new business, I feel like the last six months have been a blur!

We moved into our house in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on the afternoon of Friday, September 2. The day before my birthday! And just 4 days before SCHOOL started the following Tuesday, September 6. I’m so grateful for that timing. With Jeremy being a teacher and the kids starting a new school I wanted to be in the house BEFORE school started and it barely happened – but it did!

I remember the moment we “moved in” so vividly. We backed the Airstream into the driveway that Friday afternoon and unloaded everything into the house.

View of the house from the Airstream

It didn’t take long. We didn’t have much. We met our neighbors. The kids played in the yard. My family who lives locally came over to visit. It felt like home so quickly.

That first weekend we had the most gorgeous sunset welcoming us to our new home.

Our trailer. Empty of most of our belongings. We even put the old factory bedding on her . . .and cleaned everything from top to bottom.

The kids (and Jeremy) headed off to school on September 6. . . .

and with everyone gone – I hitched up the trailer and towed her to storage. I wish we had enough space to store the Airstream at our house – but we don’t right now. We have a great storage location and I know she’s in good hands. I hope our next house has land for the Airstream – because really, she’s part of the family and we miss her!

The kids quickly assimilated back into public school. I am so often impressed with their adaptability. They made friends instantly – having a playdate with neighborhood kids the very first week we moved in. Hadley and Liam both joined sports teams – basketball and wrestling respectively – and both Jeremy and I poured ourselves into work.

The kids playing in the backyard. Room to run, with a fence and space that was our “own.”

Although it took us MONTHS to remove ourselves from suburbia and move into the trailer, it took us weeks to be back in the mix of things. I’m both grateful and sad about that, if you catch what I’m saying.

In October and November my work picked up considerably – as I blog about online deals and a lot of people are doing online shopping. We kept busy with trick-or-treating, fall carnivals, sports and work.

In mid-November, my grandma who lives here in Coeur d’Alene went into the hospital suddenly. I was grateful to be local because I could spend time with her as we tried to get her healthy again. And then, the week of Thanksgiving Jeremy’s grandpa suddenly passed away. My grandma would pass away just 5 days later on Thanksgiving. We lost two very, very special people in less than a week. It was an extremely difficult time. We were grateful we weren’t traveling and that we could help with services, be with family and mourn two incredible role models and influences in our lives.

During this same time, Hadley broke her arm AGAIN. Remember she broke it in Utah and needed surgery? She broke the same arm (in her a different spot) falling backwards off a bar stool she was sitting on at the kitchen island. I couldn’t even believe it. But once again we were thankful to be in a house, to have better health benefits (thanks to Jeremy’s job) and to have an amazing children’s hospital 30 minutes from us. She didn’t need surgery this time – THANK GOODNESS – just a cast for 6 weeks.

By the time Christmas rolled around – we were feeling a bit exhausted. Between work, family loss and all that goes into the holidays we were ready for Christmas Break.

We had a wonderful Christmas in the house and had family over for a very special dinner on Christmas Day. It was so different from our Christmas in the Florida Keys last year, but it was every bit as special. We traveled over to Western Washington for a week. Jeremy’s mom kept the kids for a couple nights while Jeremy and I got a little getaway to Seattle.

Overall we’ve been enjoying the WINTER weather here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. They have had major snowfall and cold temperatures. Everyone keeps saying what a “tough” winter it’s been and it reminds me of days growing up in Fairbanks, Alaska (although not quite that cold). We’ve spent a lot of time shoveling snow and scraping ice. The kids have spent lots of time playing outside in the snow and I love the sunshine and white blanket that covers our place.

We kicked off 2017 by launching a new business – a LuLaRoe clothing shop – after months and months of consideration before taking the leap. Our primary reason for the LuLaRoe shop is to make extra income for MORE TRAVEL – that’s our main goal and endgame. It’s been a busy first month and it’s already been incredibly successful and we are confident we made the right choice. With that extra revenue we are already dreaming and scheming about more adventures and travel. We aren’t sure exactly what that will look like – but we know it’s in the works. I plan to continue blogging full-time at QueenBeeCoupons.com as well – because helping people save money so they can live more full lives is still a huge passion of mine.

Last weekend we had our first “adventure” in awhile and we drove 8.5 hours (each way) to Long Beach, Washington for a long weekend with friends from college. We didn’t bring the Airstream, we rented a house and spent the weekend doing puzzles, beach combing and catching up with old friends. It always feels to good to be adventuring.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was writing about the tough decision of whether we should keep traveling or settle down again. I believe 100% that we made the right decision to move back into a house when we did. We’ve been in the right place at the right time. It’s made us appreciate the things we were taking for granted in the trailer. And thanks to our time in the trailer we are so grateful for simple luxuries like a dishwasher, laundry, mail, etc. This kids – who were clamoring to be back in a house this summer – are now begging for Airstream adventures again.  Being back in a house has helped us reset emotionally and financially. I think the change in perspective keeps us balanced and appreciative – and it’s all been part of the journey of life.

We plan to work very hard over the next six months so that if the opportunity does arise for more travel – that we’ll be ready for it. We’ve had some warranty work done on the Airstream this winter and I’m pretty sure we’ll upgrade our tires in the next couple months to get it ready for the road again.

One thing is certain – we have SUMMER with the kids and Jeremy off from work so we’re already planning those adventures. We’ve made reservations for Glacier National Park and Priest Lake – Luby Bay National Forest Campground for this summer and I can’t wait to fill in the blanks. Where should we go!?! 

Thank you for your patience the past six months! Thank you to everyone who emailed or checked in with us to see how we were doing. We miss the traveling community and we hope to be blogging a bit more in the next six months. We’ll see how all that shakes out.