So, how was everyone’s Christmas? I didn’t want to bombard you with blog posts just after the holidays. You know, I thought I’d give you a chance to relax and wind down after all that celebrating. So you got a whole six months without me. You’re welcome.

Truthfully, I’ve been drafting this blog post in my head for awhile. It’s a tough one. Three years ago we set off on this crazy little Airstream journey. We gave ourselves three months initially. We thought the first month would be challenging. 160 square feet–could we live in something that small? Could we tow a trailer? Could I empty a sewer tank without throwing up? Could Chris keep his job? Could we stay married? Could we stay sane? After the first two weeks on the road it became clear–this Airstream life was awesome. We didn’t need three months to decide if it was for us. It only took days to realize that we were doing exactly what we needed to be doing. And that’s how life should go. No regrets. No looking back.

We traveled thousands of miles and saw incredible sights that first year. In year two on the road, we had a baby. An awesome one. While we didn’t travel great distances with a newborn, it didn’t stop us from our Airstream life. She’s a well-traveled little girl, having seen the entire east coast and even some of Canada.

Last summer, we started the discussion of stopping the full-time life. There were challenges. It’s not easy to raise a family and maintain an office in 160 square feet. Chris’s job requires him to be on the phone often (all day) between the hours of 9am and 6pm. So he needs a quiet space. And I don’t always want to be out and about with a child. Spending time at home is nice. So you see the dilemma. A toddler and conference calls don’t really mix well in small spaces. We need doors, people.

And a community. We needed a real community in which we could be involved. Playdates. Friends. Classes. Campground life is great but you meet people and then you say goodbye. We wanted to get involved, enroll Emerson in classes, and feel…settled. Words we never though we’d say again.

But were we ready to stop? Not really. Not yet. The idea scared us. Full-timing and travel was part of our identity. Where did we want to live? Having traveled this great country, there are a lot of beautiful places. We considered Oregon, Montana, Vermont, and many others. But one place stood out…at least for me. Virginia. Our home. We left Virginia never expecting to come back. But every time we drove through the state, I got warm fuzzies. And you never ignore warm fuzzies.

We spent Summer 2011 in Staunton, Virginia. We searched for that dream farm property that we’ve been discussing. We didn’t find it. Or, we did…but it didn’t have internet. (I know…crazy. There are places without high speed Internet still.) We returned south for the winter. We had some great stops along the coast of North Carolina and then in Destin, Florida which left us in greater confusion. They were beautiful areas–should we consider those places instead? We didn’t know what to do.

As winter came to an end this year, we traveled back up to Virginia. Settling down was starting to feel like the right thing to do. After one week, we found a cute little farmhouse for rent. It sits on 100 acres and has beautiful views and a tennis court. There they are again…those warm fuzzies. And just like that, we signed the lease, parked our Airstream and called it home. Our garden that we planted is 160 square feet. It was by accident that it measured this way but I like to look out and think, “hmmm, that’s the size of my former home.”

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There’s plenty that I miss about the Airstream life. I miss new places and sights each week. I miss the quick house cleaning times. I miss the simplicity of it all. But there’s also plenty I love about our new farm adventure. I love our garden. I love my big kitchen. I love cooking/cleaning while Emerson naps–that couldn’t happen in our small space. I love our doors that give us our own space when we need it. I love taking Emerson to a weekly playgroup. I love creating a new home for my family. (I don’t particularly love the mice in my home or the old house issues…but I’m adapting.)

We are renting, so if the mice do drive me insane, we could just get back on the road. But so far, no regrets.

Now what to do with this travel blog? Hmmm…we do still have an Airstream and we aren’t afraid to use it.

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Once again, I’ve let too much time go by without updating the blog. My New Year’s resolution is to blog more. And exercise more. And eat healthier. (Translation: don’t get your hopes up about more blog posts.)

We closed up our Airstream for a little while. It needs some work and a thorough cleaning. We are spending some time with family for now and plan to be back in the Airstream in the near future.

Before we moved out however, I still managed to decorate it for the holidays. A simple Christmas tree was the perfect addition to our aluminum home to get us in the Christmas spirit.

We are currently in Georgia with family and excited for the holiday season. Yesterday, we took Emerson into Atlanta where she rode the Pink Pig, an Atlanta holiday tradition. She loved it!

I’ve also been talking to her about Santa a lot in hopes that she would smile for that ever important picture with him. Alas, she takes after me as you can see. My picture time with Santa in 1978 did not go well. Nor did Emerson’s picture time yesterday. Oh well! Still a great memory. Also, when she looks at her picture with Santa, she smiles and says, “Anta.” so maybe no permanent damage was done? Let’s hope!

Again, I promise to get some blog posts up…I still have to tell you about our trip to Puerto Rico!

Until then, may you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year!

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We are still in Atlanta. Okay, not really. But according the blog we are STILL in Atlanta. We’ve actually been in many fun places since and I will get to those posts. Next year. But for now…back to Hotlanta. The ATL. My old ‘hood.

P.S. The blog format is messed up. I know. I use BlogPress on iPad and it’s very buggy right now. So I had to use the WordPress app and I am not a fan. I’m probably using it wrong. But I couldn’t get my pictures to appear within the post. Does anyone know if you can position photos from the WordPress app? It’s driving me crazy.

So, yeah. Atlanta. It is rare that I actually spend time in Atlanta when we go see my family in Georgia. Chris commutes into the city daily for work but I usually stay out in the ‘burbs with the family. This visit, however, I made a point to go and check out some tourist attractions because blog entries about my daily trips to Publix probably wouldn’t be very exciting. (You’re welcome.)

Chris had a day off while we were there and while he would prefer outdoor activities on his day off, this particular day was rainy. So we came up with this genius idea that no one else would surely think to do on this gloomy day. The Georgia Aquarium. I love aquariums. And zoos. So I was giddy with excitement. Our brilliant idea was shared by only a few other thousand families. Also brilliant? Let’s all bring our SUV-sized strollers…because who doesn’t love navigating a crowded aquarium with a large stroller? (I swear when we bought our stroller it was the the non-SUV size. But I think it is growing.) Oh, and did I mention the stroller is empty? Because really, what child is going to quietly sit in their stroller when there are whales and sharks swimming around you? Whales and sharks, I say! I totally wouldn’t. Neither would my child. Nor many other children, apparently.

Thankfully, this is the world’s largest aquarium and can accommodate all these families and their empty strollers quite comfortably. (Also, the aquarium fully expects useless strollers as there is a stroller check area staffed by an aquarium employee…a fact I discovered at the end of our visit. Of course.)

Emerson loved the aquarium. She stood glued to the glass while colorful fish swam by her. There is a tunnel where the sharks swim overhead. A massive ceiling-to-floor viewing area of the beautiful Beluga whales. We saw otters, penguins, jellyfish, and we even found Nemo. (Although we had a hard time seeing Nemo because every child (and grown-up child…ahem..me) was trying to catch a glimpse. Nemo is popular.)

The penguin area offers a chance to crawl up into a glass viewing area that puts one right in the middle of the penguins. I had to keep an eye on our large, empty, totally unnecessary stroller, so only Chris and Emerson took advantage of this opportunity. I stood and waited to catch a glimpse of them appear in the glass when I heard the crowds laughing and shouting, “Oooooooh! As I turned to look to see what all the fuss was about, I saw Chris and Emerson peering out the glass, and Chris was smiling. Note to future penguin tunnel visitors: don’t try to stand all the way up in the glass viewing area. You will hit your head. It will be loud. People will laugh at you. Including your spouse.

As the day came to an end, the crowds began to dwindle. We were not in a hurry to get back out in the rain so we explored the aquarium twice. There is a conference room on the top floor that also provides a great look at the whales and sharks. Whales and sharks! I still get excited. By this point, Emerson was kind of over this whole “fish in glass” bit. But the space to run freely in this conference room? Hello! So we spent a good bit of time in a conference room while our daughter happily ran across the room and back six million times. She slept well that night.

We were recently in Atlanta for a few weeks so Chris could work in his office and Emerson could have some quality time with Nana and Grandpa. While there, my father and I went on a little field trip.

When I was in seventh grade, I became obsessed with baseball. And New Kids On The Block but that’s another story. But baseball…ah, baseball. I loved it. Not playing it…heavens no. I have no athletic ability whatsoever. But I can watch baseball like no other. And I did. Night after night, my best friend, Wendy and I stayed on the phone for hours examining our team, the Atlanta Braves. I knew stats. I knew the players. I read the sports section of the paper. I collected baseball cards. Yep. Obsessed.

This all started when the Braves were the worst team in baseball, so don’t think I only liked them as a winning team in the 90s. Nope. They were terrible! I went to a lot of the games because they gave away tickets to students who made good grades. Seriously, they could not fill the stadium even by giving tickets away. Wendy and I would beg our parents to take us early so we could watch the players drive in to their parking lot. This was also when the players parked outside and talked to the fans before going into the stadium. My how times have changed. I met a lot of the players, including John Smoltz, Steve Avery, and the real reason for my baseball obsession…Tom Glavine. My Tommy.

As an awkward, big haired (as in really tall bangs) thirteen year old with braces, I was sure that someday my Tommy would see me from afar and instantly fall in love. Who wouldn’t, right? I mean, it was definitely between him or Donnie Walhberg. Alas, my dreams didn’t come true. When I did meet Tommy, he didn’t seem to notice me…but did sign his baseball card.

I continued to support my Braves for several years but my obsession weakened as I grew older. I still love a good baseball game but I am no longer the stats-knowing, baseball card collecting, brace-faced girl. (Awkward still applies.)

But during this recent trip, I relived some of these great baseball memories with a tour of Turner Field, where the Braves play. It’s not the stadium I knew during my baseball days as they tore down Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium years ago but it has an excellent museum, full of pictures of my team and my Tommy.

It was a quiet tour day so it was just me, my dad, and our guide. We walked the stadium, visiting the press box, the dugout, and the really expensive seats that I will never sit in. Unfortunately, it was a home game that day so we weren’t allowed in the clubhouse. And then there was the museum. It had the bench from the old stadium…the one where my players sat. They had video footage of games past, including several from the early 90s. Immediately, I was back on the floor of my living room, talking to Wendy, squealing every time we got a glimpse of our favorite guys, doing the Tomahawk chop certain that it would bring the team luck, and cheering with delight when they won a game…and a championship.

It was an awesome trip down memory lane.

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There are many reasons why I don’t do video blogs. 1) my videos would give everyone motion sickness. 2) The camera does not love me. 3) I’m shy. 4) I’m a better writer than I am public speaker. So I always thought the chance of any blog readers seeing me in video was very, very slim. And I was wrong. (As usual.)

But, we thought it would be fun so we did it. And it was fun! My plan was to let Chris do all the talking. Yeah, that didn’t happen. And Emerson? She was all over the place. Knocking over cups, running for the stairs, squirming all around. It was comical. (And somewhat difficult to share our story on camera when a 14 month old is enjoying her ability to walk. Everywhere.) I left with a feeling that we scared Sean and Kristy with our chaos. But, welcome to our lives. I’ve always tried to keep the blog honest so what’s more honest than my frizzy hair and squirmy child, right? (Seriously, about the hair…recently I was walking in a Florida mall and the flat iron salesman at one of the mall kiosks yelled out, “Whoa” when I walked by and pointed at me. I’m not kidding. It’s big and frizzy, y’all.)

Chris and I were excited and a wee bit scared when we saw that Sean posted the video. Sean did an amazing job putting it together. I didn’t criticize myself too much after watching it. Emerson is adorable (of course!) And Chris? Well, his response was, “I look awesome!” So, thanks Sean and Kristy! I hope our paths cross again soon!

Here’s a link to their blog: LongLongHoneymoon.com

And, here we are. Lani and her frizziness. Emerson and all her squirminess. And, Chris and his awesomeness.

Aluminum Bliss from Sean Michael on Vimeo.

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Bluegrass music. Farmers’ markets. Hokies. Airstreams. Friendly people. Mountain views. These are a few of my favorite things. And, when I can have all of these things at once? Well, by golly, I turn into Julie Andrews and run around singing. Okay not really. But I should because wouldn’t life be even more awesome if it were like a musical? I think so. But I digress, as usual. So where can one find all of these wonderful things? Highland Haven Airstream Park in Copper Hill, Virginia, of course.

I wrote about this park last year. And since it was so awesome that visit, we returned again this year. And it did not disappoint. We spent a week there enjoying the company of other Airstreamers. The park has beautiful mountain views from every site. The folks we met there are so incredibly friendly and welcoming. It truly is a happy place.

After several weeks of really hot temperatures, this mountain retreat offered some cooler weather and a wonderful breeze. A breeze we thought would be strong enough to fly our kite. It wasn’t. I swear, this kite will not fly. Ever. But that didn’t stop me from singing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”. All. Day. Long.

We visited nearby Floyd, Virginia, home to some of the best live bluegrass music and a great farmer’s market. It’s a one stoplight town that comes to life on Friday nights when musicians gather for a bluegrass jam. It’s quite the sight. And sound.

We met up with Everett and Missy of Living a Simple Life and had the opportunity to meet their new and absolutely precious little boy. The last time we saw them I was in a seriously sleep deprived state with a newborn. I’m glad to know that my appearance and mental state did not scare them so much they never wanted to have children.

We visited our beloved Virginia Tech primarily so we could get a picture of Emerson on campus. No pressure on her or anything. (Future Hokie.) No, really, she can go anywhere she would like to go. (As long as it starts with “Virginia” and ends in “Tech.”) I kid. I kid. She will totally have our permission to go to any college. (In Blacksburg, Virginia.)

We also had the great pleasure to meet some fellow Airstream bloggers. When we arrived to Highland Haven there was a North Carolina rally taking place. Attending that rally was Jim and Debbie of Dreamstreamr. I’ve been following Jim and Debbie’s blog for awhile. Their blog includes some wonderfully useful tips for full-timing. It was very exciting to meet in person. We had a great time talking with them and seeing their Airstream…a 25 ft that somehow makes me 23 ft Airstream look so cramped. And dirty. They shared some great ideas with us and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them. Go check out their blog and say “Hi” to Jim and Debbie!

The week ended with a win…a shuffleboard win. Chris joined in on the shuffleboard tournament (because sometimes he likes to pretend he’s retired.) And, lo and behold, he and his teammate won! Highland Haven may never let us return since Chris, who was all “I’ve never played Shuffleboard,” won the game. (So typical.) But I hope they do let us come back…because shouldn’t there be a trophy for that win?

Happy trails!

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Virginia Beach was not our only beach stop for our vacation. Originally the plan was to continue on to Chincoteague. I’ve always wanted to go to Chincoteague for the running of the wild ponies. It seems like such an amazing sight but I assumed it was at a different time of year. I was still set on seeing Chincoteague, with or without these wild ponies. So as we were preparing for our journey, I did a little research on where we could camp in Chincoteague. Lo and behold, we were going go be there during the big pony event. I am never this lucky!

Of course, this meant most campgrounds were totally booked. And, as I started to read about the event, I got way less excited. Standing outside for hours in the heat waiting to catch a glimpse of some horses? Hmmm…that might have worked a few years ago. Standing outside in the heat for hours. With. A. Toddler? Yeah, no. That’s not happening. So, change of plans. Those wild horses will have to wait.

Thankfully, our back-up plan was easy. My other, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go there” place was the Outer Banks. And so we did. Without reservations. In the summer. On a weekend. Because that’s how we roll.

We arrived in Rodanthe where there seemed to be a number of campground options…except most were fully booked. Shocker! We were presented with two choices: KOA (holy expensive site, batman! (but with hookups and laundry)) or the national park campground (ahhh, cheap, beautiful, peaceful, and no hookups.) Seems like an easy choice, no? Yeah, no.

Two years ago the national park would have been the obvious choice. And even now we REALLY wanted that to work. But it was 100 degrees. And during the extreme hot temperatures and the mid-day sun, we needed a cooler place to retreat to with Emerson. With our fair skin, I don’t like to expose her or myself to that much sun. And, while not a major issue, she was wearing her last clean diaper and I desperately needed to do laundry. So we did it. We went with the expensive campsite at the KOA. And you know what? It was fun.

The beach in the mornings was beautiful, minus the somewhat large number of jellyfish. Ew. Emerson loved the two (that’s right, TWO!) playgrounds. They had some bouncy thing-a-ma-bob (technical term), that Chris thoroughly enjoyed, despite looks from the 8-year-olds wondering why this old man was jumping with them. And, the pool? Ah, the pool was the perfect temperature.

We were across the street from a kiteboarding area, a sport that fascinates me. Seriously, how do they not blow away? When I was in college, a friend handed me his umbrella to hold. It was one of those mega umbrellas that is supposed to withstand anything. It was windy. I nearly blew away like Mary Poppins. My friend had to hold me down. I was much smaller then. But I digress. My point? I don’t see kiteboarding in my future.

There was a pretty good restaurant nearby, too. Emerson liked it so much she peed on the floor. Twice. I won’t go into explaining how this happened (pssst…she has dumb parents.)

We only stayed two days but it was a lovely two days. And while one of my biggest pet peeves is when the letter K is used in place of the letter C, I’ll agree with KOA just this once and say “Kamping is Fun.”

Ugh. That was really difficult to type! Have a wonderful long weekend, everyone!

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Location:Outer Banks

Chris works a lot. And, lately, he’s worked a whole lot. He’s slept very little and in those moments when he’s not working, he’s thinking about work. So I was thrilled when he announced that he was taking a week off. What would we do? So many options when one’s home has wheels.

Emerson doesn’t absolutely love auto travel. Would you if you were facing backwards and unable to see out the window? So our travel lately cannot be more than four hours. Anything more than that and we are all somewhat traumatized from the drive. Emerson from sheer boredom and us from the children’s songs CD that is on repeat or the numerous Yo Gabba Gabba YouTube video clips. After so many hours, none of us are too happy nor are we willing to clap our hands, stomp our feet or shout “hooray!”

So, where could we go in four hours from Staunton, Virginia? We had several options but we knew one thing: we were hot. Like the rest of the country, we were a sweaty mess. Since it seemed there was no escaping this heat wave, our decision was an easy one. To the beach we go!

In all my years in Virginia I have never been to Virginia Beach so we chose to spend the first part of our vacation there. First Landing State Park is a great state park located on the beach. It’s also Virginia’s most visited state park and getting a spot in the summer could be tricky. But we lucked out and were able to claim a site for our very own for three days.

We were just a short walk to the beautiful beach as well as a lovely hiking trail and playground. Emerson enjoyed sitting in the sand and playing in the water. But I think she loved the playground most. She experienced her first slide (with a lot of hand holding, of course) and would have been perfectly happy to go up and down the slide all. Day. Long. It was wonderful to see her having so much fun and be so playful. She was especially full of giggles this week.

The start of our vacation was excellent. The water was refreshing and relaxing. Our daughter was all smiles. And Chris was finally getting some much needed sleep. We were happy. Clap, clap. Stomp, stomp. Hooray!

P.S. Chris would be very disappointed in me if I did not announce that he purchased an iPad for me. The purchase was made about a month ago. He’s asked me every day if a blog entry was posted. My only excuse for not posting is that I had a lot of pinning to do on Pinterest (Hi, my name is Lani and I’m a pin-aholic). And, more importantly, there were these green pigs that needed to be destroyed by some angry birds. (Please know that I am not proud of this.) So, thank you, Chris, for my iPad. I love it! Now, excuse me, I’ve got some angry birds to fling…

Our 4th of July weekend included a lot of statements beginning with the phrase, “This time last year.” It’s hard to believe a year has passed. This time last year we welcomed Emerson into our lives. This time last year I had never heard of the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Now, not only can I recite it from memory but I can throw a hungry caterpillar themed birthday party!

Yesterday we spent Emerson’s birthday with family and ended the day with a birthday party at the campground. Emerson got her first taste of carrot cake covered with a sugary frosting. (Chris was opposed to the cake idea but we compromised by a) making carrot cake, and b) using as many local ingredients as possible. The carrots, eggs, and flour were all from local farmers). As suspected, Emerson loved it. She also loved smearing it all over her dad’s shirt.

I became very sentimental last night as I climbed into bed and reflected on the year. I recalled those early challenges of exhaustion and trying to soothe a fussy baby. That fear of going out alone with the baby. What would I do if she started crying at the grocery store? (She did. I survived.) And how suddenly I have a child who is walking, clapping, laughing, dancing, and saying, “Da” every time she sees one of the campground’s ducks. It’s amazing how quickly time flies.

I’ll stop now before I get all mushy and teary eyed and simply state that it was a happy first birthday for our little girl. We are blessed. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go tend to my TODDLER (ack!!) as she attempts to feed the dog her carrots.

Helllooooo out there! Remember me? Yes. I’m back. But only to explain why I’ve been missing. My lovely little Dell mini computer has been giving me the blue screen of death lately. The dreaded screen pops up about every five minutes and requires me to restart. It’s extremely frustrating. Chris attempted to reinstall stuff and solve the problems, but…yeah…that didn’t work. So I gave up on using it. All Internet-related tasks are done on my iPhone, which also seems to be struggling lately. So you see the problem, no?

I feel the only solution is for Chris to buy me an iPad. All in favor of this idea say, “aye.”

Until then, I will attempt updates on my phone. Happy Summer!