Archive for the 'Travels' Category

Happenings in Month 7:

• This is the first month that we’ve actually been in the same location as last month! We are going on 8 weeks in Colorado…and have loved every minute! Four of those weeks have been spent in Golden…and we will really miss this community when we leave. It kind of feels like we live here. We know we’ve been in one place for awhile when the locals know who we are, when we can’t go downtown without running into someone we know, and when we already have “weekend traditions”. We have plans to head to Bozeman next week after Matt’s job here is done, and we are really looking forward to that!
• My mom and dad just couldn’t stay away, and within 10 days of leaving us the first time, they were back out here for another week. We had TONS of fun…again We rented bikes and biked all over Golden…it was so awesome to not worry about packing us into 2 cars to go downtown. Instead we just pedaled our way there! I’m in love with bikes.
• My brother, Daniel, also flies out from Minneapolis quite a bit for business, and we’ve loved seeing him!
• Bella has made so many friends here…she has been to a birthday party, and regularly goes to the park or the creek with friends and their families. She is growing up before our very eyes…and yet, there are moments when I look into her eyes and see that sweet little 2 year old looking back at me. She loves fashion and dressing up. Makeup and nail polish and such are beloved items. Although, she is very much a “tomboy”, so it’s a nice mixture   Sometimes I will ask her to hold my hand while crossing the street. Sometimes she will, but most of the time she wants to do it all on her own. My heart only breaks a little bit. Luckily, I have another little girl who is just starting to want to hold my hand.
• Lucy is changing daily and becomes more and more adventurous all the time. I can’t turn my back for a SECOND in the RV because: she likes to make “art” on the leather couch with pen, she stands on top of the table/counter/dash, she plays in the toilet, she unloads drawers and then sits in them, and she throws things out the window. Oh, and she likes to take her diaper off. She is at the age where she KNOWS what she wants, but doesn’t have the words for it. She knows some sign language, but it is still hard sometimes. It’s like an all day game of charades…but she totally amazes us at what she understands.

It’s been a great month…and we are looking forward to an amazing fall as we head West to Oregon and California. Weeeeeeee!

Photo credit: Mike Hedge / Jumping Book

Happenings in Month 3:

We are happily settled at Hill Shade RV Park in Texas…and enjoying every minute. Just tonight I was thinking how much I will miss the peacefulness of the countryside when we leave here. I love watching the cows graze just a few feet away from the RV as I read in my hammock chair. It’s quite lovely.

We are far away from things we used to take for granted…coffee shops, Thai food, and kale. The nearest big city is Austin (or San Antonio)..we’re about an hour from each.  We are getting more accustomed to the drive..although sometimes I do wish we were a BIT closer.

We have been hanging out with some amazing families here. Read about them in detail over at Happy Janssens. I haven’t blogged about Mike Hedge yet, but will soon. He is the fabulous photographer (and just a super fun person in general) who took the “Jump Shot” above. He is on a cross-country tour right now taking photos for his “Jumping Book“. Be sure to check it out! We met Mike through Tiffani….I love the intermingling of friendships on the road.

I blogged about starting to run again…and that has been a blast. I’m having such run gallivanting around the countryside. I feel more energized already and I’m sleeping better. I’m LOVING the FiveFingers too. I never want to put on normal shoes anymore…they are quite addicting.  I’m reading Born To Run right now and it’s just starting to get good…I love it.

Matt has been keeping busy finding RV’s for people, doing some projects at the RV park, taking care of the girls when I’m working, and just being an amazing husband and daddy in general.

Bella has had a great month and is loving playing with the kids here at Hill Shade. Her birthday is in 2 days, so we are gearing up for that.

Lucy is working on her 6th tooth now! She has 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom. She changes EVERY day. It’s such a blessing to watch her interact with Bella…they actually “play” with each other now and it’s a hoot. Her little personality is so vibrant.

My parents are here right now and that has been super fun. I love my family. Lots of photos coming soon.

We are getting excited to head back to the midwest for the summer…so much to love there.

It’s spring! I’m happy! So I’m having a Buy One, Get One sale on everything in my Etsy shop. Check out the new travel photography…but don’t miss the old favorites, like this one:

And this one:

When purchasing, just add one to your cart and then tell me which one you would like as your second print in the comments (the free item should of equal or lesser value). If you see one that says “sold out”…let me know (I just need to re-list it).  Sales ends this Sunday, March 28.

Have a GREAT weekend!

This photo was taken a few days ago at The Tree of Life in Patagonia, AZ.

Happenings in Month 2:
This past month has been one of inspiration, learning, healing, and laughter.

We were in Las Vegas for over 3 weeks, completing the veggie system for Tara + family from The Organic Sister. We LOVED our time there, and drew so much inspiration from the fellow unschoolers that we met. I’m planning a post about unschooling soon!

We visited so many different places and learned many new things. Check out our Happy Janssens blog for details.

I’ve been trying to heal my body after working too many late nights. It’s been a crazy month for me…getting the new blog launched, working my “real jobs”, and being a mama/wife. I’ve had a lot on my plate and it’s catching up with me. I’ve been drinking and eating more and more greens and I’m starting to feel like I’m on the mend. Although, as I look at the clock right now, it says 1:45 a.m. Ack! In the coming month, I need more sleep, more Jesus, more yoga, more vitamins!

Matt had his 32nd birthday on February 21! We enjoyed celebrating with a pancake breakfast and a surprise delivery of Starbucks. He is an amazing father…so patient and loving with Bella and Lucy (and me too!). Love love love him.

The girls keep us laughing ALL DAY. Bella is so animated and loves to make up silly songs while we’re driving. At bedtime, we review our favorite 2 things of the day and then talk about what we are going to do tomorrow. Lately, she has been wanting to sleep on the floor in the living room or on the couch. She and Daddy usually fall asleep while I keep working into the night. She loves writing letters and making art. She rarely plays with the toys in her toy box…she much prefers to play outside in the rocks/dirt. She loves to build cities and rivers. She is growing up to be such a smart and funny young lady…with a tender heart and fiery attitude.

Lucy’s 3rd tooth just popped through a few days ago…she has 2 on the bottom and one on the top. It looks like the other one on the top is about to come in as well. She can pull herself up to standing now and is quite the little explorer. EVERYTHING goes in her mouth…including a few tastes of “real” food. She has tried avocado, banana, broccoli, sweet potato, apple, and mango. She thinks it’s quite exciting, but never keeps much in her mouth. She says “Da-da” and “Ma-ma” and according to Bella, she says “Bella” too. Oh, and I can’t forget “Na Na Na Na”…which translates as “I’m hungry / thirsty / tired / happy / sad / scared / hurt … and you should nurse me now”. We are all head over heels in love with her.

Tomorrow we head to Austin, TX to be with my sister and her hubby who are flying in from Minneapolis. We’re super excited to spend time with them…and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate! After that, we are looking forward to staying in one place for awhile as we camp with friends southeast of Austin.

Bring on the sunshine!

I am VERY excited to announce that our new blog is officially LAUNCHED!! Woooo hoooo!

Come join us at Happy Janssens!

There are 23 blogs already posted for your reading pleasure and TONS of new photos (including lots of new listings at my Etsy store). I’ve been blogging all of our travels from the time we bought the RV, but the dates aren’t exactly right because I blogged them all at once Now that I’m caught up, the posts will be in “real time”. We love love love comments…so don’t be shy!

You will see there that we are currently taking bookings for photography sessions, veggie oil conversions, and custom RV remodels.  Please contact us right away if you’re interested in hiring us for these services when we are in your area. We are basing our route on our booked jobs.

Spread the word…and put one of little blog “buttons” on your site!
Have a wonderful weekend…see you over at Happy Janssens!

**This will be our every day travel blog…it does not replace Walk Slowly. I will still blog here as well.**

I’ve recently discovered this awesome discount/coupon site called Groupon. They have daily deals for restaurants, museums, massage…cupcakes! It’s available in most major cities and it’s gaining popularity. If you sign up…please use my affiliate code so I can earn some extra $$ for fun stuff in the cities we travel to! Check it out here.

We did it! Our first installment of The 12 Project. We’ve been enjoying our time in Vegas…every time we’ve been here before, we have flown in for business and taken taxis everywhere. This time, we have our own car, so we are exploring the “real” side of Vegas and not just the strip.

The mountains are beautiful and the weather is warm. We are living downtown and there is a Thai restaurant 4 blocks away with such huge portions that we only need 2 orders of pad thai to feed everyone. I’ve also heard there there is a Thai restaurant here that is the “best in North America”. You KNOW I’ll be checking that one out!

Bella can’t get over all of the twinkling lights downtown and on the strip. She loves it…and always wants to drive around at night. Luckily, we can see many of them from our front window!

Our neighbors are the cutest couple from Canada…Lois and David and their dog Barney. The family we are working with here are also unschoolers and we’ve enjoyed hanging out with them. We love life on the road.

Post a link to YOUR month 1 family photo in the comment section! I’d love to see everyone.

Our new travel blog, “Happy Janssens”, has been in the design phase for about a month…but our designer has had a family emergency and needs to pass the project on to someone else. I know that there are many of you who are talented in this area…and I would love to support someone who already reads my blog!

If you are interested in working with us on this project, please email me for more info. Or, if you know someone who does web…pass this along! Thanks so much!!

The Big News from Sara Janssen on Vimeo.

Let me just say…you guys are crazy! I don’t know how many emails I have gotten lately begging for the details of our new adventure. You’ve been trying to guess….

“Is it a boat tour?”

“Is it a plane tour?”

“Is it a bicycle tour?”

“Are you going overseas?”

Nope. None of the above. We are just doing what we love…and that is going ON THE ROAD again (you gotta love Willie). After Lucy was born, we knew right away that we wanted to get back out there on the open road. Living life. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Learning. Growing.

We’ve different now. The road has changed us. Our priorities are different and we’ve realized that our traveling life just wasn’t over yet. When we bought the Minnie Winnie, we truly thought that we would just be using it for weekend getaways and for traveling to see family. But, as soon as we got back out there, it just felt like us. It was good. We missed it.

However, the Winnie was a bit small for full-time livin’. So, we sold the Winnie and went back to a motorhome. This time, it’s a 2000 Alpine Coach (40 foot). The same exact one as our last RV, but 2 years newer and 4 feet longer. Just enough extra length for Matt to build bunk beds for the girls. We’ll be remodeling it back in Bozeman while we gather our belongings and sell/give away the rest.

Right now, we’re still in Des Moines…and will soon be heading to various locations in Nebraska, Colorado, and then back to Bozeman. We’ll be back for a few weeks and then will head west to Eugene, OR to convert the RV to veggie oil at Green Eye. After that, our plan is loose, but we’re thinking California through January. Then Arizona and Texas throughout the winter, the east coast in the spring, and then back to the Midwest in the summer. We will most likely be offering a “buffet” of services as we travel through different cities.

• Photography
• RV or home remodeling
• Raw food consultation / speaking
• Veggie oil conversion services

We won’t be doing any public demos, etc. like we did the first time around…and we will hopefully be traveling at a slower pace!

You may be a bit confused because you know we love Bozeman so much and have a cute little house with great neighbors and great friends, etc. etc. And that is all true. This wasn’t an easy decision by any means. There is great comfort in stability and living life in one spot. We went back and forth. But after much prayer, finally decided to take a step of faith and as soon as we did that…all of the pieces started falling into place perfectly. We just kept praying, and God kept answering. It’s been a fun ride…it’s quite an adventure when God is at the wheel!

What we have realized is that we need to live our life NOW. We don’t want to wait until we are retired to travel again. This past year has changed our perspective greatly…we lost my grandma and we nearly lost my brother in his accident. Family is super important to us and by having a home on wheels, we are able to see them more often. We are extremely blessed with jobs that enable us to travel…but that could all change tomorrow if one of us got hurt or sick. We can ALWAYS settle down…but we might not always be able to travel. Life is short!

I think this quote sums it up perfectly:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

So…once again we are sailing away from our “safe harbor”… with the goal of experiencing new things, meeting new people, and encouraging others to take that little step toward their own dream…whatever it may be!

And yes, I will be writing a blog about our new journey…it will take a little while to get it up and running so bear with me during this time of transition. I know this blog has been a bit quiet lately except for RV announcements…but now you know why I have a really GREAT giveaway and a blog about yoga coming soon. Have a fabulous weekend!

Look at this cute little RV! It just happened to find it’s way into our driveway.  Yes, can you believe it? We have ANOTHER RV! Woooooo! We just couldn’t handle traveling in “normal” vehicles. Matt has been scouring the internet for about 6 months and we finally found the one we wanted. A 1983 – 23 foot Class C Winnebago “Minnie Winnie”…located in Seattle. He flew out a couple of weeks ago and drove it back.

It’s currently in our backyard, completely gutted. Matt is gearing up to paint this week, followed by new flooring and all the other stuff we like to do to RV’s. The 80’s green and orange is lovely, but not quite my style. Bella is super excited about the bunk over the cab, and I’m excited to be able to travel comfortably again. And of course, Matt loves a good project.

It’s sure a cute little thing…I can’t wait to show you all the inside when it’s done. Oh, and of course it’s diesel! We will be converting it to run on veggie oil later this summer. Our first big trip will be a 2 month adventure back to Minnesota and Iowa this summer…and we’re dreaming of a West coast road trip next summer. And no…there  are no plans to go back “on the road”! Just some good old fashioned travel in our fancy recreational vehicle.

Here’s to happy trails!