stories, photos, and videos, oh my!
April 29, 2017
This is our F A R E chart. At the beginning of the year, we decided that we wanted to try school a little differently (I wrote a little bit about that in our last blog post). One of the things that has probably been the most helpful in motivating August to do his daily […]
March 3, 2017
This kid (the one you can partially see at the bottom of the photo there) has worked hard on focusing and finishing some basics (math, grammar, writing) this week. We unschool for the most part, but to make sure he’s learning what he needs to, we require a little work for four days a week […]
May 2, 2016
All right, I think that if anyone told me to prepare myself for reverse culture shock upon returning to the great state of Texas after a year on the road in the most not-southern states, I think that I would have laughed and rolled my eyes. And then a year later, I would have kicked […]
March 10, 2016
We tried to take the nice family shot but it wasn’t working. Every shot we took just didn’t feel right. On the verge of giving up, and feeling a shift in the weather coming on, we thought it might be fun to try and get a shot of Sarah’s hair blowing in my face. A […]
March 5, 2016
PREFACE: Lately, many of our conversations have centered around the launch of this site. August has been caught up in the excitement as well and decided to write a note, or five, of his own. He grabbed my (Mark) phone, opened Evernote and went to town. The following words, emojis and parenthetical are 100% his. […]
March 4, 2016
PROS Working from home or wherever we want. Having the freedom to be in charge of our schedules. A different (and often, beautiful) scene every week or two. Not having to “vacation-mode” a city and pack everything into a week, but having the luxury of time to take our time and actually experience the city […]
March 3, 2016
Pros Everyone’s close Not too much space to traverse, I’m getting old. Wet food Pretty nails The great outdoors Cons Everyone’s close Not too much space to traverse, I’m getting old. Wet food Pretty nails The great outdoors
February 26, 2016
We used to be those people riding the “live simply” wave. We sold most of our stuff and downsized, learned how to live with less stuff and space, paid off a lot of debt, figured out how to be our own boss, bought an RV, said goodbye to a conventional lifestyle, and hit the road […]
February 6, 2016
It’s been quite an adventure for August to learn how to read and for us to learn how to take a step back, not pressure him, and let him want to learn on his own time. A couple months ago, I had the idea to buy some blank index cards and write words on them […]
January 22, 2016
We have been asked by quite a few people, “How did you do it?,” “How can we do it?” And, if there is one thing that this website is supposed to do, it is to document our (The Sweetlanders) journey on and off the road. If there is one other thing it is supposed to […]
November 24, 2015
It’s not an uncommon thing for August to fill silent gaps with song. Most of the lyrics are about things he sees around him – “the birds are flying… In the sky” “I’m sitting on the couch and looking at a book” stuff like that. Tonight though he got me with a pretty epic and […]
October 13, 2015
I’m writing this from the summit of Mount Washington. It’s Tuesday, October 13. Most of the world is at work. We’re on top of the tallest moutain on the east coast. Something seems right about this. Something seems right about everything. Maybe it’s the thin air talking. I have these moments of clarity in my […]
August 3, 2015
PROS Freedom. Freedom is my highest ideal. It’s my one thing. Living anywhere we want for as long (or short) as we want, working from the road, a park, a coffee shop, Target, or anywhere in between, is awesome. Quantity quality time with my family. There are no do overs. The thinking that says work […]
July 30, 2015
When we told people about our dream, we would get the same response but in two different forms. There was the excited/supportive/enthusiastic- “Man that sounds awesome! Why are you guys doing that?!” and then there’s the less than excited/sarcastic/patronizing “Man…okay, that sounds awesome? So, why are you guys doing that??” It seems that when the […]
July 26, 2015
Renovating a house on wheels is a HUGE undertaking. There’s probably more like a million thing we learned but here’s 9 things we learned renovating our RV. 1. Buy your supplies as you need In previous projects we hated getting half way through something only to find out we needed that one thing like glue, […]
July 22, 2015
We have to constantly remind ourselves (and others) that “We are not on vacation.” We’re traveling full-time, always in a new city with new and interesting things to do, places to go, and yummy things to eat. We love new experiences and we love good food. We’re in trouble. At the time of this writing […]
July 13, 2015
We lived in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, with a large front and backyard. We worked hard to find just the right pieces to fill it with. Sarah and I are both designers, so shopping at Rooms to Go was not an option and neither was filling every room with IKEA furnishings. We had many one-of-a-kind […]
April 15, 2015
Me: “You’re a good kid, you know that?” August: “You’re a good grown up, you know that?” We need to hear that sometimes.
March 17, 2015
It pains me to write this. At the start of any great adventure you picture yourself summiting the mountain, completing your quest, or hiking to the edge and looking over. You picture yourself with the people you love, and the things you care about. I pictured us with Sullivan. Sullivan is our dog. I’m sure […]
January 6, 2012
So we made it through the holidays and couldn’t seem to shake this RV idea. It wasn’t just an RV, it was an adventure and like all great adventures, we knew it would transform us in ways we could never imagine. We also knew that it would come at a cost. Lots of work, lots […]
October 6, 2011
Back in 2012 we were living in Houston, TX. We drove across town to one of our favorite sno-cone places. On our way home, sno-cones in hand, Sarah and I reminded each other of a long-term dream we had to travel full-time in a well designed, renovated RV. We’d talked about it a few times […]