Week One

This week has been insanely busy. As I type this, I'm pretty much a drooling, nearly-snoring zombie. We brought home our brand new (to us anyway), absolutely beautiful truck a few days ago. In the process, we had to say goodbye to our van. Somehow in the moments as we traded him in, he went from "the lame mom-mobile" to what suddenly seemed like a member of the family that I couldn't possibly part with. Funny how attached we get to vehicles, isn't it? It was tough on the kids leaving the van sitting there and driving away in our new truck. And I would be lying if I said I didn't have to choke back a tear or two myself as we pulled out of the dealership. In all fairness, it has been the only vehicle my kids have ever known. We've made a lot of memories in that ugly thing! It was definitely a tough goodbye.

But upward and onward, right?! On Friday, my awesome husband made the trek down to Houston to finally pick up the RV and bring it back to Conroe! The kids and I waiting so impatiently all day while he had the new hitch installed in the truck, then headed over to the RV dealership to finish signing papers, did the final walk through, and got the basic info we will need to survive in this thing.

Around 5:00 Friday evening, after never having pulled an RV before (which left me completely terrified), Jonathan pulled into our church parking lot in Conroe carrying the most beautiful 5th wheel in the whole world behind him! Jonathan and I, all three kids,my dad, and father-in-law spent the rest of the evening figuring out all of the buttons and levers, hoses and tanks (ewww by the way!) etc., then sat around for hours commenting on how cool it all was. My mother promptly decided she needed a matching 5th wheel, in which to follow us around the country. She's pretty good at talking my dad into getting what she wants...I wouldn't be in the least surprised if she showed up at a campground along our route somewhere, in her very own Salem Hemisphere 356 QBQ! ; )

Saturday morning we loaded the trucks up with all of the RV gear we've been putting aside for months, picked up the RV from the church, and headed to our first official camp site! Jonathan set the thing up like he's been doing it for ages. I'm so impressed! I would have made a huge mess of the thing, but my husband,the super genius, had it up and running in no time, without a single problem. Swoon!!! My hero...

We spent the rest of the day organizing everything and unpacking as much as we could. Then the kids and I got a chance to explore the RV park for a while before dark. I have to admit, I've had this idealistic picture in my head of what our RVing days with the kids will look like, and I've been afraid I was totally building it up in my head and would be really let down in real life. Well today I think God just brought my mental picture to life to bring me a sense of peace about this crazy decision we've made. As the kids and I walked down to a beautiful little pond and had a picnic, the kids threw a few French fries into the water, which in turn attracted a jillion little fish, turtles, and minnows! The kids were in awe, lying on their bellies on the pier, watching the fish, and oooo-ing and aaahhhh-ing at tadpoles and minnows. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and the kids were so happy. And there wasn't an electronic gadget in any of their little hands. It was like my goofy perfect mental picture came to life right there on that rickety old pier. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of them, living my little dream.

Dinner with Mom and Dad in the RV, all crammed around our tiny little table was a wonderful end to an already wonderful day. Day 1: DONE! 

- Molly