Happiness and Contentment

Jill's Journal: Life is good. Correction: Life is great. We’ve been officially camping at our first sanctioned campground for not even 36 hours yet and tonight the girls caught their very first fireflies. How cool is that? These are the kind of memories we’re here to make. The excitement in their voices was absolutely infectious. Here they are with friends Leah and Alaina (all five girls were in various stages of holding fireflies in their hands!), whose wonderful parents drove up to the campground and brought us a farewell dinner tonight. We ate together, played together, swam together, and caught fireflies together. The girls absolutely loved watching those firefly rear-ends light up right in their hands!

As an aside, I’ve seen fireflies for the last 13 years here in Kentucky, but I had no idea you could catch the things at all, much less in your bare hands. Leah and Alaina’s Mom, Heather, thought it was hilarious I had no clue. I’m from the California desert, for Pete’s sake! No such thing as fireflies there. :)

We are quickly getting initiated into campground life. It’s friendly and welcoming, it’s a small-town feel, and it’s lovely. It took us a while to completely pack up and leave Nicholasville yesterday, but that will of course get quicker as we get more practice under our belts. My amazing husband handles that huge truck and accompanying 42’ fifth wheel so adeptly that I’m in awe.

We had a situation as we left Rob’s Mom’s property…the best way I can explain it is that the road leaving her driveway has been repaved/raised and the power line, telephone line, and cable line are hanging too low. The raised road and low lines meant we didn’t have enough clearance to get the rig out. Repeated phone calls to the owners of the lines resulted in no action. So Rob fashioned up two 16-foot “lifts” to raise the lines long enough for him to drive out. It completely freaked me out, but it was an amazing fix. We laughed later at the thought that flashed through my mind at the time, “Please don’t get electrocuted. I can’t drive the fifth wheel yet!!”

It felt so wonderful to pull into our designated spot at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground in North Lexington and get completely hooked up. The girls immediately spotted the playground and made themselves at home. We all enjoyed dinner outside in the fresh air and a swim before bedtime. Perfection.

Today was even better. Rob headed back down to Nicholasville to completely wrap up all the projects at his mother’s and is so relieved to now be D-O-N-E with everything he’d taken on down there. The girls and I took advantage of our proximity to the Horse Park and took one of the campground’s golf carts over there for the day. It was all horses, all day, everything from miniature mares with their foals (oh my gosh, what is cuter than a 10-week old baby horse the size of a large puppy?!) to massive English Shires. We paid a special visit to multiple champion Cigar, the top dog at the Hall of Champions, where I admit I got a little teary-eyed saying goodbye to him. He enjoyed my scratches on his nose and looked at me with that sharp, eagle eye like I was a fool for getting a little emotional. But if it wasn’t for his perfect 10-for-10 campaign in 1995 that got me so hooked on horse racing, I don’t know if we would have ever been in Kentucky in the first place. It’s been such an amazing ride and it’s all because of him. When I realized that he’s 20 now and this could be the very last time I ever see him, I felt a license to tear up a little bit.

The girls loved the horse-drawn trolley ride and visiting the great Man o’ War’s grave. But it was a moment in the International Museum of the Horse that took the cake. Madelyn, my least-horse crazy of the bunch, exclaimed, “Mommy, I LOVE this place. Can we come back here again and again? There are horses everywhere!”

After we capped the day with the great visit from great friends, the girls were in bed, and Rob returned for the last time from Nicholasville, he and I both agreed that we’re on the right path with this adventure that officially started yesterday. It’s been a long road getting to this point – selling our belongings and the massive preparation that goes into such a drastic life change. Most of it’s been smooth with just a little rockiness thrown in for good measure, but we never wavered from the goal and now we’re just so thrilled to be this far. We can’t wait to see where the road takes us and what adventures await. And most of all, we can’t wait to share it as a family. In the end, that’s the most important thing of all.

The Guilt Factor

Jill's Journal: I feel guilty. My poor husband is overwhelmed by everything still on his plate before we leave town. And yet, there’s not a whole lot I can do to help him right now except keep the kids out of his hair.

So the girls and I have been having a lovely time (hence the guilt). We’ve done everything from the pool with the wonderful Heather to pony rides with the lovely Katy and crew. We’ve played in the great outdoors with the fantastic Colby and her girls before heat and hunger drove us all indoors for a nice lunch instead. We’ve spent a marvelous day in the country with the incredibly hospitable Mary and family. (Is there any town in Kentucky more charming than Wilmore? Seriously, even the utility poles, each one of them for 1 1/2 miles, have hanging flower baskets.) We even attended a fitness day at the Bluegrass Airport, where a brand new runway was opened to the public to walk, bike, skate, etc. for an afternoon and the girls got to enjoy sitting in a police helicopter and on a police motorcycle. We’ve tried the bumper cars at GattiTown, we’ve had a bonfire, we’ve had water fights with a hose. And the list goes on.

I’m trying to make the best of it because, trust me, we are all so stinkin’ eager to get on the road. To be so close and yet still be sitting here, 10 days or more after we thought we’d be gone, is frustrating. And while the girls are having a great time, I think even they are getting restless. Erika, our 6-year-old, said to me yesterday, “Mommy, it’s a house on wheels. Aren’t we supposed to go somewhere?”


Yes, dear girl, yes. We are indeed. We’re going to go on the ride of your young life, I promise. Be patient just a little while longer.

Reservations Required

Jill's Journal: We just made the funnest reservation online!! My friends Heather and Eryn, along with their husbands and kids and us, are all going to go camping together in April! Three couples, nine kids…what a blast! Heather has a tent, Eryn has a pop-up trailer (I believe), and of course we have the fifth wheel. Both of them have been camping before (albeit separately) at Levi Jackson State Park near London, KY, and highly recommend it as a family-friendly, fun place.

They’re the pros at this camping thing. It may very well be our first official trip before we truly venture out into the camping world full-time, so what fun to do it with friends. We have camping sites reserved all practically right next to each other for the whole weekend. I invited my sister too, who is camper extraordinaire and loves kids, but we’ll see how interested she is in camping with that many kids!

Several months ago, I also made reservations for this coming July at Assateague State Park (with the wild ponies!!) in Maryland. And on New Year’s Day, reservations open at the place I want to stay on Chincoteague Island in Virginia for the annual pony swim (also in July). I’ve only been wanting to go to that since I was about eight years old and first read the wonderful Misty of Chincoteague. (I’m pretty certain I wore out my school library’s copy, as I checked it out repeatedly over the years and surely read it dozens of times). I’ll be reading that to my girls before we go. We’re living the dream!

Making all these reservations is making our upcoming adventure seem very real and very close! And we’re also piecing together a very loose itinerary. We’re going to follow the seasons, starting on the East Coast and gradually moving our way west over a three-year span. Spending our first fall on the road in New England with all the beautiful colors is a no-brainer. Next Christmas though? Who knows where we’ll be! I love that bold freedom.