I’m not sure how it’s been nearly a YEAR since I last posted. COVID has really warped my sense of time. And living life with two kids + two full time jobs is….a lot. We haven’t been traveling for leisure a whole lot, so I’ve had a lack of ‘content’ in that realm. And Louisiana isn’t much of a diving state so, not much on that front either. But, I’m back today with BIG ol’ update for y’all!

When COVID hit, we started hiking as a family (and I’ve had a post completed, with all sorts of tips and gear recommendations ready to go for about a year). Weekend hikes and trips to places where we spent most of our time hiking (Vermont in 2020, Alaska in 2021 and lots of local areas) naturally led to wanting to spend MORE time outside. The easiest way to do that is camping. For years, Aaron and I had talked about buying or building a teardrop. Well, Fall of 2020, we decided to go for it! We placed an order with Hiker Trailer in Indiana and picked up our ‘square drop’ in June 2021. We spent a TON of time camping last summer. Even in the heat of the south with out any sort of air conditioning. Summer was brutally hot, but fall and winter were amazing. We spent a week camping and hiking in the Smokies in November and lots of weekends camping within about 4 hours of here. And when Hurricane Ida hit in August 2021, we chose to evacuate and go camping. It actually worked out great! Thankfully our house was safe; I appreciated how easy it was to grab food, clothes, important documents, load up the trailer, and just go. We spent a lot of time last year organizing and streamlining our process and it definitely showed that weekend.

On the family front, our girls are growing like weeds! E finished kindergarten this year and I can’t even believe it. It feels like just yesterday I was sharing her birth story. And J is now a sassy 4.5 year old. They are super close and love camping with us. Last fall, we got E a pedal bike (she had long outgrown her balance bike) and within an hour, she had the hang of it. No training wheels even! E let J try it the next day and within an afternoon, she had it down too, and I found myself ordering a second pedal bike! They sure do keep us on our toes!

Now on to the announcement: we’re moving. Again. In just a few short weeks, actually. We’re headed back to Texas, but a different part this time. This time, we will be south of Houston, even closer to the coast (much to our families’ chagrin - even more in the path of a hurricane). Aaron took a new role but I will be able to continue in my current one. While I wish we were moving to Michigan or even back to Germany, I’m excited. This move will be good for our careers and we already have a ton of friends in the area. We’re excited to go beach camping this summer and maybe head out to the hill country in the fall. I’m going to deeply miss the friends we have here in Louisiana, but I know we will see each other again. These are the types of friends that we can see a few times a year and still be really close with. I’m grateful for them.

Wish us luck in these coming weeks! We sure do have a lot ahead of us!