Fueling Up On Friends

Lynchburg Daily Bread  

May 2008

We have a program that our family started last year as gas prices started to go up. We found ourselves complaining about how high gas was. We realized one day that we shouldn’t be complaining. We were so lucky to be able to live the way that we are. So we decided to change our attitude. When I was a kid my Dad always sang a song to us when we were mad or in a bad mood. He would sing, If you chance to meet a frown do not let it stay, quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away. So we started "Fueling Up On Friends". For every dollar we spend on gas we turn that into 1 minute of service. So if we spend $200 dollars on gas a week we turn that into 200  minutes or 3 hours and 20 minutes of service.

While we were in Lynchburg we met the greatest group of people. We contacted the Lynchburg Daily bread and they said that we could come on down to see them. We went for two days and we had an amazing experience.

The Local College donates a lot of food to the kitchen. So a lot of the meal was already made. We helped them prepare meals and dish food for visitors. We were impressed with this kitchen. Most kitchens we have been to just serve people in a line. Here they actually go to the table and bring them their meal. We like it this way because you were able to meet the visitors that were there.

Conner made a special friend. Conner sat down to talk and he has a cookie. This sweet gentleman told Conner that he couldn’t have a cookie until he ate lunch. He tried to explain to him that he was ok, but the gentlemen said no you must eat some vegetables. Conner came up to me and asked me what he should do. He didn’t want to eat plus the vegetable was cabbage and he didn’t like cabbage. So I told him to do what he thought was best. He decided since the man was being kind to him that he needed to eat the cabbage. He slowly struggled with eating the cabbage and by the time he was through he decided that he liked the cabbage. The next day Conner and his new friend spent a lot of time getting to know each other. He told Conner that he was very impressed with him and that he wanted to give him a tip. Conner told him that he didn’t need or want to take a tip that he just wanted to be his friend. The man kept insisting, so we told Conner to be polite and accept it. He has that dollar in his special spot and will never spend it, it is his reminder of his special friend.

Our friends at the daily bread.

We feel that showing our kids how to provide service to others is a very important lesson.

Tags: Service Loud Virginia

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Virginia Living History Museum

This is a great museum that is 30 minutes south of Williamsburg, Va.

The boys were working hard on earning their WEBLO and Wolf badges for scouts.  So we wanted to find a place that we could learn about local animals. We do the Lone Scout program. So we are our own scout troop. I will have a blog on soon about how lone scouts work. This is a great idea for traveling families. We use scouts for a big part of our curriculum.

The kid’s favorite was the turtle, who was just as curious about the kids as they were about him.  He had a missing flipper and has had a great home at the museum ever since he was rescued.

The kids always wondered what was inside of a turtle shell.

 The museum had exhibits of Virginian animals. The kids liked that most of the exhibits were hands on.

The horse shoe crab was fascinating. All of the kids were able to hold and touch him. Kelby was a little over excited and took a tumble into the tank. The docent was not impressed J

This is the best way to learn with your children. I love learning hands on with them. We find that we are learning more then we would have ever imagined.

Tags: Homeschool Museum Virginia

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 Scout and Family School Time

Vern and I really believe in inspiring your child to want to learn. Each Monday night we have our family meeting where we go over what is happening the next week and what happened the week before. We then talk about all of the things that we learned and what the kids enjoyed. We also will have a small family night lesson. This can be anything from values to religious topics. Even though we are together all of the time, this is a special time that we devote to just focusing on our family. The kids love the fact that they get allowance on Monday nights also.

We always go over scouts on Monday. The boys are working hard to accomplish all of their badges and arrow points. The boys tell us what they have done in scouts and we present them with their badges that they have earned that week. Even though it is just our family the boys really get excited about scout night.

Each member in the family prepares a presentation to show us what they have been studying. As a family we all go to the same places and we learn the same things, but each child finds certain areas more interesting than others. Their report can be an oral report, or they could make a diorama or what ever they choose to do. This time is important to us in our schooling because we find that we all inspire each other. When you are excited about something and you share that with others, that inspires you to want to go and learn about it yourself. The kids always amaze us at what they learn and how excited they are to share it with us.

This night Conner did his report on the food that was eaten during the time of the first settlers in Williamsburg. Conner made a poster and explained to us what type of food would have been grown in local gardens. He also went to the library to read about what foods would have been eaten. He found a great book with Colonial recipes. Conner made dinner for us that night. He made Steak Chili, Applesauce, Corn Bread and Pie. It tasted great and he loved making dinner this way for us.

Kelby did his report on Indian villages. He focused on the Powhatans and their villages. He taught us about their homes and how they chose who lived in what homes. He also taught us about how the villages were chosen. He loves working with his hands, so he built a villiage out of clay. He did a great job at building his village and he learned a lot.

Zoe did her report on Native American medicine. She was fascinated by the herbs and roots that we saw as we were visiting Jamestown. She found a piece of oak knoll, and some fennell. She went to the library and studied about how the Native Americans grew and harvested many herbs for their health. She also explained to us that they would eat certain foods depending on what time of year it was to help their bodies adjust to the season. It was very fascinating and she taught us so much.

Auvi did her report on Colonial medicine. She explained to us that they depended a lot on the Native Americans at first for their knowledge on the native plants that they were not familiar with. She also told us about a lot of the old folk tales and myths that the colonist had. Midwives were very important for all types of medical advice and needs. She was very interested in how colonist learned what was good and bad for them. She told us about a few stories of how people had to experiment with different herbs and concoctions and how sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t.

I did mine on types of Colonial money. I explained to the kids that money was not as important during this time as it is now. We made a timeline of money and dated when different currency was used during this time period.

Vern did his report on Colonist rules and government. He always puts so much time into his weekly report. He likes to set the example to the kids that it is enjoyable to prepare and share what you have learned with others.

Tags: Scouts Homeschool Family

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New Jersey Miracles

As we waited for our website to be finished, we became behind in our blogs. We visited NJ in June. We had a great time, but we also met an amazing family that helped us and were our miracle!

Our Journey started in Philadelphia. Kelby was excited because they had a fishing pond. So the minute we pulled in and were set up, I didn’t see Kelby for hours. He loves fishing! He will spend hours waiting for the catch of the day.  Fishing for me has been a huge blessing as far as school work goes.  If I can incorporate fishing into math, reading, or writing he is all over it. So we have become creative when it comes to Kelby and his school work.

Conner and I found some pretty cool things as we took a nature hike around the pond. We found a bird's nest with beautiful blue eggs. We also found a slithery snake, which was not afraid of us at all. We saw hundreds of ducks and turkeys everywhere. We had turkeys all over our RV site. This drove the dogs crazy since they couldn’t chase them.

The kids also loved the batting cage. They were much braver then I was. The thought of a machine shooting balls at me over and over just didn’t sound very entertaining.

They all did great! The boys were reminded of how much they miss playing group sports back home. So we vowed to try to play baseball as a family more.

After our game of baseball we loaded up the RV and started heading off to a Thousand Trails park near Cape May, New Jersey. We were looking forward to some sun, beaches and relaxation. As we were driving we saw a funny road sign, so I made Vern pull over and take a picture of it. I thought that it was a scary name for a road. Ths when I did something wrong, I tested fate. I said to the kids well if we are going to break down, this will be the road we do it on.

We were driving down the road about an hour later and the RV Jerked to the right, made a big thump and started making a terrible noise. Vern was able to keep our rig straight until we were off of the road and we pulled over. We broke our leaf spring on the right side of the trailer. For those of you who are like me and had no idea what a leaf spring is here it is in a nutshell. The leaf spring is what holds the weight of your trailer off of your tires. When these break the RV lands on the tires and the tires hit each other and become jammed.

No big deal we thought. We have road side service. So we set out a blanket and pulled the ice cream out of the freezer and ate it so it wouldn’t melt.  I called every towing company from Philly to Atlantic City, NJ. Since our tires were jammed together they couldn’t tow us and we were too big to be lifted onto a tow truck bed. So basically we were told good luck and have a good day. To be honest at that point I was not having a good day! I have been telling Vernon for two months to buy a new trailer! And poor Vern heard about it J  We had just left the camera crew, so we gave them a call and they decided to come and tape our grand adventure.

And grand adventure it was. From this experience I learned not to judge an area. By this I mean that I always though that people in NJ were unfriendly, busy and a little cold. Boy was I wrong. Within minutes we had people stopping and asking if we needed any help. We had a lady bring us lemonade, a gentleman brought the kids snacks and tons of people stopped to see if they could help. Now as a side note there were no camera crew there yet so, they didn’t stop by because of that.

We had probably 15 people come by to see if they could help. Then a man came and said that he had a brother that lived a little over an hour away who could fix anything and gave us his number so we could call him. There was no way that I was going to call a complete stranger and ask him for help. After about an hour Vern said he was just going to call him, he didn’t know what else to do. By now we had been on the road for 4 hours in over 100 degree heat, with now water and we couldn’t go in the RV because it was too close to the highway.

So Vern gave Walt a call. He was a great guy and didn’t mind that Vern was asking him for advice. As they started talking they realized that Walt owned the exact same brand and model of RV. And believe it or not he had a spare leaf spring in his garage. Walt volunteered to drive 1 ½ hours to bring us the part.

Well once he got there he quickly realized the Vern had no idea what to do with the part once he brought it. So he stayed for over and hour and tried to help us get the spring on. Our bolts were rusted and we couldn’t get them off. So Walt drove 1 ½ hours back to his home and then drove back again and brought his blow torch. So 3 hours later he was back and ready to do business. The guys worked for a couple of hours and got the spring on the RV.

When we were done I tried to pay Walt for the part, his time and gas and he refused to let us pay him. He just asked that we do the same things for someone next time we saw someone who needs help. He was truly a miracle to us. We ended up only being on the side of the road for 11 hours and we were so grateful for all of his help.

Walt also had to great boys that were my boys’ age. So it was an added bonus for the boys to be able to have some time playing and running around.

Walt really was a blessing to our family that day and we will always remember how one stranger helped us out so much. We will never forget it.  The most amazing thing about this story was that Walt’s brother was estranged from his family and he hadn’t spoken to him in years, he was shocked that his brother would, out of the blue give us his phone number.  SO it was an amazing experience for us.

By 1:30 am we were off down the road to our RV Park.  was only 10 miles away.

Tags: New Jersey Break Down

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Virginia Beach Virginia

The kids and I had a week to play in Virginia Beach. Vern had to go take care of a rental home that we have in Utah. Conner and Kelby were very sad to see Dad go. But Conner was able to feel better by playing with Spencer. Spencer is a lizard that Conner found while we were staying in Wilmington Beach. He named him Spencer because Uncle Spencer is long and skinny like Spencer, and because he met a new friend named Spencer that lives on the road also.

We stayed at the Indian Cove Resort. We found them through our Coast to Coast Camp Ground membership. If you have questions about memberships please check out the membership link under the RV page.  Kelby was so excited to stay there because they had to inlets one on each side of our RV that led you to the Ocean. He couldn’t wait to boat and fish!

Look Mom I caught a big one! Kelby was so excited about his fish. They even put his picture up in the office. Each time he told someone about it the fish kept getting bigger and bigger.

Easter without Dad.

 We are all sad that Dad was going to be gone on Easter! But the Easter Bunny came as usual without  him. Somehow all of the chocolate bunnies and candy were melted. You would think that the Easter Bunny may live in a small house like an RV and didn’t have any place to hide the candy, so he hid it in his car and didn’t think about the fact that the candy would melt.

How sad looking were those big bunnies that were melted down to a big blob with a tail. For Easter we only give the kids a little bit of candy. We always have an Easter egg hunt. Inside the eggs we hide coupons. They are for things like a book from the book store, pick your favorite meal, movies, ice cream , a ticket to go anywhere you want within 70 miles etc. Since we do it this way the kids need to make sure they get the right eggs. They each had 25 eggs that were numbered. We didn’t want one child to get 4 of the same coupons. Everything has to be fair or they all whine. So they all had to keep track of what number they found and only pick the right eggs.

I have never had my children kicked out of a playground before. Apparently the women working did not find humor in the girls goofing around. They thought they were too big. You know there isn’t a lot of room in the RV for extra things for the kids to do, so they need to get creative. Here are a few pics of the girls goofing around.

Tags: Easter Fishing Dad Beach

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 Hi Friends and family,

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Tags: Contest Money

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Ok Natural Bridge is so cool!  There are a lot of other cool but cheesy things you can do while you are there also. But we loved the Natural Bridge. Ok so here are a few things that I thought made Natural Bridge totally awesome!

First off it is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It is higher the Niagara Falls. It is 215 feet tall and 90 feet wide. But the most awesome thing about it was that George Washington surveyed the area (If I remember right he was 17-19 years old) and he came across the bridge. He carved his initials into the rock and you can still see them today! How stinking cool is that to see. So Vern and I were much more excited about this then the kids were. The other way cool awesome thing is that Thomas Jefferson bought the bridge. He said "It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime to be felt beyond what they are here... The rapture of the spectator is really indescribable."  He was totally correct in this statement, The bridge was gorgeous. But what even makes the story even cooler is that TJ bought the land from King George III for only 20 shillings. TJ built a two room log cabin and visited often. Then the story becomes a little less cool. TJ’S heirs sold the land to another family and it became the commercialized place that it is now. But if it wasn’t commercialized then we wouldn’t have been able to go, so maybe it is a little cool that it happened like that.

So As I was standing looking at GW initials and dreaming that I was standing right where TJ stood the kids start screaming with excitement. Yes I thought they are feeling it also. Homeschooling rocks and it is working today. But I quickly realized that they were screaming and they were excited about a snake that they saw on a rock. So maybe one day this will be as totally cool to them as it was for me at this moment. So unfortunately do to all of the excitement about the snake we didn’t get a picture of his initials, but we did get pictures of the snake.

There is an awesome Indian village down the trail form the bridge. Legend has it that the Monacan Indians were being attacked at right as they were going to be killed they prayed and the bridge appeared for them to escape over. Kelby is fascinated with Native American Indians. He has been working on knapping for several years. So when we can we try to get him around as many teachers as possible. The village was awesome.  I felt a huge since of despair as we left though. The Federal Government declared that there are no Native Americans protected under the FG right in Virginia. So they are not allowed to do many of their rituals because of laws as silly as legality of eagle fathers and so forth. I could type on and on about this so if you are interested defiantly go on line and do some studies. But anyways.. It was sad to visit with the men and women that lived and work in the area. But they still stay. They stay to keep their heritage alive and to educate other.

After we left the village we walked along the river bed to some of the old mines. Ok so this is where it gets really cool again. While some miners were blasting, they heard the sound of running water. They blasted through some rocks and they found a small river. Scientist through out the years have tried to find where the river ran to. They used die and all kinds of ways to find where it went, but know one ever found where it ran to.

So The Loud family decided that we would single handedly find out where the hidden river ran. So we all went in to the cave and started to explore.

As you can see it is a small cave and a little cramped and very dark. We were able to have light by taking pictures with the flash on. Note it is only light because the flash, it was dark with out it.

NO we did not find where the cave led to. But we did go in pretty deep. It started to get very shallow and we were getting deep into water. We did give up once we realized how creepy scary it was in the cave. Not because of the darkness and the size, but because it was completely covered in spiders. This was enough to get our whole family out quickly!

We were disappointed that we were not able to discover the mystery, but we were glad that we even tried.

The water fall at the end of the path was beautiful!

We felt awesome for gearing up and giving it a go. We felt like we were LIVING LOUD!

Tags: Travels Virginia Natural Bridge

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Date night in Gordonsville.

Living in an RV doesn’t allow a lot of private times for Vern and I. And we do not often leave the kids since we are always in a new area. So we tend to have date night with the kids.

It was Vern turn to go with the boys and my turn to go with the girls.

We only have one car now since we are usually always together as a family. So it can be a little tricky  to get away on the same night.

So the girls and I decided to play pool and eat at the country club. The boys said they were going to go fishing and do something boyish and dirty.

To make a long story short we all ended up at the country club at the same time. The boys refused to go in and eat at the same place as the girls. And the girls refused to leave because we were hungry.  So we all ate at different tables and the boys tried very hard to pretend like we were not there. This of course made the girls taunt and tease them.

It was a gorgeous night with incredible food. We secretly had the waitress take the boys drinks and appetizers and they secretly food bread at us across the deck.

Vern eventually gave in and came and asked me if I would like to dance. Then Conner followed and asked me also.  It took a little bit of work but by the end of the night we all ended up at tables next to each other.

It was fun to be able to watch the boys and how grown up they have become. They tried hard not to be embarrassed that they knew the girls that were there.

We all enjoyed watching the sun set down over the lake as a family.

This week really made an impact on me. It has been like watching the sun set over my family. I had a lot of quiet time to really think about how this journey has affected me and my family. It is not just that we are out living in an RV exploring the US together. But is about the changes that we have made in our life to focus on our family and to make our family first.

 It has only been a little over a year since we left our home, but we have changed so much. The time that we spent in Gordonsville was the first time that we were able to slow down and just do nothing.  And as we were doing nothing I was able to watch each of the kids and to see how each of them has changed.  I am so glad that we made this life change. I am so glad that we are now more focused on our family and not the material things that are so easy to get caught up in. We have all changed and we have changed together and for the better.  To me that is Living Loud! We are now living for what we feel is important to us! And I couldn’t be happier!

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Shenandoah Country Club Gordonsville VA

While we were in Charlottesville we stayed in a town called Gordonsville. We found a beautiful RV resort through our Coast to Coast Membership.

They had a great shaded RV spots right above the lake. There was also a great club house with tons of games and indoor pool. The mini golf and sports are were also clean and fun. They had horseback riding and a petting area for the kids. We were all tired from running constantly, so we were excited to be able to just relax for a few days and hang around the resort.

We spent a lot of time walking the trails and exploring the trails. The dogs loved the freedom of exploring. Conner always gets tired and gets a free ride from Zoe.

Kelby was so excited to get his boat out to the water. Vern and the boys rowed out to the lake and fished. Kelby couldn’t have been happier!

While the boys fished the girls played at the arcade. I loved the fact they were all  gone and that I had the house to myself! It is amazing at how small our little home can feel sometimes when we are all in the house at the same time.

The weather was great and the indoor pool was a little crowded so we decided to hit the lake.

It was so gross on the bottom. I thought that they would all chicken out, especially the girls. They said the water felt great and it was clean once you got out past the dock. They Lied! It was so cold and a little murky.

 The dogs loved the water, but Zoe was afraid that Miss Daisy would drown.

Days like today are what make RVing so great! It is nice to be able to just hang out as a family.

Tags: RV Parks Relaxing

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