Blog

As Ben and I were making our way to Orlando, we addressed the length of our RV adventures. During November, we were thinking of throwing in the towel in April and settling down. After being out for a month, and heading toward warmer weather, we were not sure if we wanted to stop.

So we started the conversation with Ben wanting to settle down and get a house in Austin and me wanting to continue our RV trip. After he told me all the reasons why he wanted to settle down, and I told him all the reasons I wanted to keep going, it seemed like we switched sides. All of a sudden Ben wanted to keep going with the RV, and I was more open to getting a house. Long story short, we laughed and decided it was still too early to make the decision.

Disneyworld Magic Kingdom

Ben and I decided to experience Disneyworld as adults, without kids. Maybe because we are terrible people, or because we are genius. It is everything they say it is. Dreams really do come true here. I loved experiencing this with my husband. It was non stop fun all day.

One of my favorite parts were the shows. They had different parade performances or shows throughout the day. These were nice breaks for the ride lines. The rides were really great but we now understand why they give 3 fast passes. Some lines were over 2.5 hour wait!

You might not know this, but I love mermaids. The show “The Little Mermaid” influenced me so much as a kid I joined the swim team.

So part of our adventure was meeting Ariel in her Grotto. Ben was wearing a captains hat and she said, “I am married to a captain too! That means we are sister!” AH! She was cool.

Something surprised me that night, was the final show. They used the castle as a screen to show different Disney movies mixed with music and fireworks. It might have been an over stimulating day but I actually got teary eyed. Disney has really been apart of my whole life and I never knew how influential it was until now.

Also, when I was little, my brother and sister had mickey mouse hats but one of the ears fell off. My sister convinced my brother that it was cool to wear it like a rhino horn so I had to take this pic.

Disneyworld Animal Kingdom

It was a toss-up between the Animal Kingdom and Epcot. We were standing in line at the magical kingdom and overheard someone say it was their 60th time coming to Disney. We asked which one was better and they said Epcot is really fun if you want to drink. Since we are not drinkers, we did the Animal Kingdom and it was great!

We decided to head straight over to the Pandora ride from Avatar. The line was CRAZY long but we decided to go for it. Not sure if it was the best decision. I am not even going to tell you how long we waited in line.

The decorations leading up to the ride were incredible and you felt like you were on a different planet.

• 

• 

• 

The shows here were actually better than the ones in Magic kingdom as you could do more stuff around animals. There was a Lion King show as well as Finding Nemo!

Something that we have both never seen before was the water and light show. Over the lake they had water shooting up and light projected through the mist which acted as a screen. It was really amazing what they could do. They did this by these 4 lily pads. This made me wish my Dad was here. He would totally dig this.

Universal Studios

As if Disney World wasn’t enough right?

Well, we decided to do Universal studios the next week. A big drive for me was Harry Potter World. As Ben and I have driven around the country, I ordered the audiobooks for Harry Potter and listened to all 7 of them! It took me months but I was honestly sad when they ended.

• 

Butter beer was good, but WAY to sweet. Ben and I shared one and couldn’t even finish it. We went to both Diagon Alley and Hogsmead. The rides were really fun and totally worth going. We didn’t do the wands which would have been fun but you would just stand in line to see others doing the same thing you were about to do. We decided we would rather enjoy more of Universal.

• 

• 

• 

• 

One of our favorite stops was Jurassic Park. We could take pictures with a “live” raptor. We WISH we would have go pro-ed this but the raptor did a good job scaring you right before the picture was taken. Totally candid.

via GIPHY

We enjoyed going on other rides throughout the park, and we’re happy we made the trip out as a newly wed couple. Fun times in Orlando!

When we got back to Atlanta, we had a few days to recover in our Airbnb which was amazing.

We decided to do one fun thing in Atlanta, and I picked the Georgia Aquarium. Just so everyone knows, the Georgia Aquarium, is A LOT different from the Atlanta Aquarium.

We drove for 45 minutes north in traffic and rain to the Atlanta aquarium to find out it was a small pet store! I looked at the tickets and we had to drive 30 minutes south to the Georgia Aquarium. Ugghhh. Ben is really good at laughing things off… It took me a little longer as it was my mistake.

It was PACKED! For a Saturday night. It was a few company parties and we actually ran into an old roommate that lived for a brief time in Austin. I am glad we went and would only go again if it was less crowded.

• 

• 

• 

• 

What’s Going On With The RV?

This question has been on our mind for about a month now. The RV place we went to was great on the phone of reasuring us what was happening, but then when ever sending email, was very slow to respond and would start working on things without our permission.

While we were away, we kept calling to get quotes and didn’t get much response. This wasn’t a good sign! We finally got a response but a lot of the quotes didn’t make sense… Trying to get answers was few and far between. Yikes!

After returning, we were surprised that the rearview camera was working, and the door shut much better. The monitor light was still broken, and the jacks would have taken longer than we would have liked. Overall it was a good deal. We had it stored in covered parking, and had a few things fixed.

Savannah GA

We drove off the lot and headed toward Florida. We stopped in Savannah and stayed at a wonderful park called Creek fire. It was seriously one of the nicest places we have ever stayed. If I could design a home, it would look like this one. #dreamhouse

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

However, after parking, our airbags would release anylonger and our generator wouldn’t start. That isn’t a huge deal as we didn’t use the genorator but the airbags were a problem.

So! We are going to have to do something ourselves! I actually enjoy fixing things as frustrating as it is at the moment. We ordered a new touchpad and got the release airbags working again, and found a fuse was blown for one of the jacks. Long story short, we got everything working again!

So as cheap as the autoshop was for some repairs and storage, we left with some more major problems. Oh well. They say it isn’t an RV trip unless something breaks!

These two weeks in Oahu were much needed. We really packed our time tight to see people in SLC and it was time for a break. As much as I LOVE this lifestyle we are living, we often say the same thing when people ask about it. So staying with David and Cristyann was a breath of fresh air. This is such a beautiful place, I can’t believe we are going to be here for 2 weeks!

Packing for this trip was interesting… We needed to pack warm enough for the cold weather in Utah, but bring warm weather clothes and bathing suits for Hawaii. We actually shipped stuff back to our Airbnb in Atlanta from SLC, and I ended up going to Platos closet and getting some other things to wear. Oh well!

We were actually able to overlap some time with Bens parents who were also visiting. It was December 31st which is New Year’s Eve so you know what that means?

Nothing, because we are in our 30s!

Just kidding. Their apartment was near the Disney resort and they were doing fireworks. Everyone went down to watch except for me. I was way too tired to go and knew I would be grumpy if I went. So I slept!

It was really nice to spend time with Bens Folks. Our trips only overlapped for a few days but we always have fun together. They borrowed a car from a cousin who is going to BYU – Hawaii and let us borrow it after they were done. It wasn’t in the best shape, but it helped us get to a waterfall hike on the east side of the island. Other than that we really didn’t use it much.

Polynesian Cultural Center

As a family, we drove up to the PCC which stands for the Polynesian Cultural Center. This is owned by the church and represents all the islands in the pacific. It has a lot of college students working here but it’s a really exciting environment. I remember going here as a kid but MAN it has changed. Everything was really fun and informative!

The park is laid out in sections for each individual island and culture. There is a presentation than activities you can do.

This is a river show where they had rafts from each culture do a dance. Worth seeing even though it gets crowded.

That night, we went to the Hawaiian Luau, and even the fire festival. The food was pretty good, but the pinapples were the bomb!

If you have to choose between the Luau, and the Fire performance at night, go to the fire performance. So many talented dancers!

Hanauma Bay

One of our favorite beaches was Hanauma Bay. We left super early in the morning so we could get into the park for free, and watch the sunrise. As the morning went on, we played with the kids and eventually went snorkeling. The fish were friendly and I even saw an octopus!

Disney Resort

The Disney resort was worth just walking around in. The beaches there are public property so you can walk along all the lagoons and see watch the sun set. They even had some performances from other hotels on the beach that you could watch from a distance.

Diamond Head Hike

This is the highest point on the island and gives an amazing lookout. It’s a fairly easy hike and we were able to do it with kids.

Funny story, as we got down to the bottom, a group of Asian ladies were taking a picture together around the Diamond Head sign. Tyson, our little nephew, decided he needed to be in the picture with them. So he just ran in and posed. The ladies loved it, and so did Tyson.

Climbworks

You might remember from our post back in November, we met a family who owned a zip lining company here in Oahu and offered to give us some passes. We asked if we could also include our Brother and Sister in law to come along. It was his birthday so worked out perfectly. We dropped the kids off and headed to the north part of the island.

This was a 3 hour zip-lining tour through the jungles of Hawaii. Our guides helped us every step of the way so we never felt unsafe. If you are in the area DO THIS! It was such a blast. I even bought a T-shirt which I never do.

• 

• 

• 

Secret Beach

We worked a lot and during the day, and when David got home from work, we would usually walk down to secret beach. This was a “Secret” beach that the locals knew about. It wasn’t very big, but perfect for a small family to go hang out on and watch the waves. Sometimes all you need in a day is a good sunset.

Turtle Bay

One of our last activities was going to Turtle Bay!

Sometimes turtles come to this bay and warm up in the sun. It was a cold day and the beaches were closed as the waves were really high. Because of these circumstances, we weren’t sure we would see anything BUT! We had Olivia Dawn the turtle come and hang out with us.

We had to stay far enough away and there were actually locals that were roping things off.

Hawaii was blissful… We had so much fun with the family, and especially these little boys. Thank you David and Cristyanne for having us! See you soon!

I do love coming home for the holidays. Most of my family still lives here, and some of Bens family lives in Pleasant Groove so it’s a good meeting place for everyone.

Time really seems to fly. We had something planned everyday and had A LOT of family time. Because of this, I didn’t take a lot of pictures… Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

Dads House

Dad is a total bachelor right now, and every once in a while, he needs some help. I told him I wanted to help him organize and clean the house. He was open to it, and it was fun to spend some quality time with him.

Acro Yoga With The Nieces

Not sure where this started but the girls LOVE doing this with me. Essentially, it’s doing fun poses on top of my feet.

• 

• 

Top Golf With Friends

Rather than hitting up dinner with a bunch of friends, we decided that we would host a party at Top Golf. I am not huge into Top Gold but it’s a good spot for lots of people to interact and hang out.

We invited a bunch of people from different times in our lives. Ben had some friends from Philly, snow college, and even BYU Idaho home. I had friends from different Singles wards from Salt Lake City and from Austin. We really weren’t sure how things were going to mesh but it turned out really fun.

So glad everyone could make it!

Babies Everywhere!

Ok… I got a little baby hungry when going to SLC. We visited Mary and KP some good friends from Austin who were staying down in Provo and got to meet her little girl named Lucia. She is a great baby who seemed a little too serious in this moment.

Little Lincoln

This is my newest Nephew Lincoln. He was born in October and was recently diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Before this time, I had no idea what CF was. It was a hard pill to swallow for the family as it’s a very serious genetic disease. However, research is being done and those with CF are able to live full lives. That is our hope and prayer for this little guy. He was so cute and content.

His breathing was really loud as he has some flesh blocking his air pipe. This isn’t related to the CF but makes it harder for him to breathe. Because CF is an immune disease, we had to be really careful when holding him so we had to wear masks and hospital suits. We didn’t mind.

• 

• 

Bowling With The Becks

Because we spent most of Christmas with my family, the Beck side organized some activities. We all went and saw Aquaman together which I loved, and then another night we went bowling with the Bens sister and brother. They both have kids so it made things real interesting.

A White Christmas

I really am slightly embarrassed with how few pictures I took. We were honestly so busy during this time, I rarely thought about how we were going to document this. Good thing we booked a vacation in Hawaii!

Here we come warm weather!

I told you there were some big plans for the holidays. We are going to leave our RV in Atlanta as we fly to SLC for Christmas and visit family. On December 31st we are going to fly to Oahu Hawaii and visit Bens brother David. After that, we will fly back to Atlanta and head to Florida.

Because we have been in such cold weather, we are thinking about calling it quits in April when we are back in Austin. RVing isn’t as fun in colder weather because you feel stuck inside a small space all day. So we will see. We won’t decide until February.

What about the RV?

So glad you asked! We dropped it off at a repair shop to get some work done while we are gone. It wasn’t easy to leave our house with someone we didn’t know! It was a sketchy part of town but it had good reviews on google so we just had to make a decision and go with it.

Our Airbnb was in Hapeville close to the Airport and my Dad got really excited when we told him where we were staying as he worked close by the location in the past.

The internet was fast and we could walk to a coffee shop. Sean (the Airbnb host) was really nice. We were able to leave our car in the garage so we didn’t have to pay for airport parking. For the win!

So here we go! This will be a nice change to get out of the RV for a while and be around family. I am excited to see my new nephew Lincoln!

The Thousand Trails campground we stayed at near Nashville was the first park we really struggled with the internet. As you know, it’s our lifeline. We have to have the internet to work our jobs, especially Ben. If the internet is bad, we can usually go off of the hotspots on our phone but even the phone reception was terrible. We asked around and no one had a solution. There was an adult lobby that we could work in but that was inconsistent. Planning on staying for two weeks we decided to leave early but not until we visited the country music capital of the world Nashville!

We knew we needed more than a day to discover all that Nashville had to offer so we booked an Airbnb as well as some tickets to the Opry at the Ryman.

Ben had a few meetings so I went to the temple while he was out, then we met up after and went to lunch with the sweetest southern gentleman named Mickey. He took us to Bonefish and we had the most incredible Bam Bam shrimp I have ever had in my life.

Grand Ole Opry

That night we splurged a bit and booked tickets to the Grand Opry. I told Ben that Toby Keith was the highlight artist and he got really excited. I had no idea he liked Toby so much!

I really enjoyed what they do at the Ryman. They have a performer come out and play two songs and then move on to the next. It was fun to see so many different acts and different talents.

Toby Keith did not disappoint. He was even asked to come out again with another singer. We were both surprised how little security there was. Someone actually went right up to Toby and tried to give him a present (?) He didn’t take it.

The GayLord

The next day we had about a half day before heading back to the campground. We heard about the Gaylord and decided to check it out. It was a HUGE indoor hotel. Since it was so cold outside, Ben and I were not complaining. It was incredible inside! An indoor river and everything.

We spend about a half day there but didn’t participate in any activities. There was ice sculptures, a water park, and even skating. We spend our budget the night before so we just decided to admire from afar.

We did enjoy walking around and seeing all the decorations!

• 

• 

• 

The Parthenon

On our way out of town, we stopped by a replica of the Parthenon. Really crazy how big it is, just sitting in a park. It’s some what close to downtown but felt more residential.

We didn’t go inside as it cost, but just walked around. It was good… Not sure I would go back but it was cool to see!

Change Of Plans

Back at the RV park, the internet wasn’t any better. Rather than suffer through it longer, we decided to head closer to Atlanta. We have some big plans for the Holidays so stay tuned!