FREE admission days to National Parks in 2014

The first FREE day to visit the US National Parks in 2014 is TOMORROW January 20th. Click the picture below to see the rest of the FREE days for 2014 and start planning your travels today!

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If you can't make the free days but have plans to visit a couple National Parks this year I highly recommend buying their America the Beautiful Pass for National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands.

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We did on our Maiden Voyage and made so much use of it! Click the picture below of us at Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone and you will link to all 21 posts of our National Park visits on our Maiden Voyage.

Next winter when we hope hit the road again an America the Beautiful pass will be one of the first purchases we buy for it. I'm extra excited about it now because my girls are now old enough to fully participate in the Jr Ranger programs.

Not all National Parks offer Jr Ranger programs but many do. The site pictured below explains in detail about the Jr Ranger Programs and his (Sam Maslow's) journey of collecting 325 badges, patches and buttons at the time of this posting. In July 2011 he was awarded a certificate of excellence for his volunteer work with promoting the Jr ranger program.

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A wonderful resource for anyone with children...especially those homeschooling, unschooling or roadschooling.

Don't forget if you are near any National Parks TOMORROW you get in for free and for a list of other FREE days in 2014 chick HERE!

Happy travels everyone!!!

Space saving RV storage ideas

Looking for space saving ideas for your RV? Click on the picture below to check out 44 brilliant space saving storage solutions for your RV/Camper.

Here are some of my own favourites I've found that weren't included above but I think they are worth a mention:

Storage space under chair seats

Found HERE

Love this CD rack turned sideways to hold bathroom essentials.

Found HERE

Storage solutions with command products. This post uses them for spices, remotes, pens and more.

Found HERE

I love the suitcase used for storage...but the link was broken so I am not sure where it came from.

 

First aid kit in a small organizer box. I've also seen these containers used for battery storage or easy access craft supplies for kids.

Found HERE

 Space saving closet organization.
Also you can use shower rings on a hanger to hold hats, belts and scarves.

Found HERE

Memo center inside cupboard door

Found HERE

Create around the bed storage

Found HERE

 Using square containers instead of original food containers saves lots of space
and they are much easier to access.

Found HERE

What is your best RV space saving tip?

Amazing deal from Fulltime families and Legoland...even if you aren't a member

I've been away from this blog for awhile but it isn't abandoned. We have moved across the country and then moved again within the province and have spent a year renovating a home on the river. We are staying put this winter but hope to travel again next winter when i will get back to writing reviews of our travels. For now I wanted to share this great deal I just saw but it ends today so hopefully some of you can make use of it.

We are Fulltime Family Members (we will get back on the road) and I receive emails from them and wanted to share this one for Legoland Florida.

They have an amazing deal on right now for members and another great deal even if you aren't a fulltime member. So if you are in Florida now or will be there at the end of January check out this deal!

Evacuation practice

Sierra has been asking lots of questions about what will happen if we (me and Ian) die in a fire. She wants to know who she will live with. Pretty serious questions for a 5 year old (on a less serious note, but yet funny...she wants to live with some one who will let her have a kitty).

With her questions about us possibly dying in a fire we decided it was time to practice an evaction plan for the travel trailer in case of an emergency. We had never really thought of doing it before. We made plans to do it the next morning as it was getting late.

That night while Ian and I were sitting out by the fire Aayla woke up crying. We went to the trailer door to go in to see what was wrong but couldn't get in...Aayla locked the door as she tried to open it (don't worry it's NOT a fire).

We told her to go wake up Sierra. She didn't have any luck trying to do that as Sierra sleeps on a top bunk. Luckily Sierra left her window open and Ian liften me up so I could reach in and shake her leg to try to wake her...but no luck. I shook her leg a bit harder and yelled "Emergency" and she sat right up.

Sierra was able to wake up when she heard it was an emergency and came to unlock the door to let us in. It wasn't a huge emergency but we were proud of her that as soon as she heard emergency she woke right up and sprang into action.

First thing in the morning we put our new evacuation plan into action. The girls had to lie in their beds and pretend to be asleep. When they heard emergency they had to get to the living room window as fast as they could. Sierra was then repsponsible to open open up the window and help Aayla get out first by helping to hold her hands as she slid to the ground. Next she had to get herself out and go find an adult.

They are both monkeys and thought it was fun to preform the practice a few times. This is something we will continue to do on a regular basis because you just never know...



Do you practice emergency evacuation procedures with your kids while travelling?

Enjoying our days at Nicholston Dam RV Park

We have settled into Nicholston Dam RV Park in Alliston where we will stay until June 1st. I will do an actual review later but I wanted to share with you some of the natural wonders we have been enjoying at this park.

There is a family of baby Canada Geese who we see almost every day. It's amazing in less then 2 weeks how much they have grown.

We woke up one morning in the middle of a butterfly garden (see more butterfly pictures HERE).

We've watched many fish jumping in the river...however I was not quick enough to get a good picture! We haven't tried our luck in fishing here yet.

We did go to the Orillia Perch Festival where Sierra became quite the little fishermen!

The girls have enjoyed singin' in the rain...take note of the tree in the background where Sierra is singin' in the rain...then see the next photo. When the rain stopped the river rose about 3 feet!

With all the rain, the buds are all branching out...

 And the birds are busy flying around and singing when the sun comes out.

Baltimore Oriel and their nest

A little Robins egg we found on the ground :(

a sweet little goldfinch right outside our window

The bees are buzy buzzing.

So far we are quite impressed at this park with all the space we have.

We got a spring early bird rate for booking the space before they opened. We've had most of the park to ourselves as there are only a couple other campers here right now but the sites are large for the most part, the river runs directly behind us and the large trees make it a beautiful setting to relax and enjoy.

Life is good!

So Many Thank yous...

Our last few days in BC were kind of hectic with packing and cleaning and saying our goodbyes to family and friends but we managed to get everything packed and in the moving truck... including the hot tub :) 

I must say that craning the hot tub over the neighbours house was a little nerve racking but the crane held up and we managed to get it into the moving truck.

We were very thankful that we were able to find a truck that the hot tub would fit in and almost had to leave it in BC. We hired a moving company to move it for us but on the day he was to show up to pick it up he said his truck was full and couldn't move it. Needless to say we were scrambling to find alternate arrangements. 

Luckily we found Universal Truck Rentals and we were able to cancel the UHaul (they had no trucks with door openings wide enough to fit it in). They had a Diesel truck that happened to have an opening just big enough to slide in the hot tub and gave us a discounted truck that was bigger so he could get it back East (apparently more people move to BC from Ontario then head back to Ontario from BC). 

We expected to have lots of room left over in the truck but it's amazing just how much stuff we still brought even though we sold off twice as much as we are bringing in the last few months! It's incredible how much stuff accumulates and how fast. We thinned out sooo much but still managed to fill this huge truck and the trailer we towed behind it!

Finally everything was packed up, the house was all cleaned (A HUGE thank you to Ania for spending all day cleaning all the bathrooms and the kitchen...We owe you!And thanks to my mom for taking Sierra for the night so we could finish packing) Then it was time to load ourselves in the truck and say goodbye to our home.

Luckily our dear friend Jay flew out to help us drive across to Ontario. Believe it or not I have never pulled the trailer...I'm scared of having to back up (yes Ian did drive all 30,000km's we drove on our trip last summer!). The plan...was for us to rush so Jay could be back for work in 5 days! So we quickly threw the last few items into the truck and headed out.

I am extremely thankful Jay did come because the next morning Ian woke up and was very sick and we were only parked at a roadside stop just past Kelowna.

The girls had been sick before leaving and were still sickish too so our drive was anything but fun and I had to drive for the first time as we didn't have time to sit around.

 And would you believe it...two days later I was sicker then I have ever been in my life! I managed to drive from Kelowna to Winnipeg before getting sick and forcing Ian to drive again. He wasn't 100% but he made it to Sioux Saint Marie.

Jay had to leave us in Sioux Saint Marie and fly home to work and we had to sit in a truck stop while I recuperated. If Jay hadn't flown out to help then we probably would have been in Calgary still! After 2 nights  we had to move again because we needed to unload the truck and get it back. We loaded the girls into the moving truck with Ian so I could have complete silence to concentrate on driving. Whewww that was tricky but we arrived safe and sound! A HUGE thank you to Mark and Jeff for helping to unload the truck and to Ed, Keith, Matt and Alex for helping to unload the hot tub! (See the trend here of why this post was titled so many Thank yous... We have called on so many friends to help us with this move and we are very grateful for all their help)

Our next little hicup happened almost immediately. We couldn't park the trailer where we originally hoped so we scrambled to find an RV park that was open. Apparently no parks in Ontario open until May. Luckily the storage facility where our belongings are in storage had one space left we could rent until a local park opened. It was nothing more then a parking space along their driveway but it was a blessing to have as we waited for the camping season to open.

We spent Easter here...

Luckily the Easter Bunny found us and he brought wonderful nature bags and real binoculars for the girls. He also brought geode eggs the girls had fun cracking open.

Even though we were parked on the side of the road we were thankful for the hill beside us.

Sierra studies her snail she found

Remember curling dandelion stems as a child? They picked the stems
 too short but we managed to get a few curls.

The girls cousin Charlie came for a sleep over and had a great time on that little hill.

Sierra found an egg on a branch of a fir tree. It must have
been pushed out of the nest after it didn't hatch.

 The girls got out the bird book and tried to figure out what type of bird it was...we think it was a Starling's egg.

They also discovered how fragile eggs can be...

Charlie searching for clues

Charlie and Sierra doing some investigative work
under the tree where the egg was found.

 Then they caught a butterfly...

And if that wasn't fun enough...they also spotted a wild turkey on that hill...

So next time you see a little hill don't take it for granted. Be thankful for all it has to offer if you take the time to look :) It provided us with lots of fun rolling down it and also housed many dandelions and creatures to entertain the girls when we weren't out exploring Barrie and it's great parks or swimming at the fabulous pool here.

Many thanks to all of you who helped in so many ways with our move...we are truly grateful and appreciate everything you have done. Now we head off to our RV park to see what adventure lays waiting to be found.