Fulltime family of 4: 2019 year in review

[ependydad]

2019 was the year of Florida for us. We got here in November 2018 and didn't leave until August. Once we left, we weren't gone for long and were back again by November.

We stuck around the summer so that my daughter could shadow a photographer during portrait sessions around Disney hotels. (And, well- it's cheap with Thousand Trails!)

Fortunately, we did get out to the ABQ International Balloon Fiesta (where I met up with a couple of FROGs!). And then we stopped in Texas to see friends and hit a Fulltime Families rally.

The map is a bit messy:


The stats for the year:


And then I uploaded pictures of most of the campsites to this post on Imgur:
https://imgur.com/gallery/GdAM9QN

[ependydad]

run100 wrote:
Thank you for posting stats on your travel year. Interesting data. Your frugality is impressive!

Lifestyle? You are dedicating your life to raising the children and teaching them family values while exploring the country. In contrast, many of today's children spend very little time with their parents and spend more time with school personnel and a variety of sport coaches. I believe your approach is excellent!

Thank you for the kind words! Our frugality ended up in a year without a whole lot of travel outside of Florida (except for 2 months), but you make your choices as to what's important at any given time.

[run100]

Thank you for posting stats on your travel year. Interesting data. Your frugality is impressive!

Lifestyle? You are dedicating your life to raising the children and teaching them family values while exploring the country. In contrast, many of today's children spend very little time with their parents and spend more time with school personnel and a variety of sport coaches. I believe your approach is excellent!

[ependydad]

LibertyMan wrote:
What campground did you use in Palo Duro Canyon SP? I have been eyeing a trip there myself and was looking at the Juniper Campground. It looks like you had a pretty good view in the one you were in.

Mesquite.

Absolutely no Verizon service there, only AT&T. But, AT&T was actually quite fast!

[LibertyMan]

ependydad wrote:
2019 was the year of Florida for us. We got here in November 2018 and didn't leave until August. Once we left, we weren't gone for long and were back again by November.

We stuck around the summer so that my daughter could shadow a photographer during portrait sessions around Disney hotels. (And, well- it's cheap with Thousand Trails!)

Fortunately, we did get out to the ABQ International Balloon Fiesta (where I met up with a couple of FROGs!). And then we stopped in Texas to see friends and hit a Fulltime Families rally.

The map is a bit messy:


The stats for the year:


And then I uploaded pictures of most of the campsites to this post on Imgur:
https://imgur.com/gallery/GdAM9QN

What campground did you use in Palo Duro Canyon SP? I have been eyeing a trip there myself and was looking at the Juniper Campground. It looks like you had a pretty good view in the one you were in.

[ependydad]

jims1 wrote:
Awesome blog pics of what actually fits in what site. Congrats on raising kids in the fulltime lifestyle!

Thanks!

[jims1]

Awesome blog pics of what actually fits in what site. Congrats on raising kids in the fulltime lifestyle!

[ependydad]

DutchmenSport wrote:
Sounds like you have had some great experiences and experienced a life style that so many of us dream about. Sounds like your kids are growing up and learning a lot of things in ways "stick-n-brick-home" kids will never know. And sounds like you and your family are really happy! And I think that's wonderful!

There are always those who will try to discredit you and your lifestyle, no matter what it is. The most important thing is, you are doing what works best for you and gives you and your family the greatest amount of joy! (screw everyone else)

Thanks for sharing! I hope your next year is even more fulfilled than the one you just experienced.

Thank you greatly for your kind words!

[DutchmenSport]

Sounds like you have had some great experiences and experienced a life style that so many of us dream about. Sounds like your kids are growing up and learning a lot of things in ways "stick-n-brick-home" kids will never know. And sounds like you and your family are really happy! And I think that's wonderful!

There are always those who will try to discredit you and your lifestyle, no matter what it is. The most important thing is, you are doing what works best for you and gives you and your family the greatest amount of joy! (screw everyone else)

Thanks for sharing! I hope your next year is even more fulfilled than the one you just experienced.

[ependydad]

pasusan wrote:
Thanks for the info...

I am amazed at your cheap overnights - those Thousand Trails CGs must be losing lots of money on you - you have to use more in just electricity than they get from you.

We are just travelers/campers and we spent almost as much as you on overnights this past year... But those overnights included NYC and the Keys. 🙂


As an added thought - I think your kids are lucky!

Thanks for the kinds words!

This year was partly about Florida for the photographer gig but also largely about saving money and paying down debt. We fulltimed for 3 years and acted like we were on vacation - we did all of the touristy things, at at all the places, and stayed wherever we wanted (which included Disney World's campground and the Keys!). Spent foolishly and now we're paying the piper!

Thousand Trails definitely has a delicate balance. There are lots of folks just like me but also lots of folks who weekend it and others who buy a seasonal/annual site (which are incredibly expensive at times!). But yeah, we're definitely winning in that deal.

[ependydad]

Fizz wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
Are the kids happy? What do kids say to their friends, not to you,...their friends?

As a trade, is shooting photos around Disney a worthwhile occupation?

HUH?

It's OK- we get a lot of questions about our alternate lifestyle. Most can't imagine that kids can be happy and socialized living this life. Homeschooling is another ball of wax that often gets asked about it.

My 7 year old son has lived over 1/2 his life in the camper and has only ever spent 1 Christmas in a "normal" house. This is normal to him.

He has recently asked a couple of times about us getting a house. But then turned around later and told me that he likes that we spend all of December at this campground but likes that we don't spend a month anywhere else. He likes the travel. I asked him about wanting a house and he grinned, (paraphrasing) "I want a house for space but I also want to travel. I like traveling more."

What it really is- he has a friend near Orlando who has a house there but they also come to the campground for weekends to be with friends. The house is (my nightmare) wall to wall with stuff for the 2 kids. Like over the top. Each room is packed with stuff for the kids. It's like a kid's dream toy store. He doesn't understand at all that is nothing like our house was or will be.

[ependydad]

LadyRVer wrote:
Great trip! Are you using Excel or a trip expense planner? I have been out a year now, have all my expenses down on paper, but have not totaled them.

Google Docs spreadsheet (aka Excel but web accessible so it works from my laptop, work laptop, phone, etc). I track each campground that we go to, arrival date, departure date, miles from the previous campground, total cost, and what type of campground/membership was used. I then do manual totaling at the end of the year.

[ependydad]

Lwiddis wrote:
Are the kids happy? What do kids say to their friends, not to you,...their friends?

As a trade, is shooting photos around Disney a worthwhile occupation?

Yep, kids are very happy most of the time. In our travels, we attended 3 rallies of other families who fulltime this year. It's through these rallies that we make connections and develop friendships. The kids friends are other kids who live and travel just like us, so we know we'll meet up with them throughout our travels. And for my teen daughter, her road friends know the challenges of maintaining relationships when you aren't face to face; her friends back home, not so much.

I say "most of the time", because with a now 16 year old daughter - 100% happy all of the time isn't realistic. She had a bit of a rough summer when we were in Florida with very few other folks around. Ironically, we did summer in Florida FOR her. So it's a crapshoot.

And yes, it seems like being a professional photographer in the Orlando area is able to be a career. At least it seems to be for Candi.

[pasusan]

Thanks for the info...

I am amazed at your cheap overnights - those Thousand Trails CGs must be losing lots of money on you - you have to use more in just electricity than they get from you.

We are just travelers/campers and we spent almost as much as you on overnights this past year... But those overnights included NYC and the Keys. 🙂


As an added thought - I think your kids are lucky!

[Fizz]

Lwiddis wrote:
Are the kids happy? What do kids say to their friends, not to you,...their friends?

As a trade, is shooting photos around Disney a worthwhile occupation?

HUH?