Home is Where We'll Park It (for a while...)

Yesterday afternoon, we pulled the trailer into our "adopted hometown" of Petaluma for the first time since the beginning of 2015 and tucked ourselves in amongst the sheep, chickens and pig in the #pastureparking on our #Farmlet property we've been renting to friends.
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We unhitched and went straight over to the new small house downtown that we've been having remodeled from the road. While progress is steady and everything's looking amazing, scheduling conflicts and recent rain mean it looks like a couple more weeks yet before we can move in.
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As it turns out, we arrived at the perfect time to make some last minute design calls and consider ourselves lucky to have our tiny silver home in the pasture in the meantime. We'll stay here out of the way of construction for now, but will move the trailer into the new driveway when we can.
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#airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #halftimefamilies #advodnasmallhouse

It's closer to done than it looks. #advodnasmallhouse #lifeofftheroad #butwestillcurrentlyliveinatrailer

Just in time for the girls to spend Halloween together, @livingistheadventure and @h_livingistheadventure are all set up in the #pastureparking at the #Farmlet! As usual, we gave them the better spot. #littleairstreamfriends #airstreamfriends #airstream #pairstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife

Sometimes happy hour is in the pasture. When @bikesandrivets and @eonicks taunted us from @russianriverbrewco, we made them stop on their way home to make a special #Farmlet pasture growler delivery. The girls all caught mosquito fish from the pond while we killed the growler and got acquainted. Nice to meet you guys and hope to see you again soon! #sheepphotobomb #wherethehellismae #guesswhat #pigbutt #airstreamfriends

Time to carve the pumpkins. Well, the tiny ones we got at the Ithaca Farmers Market, not the big one we carved with @backroadbennetts in Montana that then rode 1,000 miles on top of our propane tanks and got so wilty that it had to be fed to the pig. 🐷 #Halloween #pumpkincarving #sisterhoodofthetravelingparents #happypig

Some all-girl power trick or treating in the rain tonight with our good friends from home and good friends from the road. #worldscollide #halftimefamilies #littleairstreamfriends #halloween #sisterhoodofthetravelingparents

This little fairy found a perfect dry spot on a wall to sneak a lollipop. #halloween #fairies #toddlerlife #rainboots

Ann and I snuck out on Saturday night for an "adult" Halloween party where I had to borrow one of Wynne's junior ranger badges to complete my costume. Didn't have any luck taming this bear tho. #halloween #rangerdanger

We were all sad to see @livingistheadventure and @h_livingistheadventure packing up this afternoon. It was so great having friends with us in the pasture as we scramble to adjust to new schedules and get the new house finished up. We'll see "ewe" guys soon! #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #pastureparking #woolmissyou

Don't worry, the spot next to us in the #pastureparking didn't stay vacant long. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #currentlyparkedinourpasture

Re-entry has been a whirlwind. Reconnecting with friends (stationary and traveling!); making final decisions on the house; developing an "a la carte" school schedule of Spanish, art, karate and gymnastics; and, of course, all while still living in 187 sq ft in a pasture. The limbo is tough. We either need to take off for a couple more weeks or get ourselves into this house! #recoveringnomadproblems #rantmodeoff #gonnabeawesome #halftimefamilies

"Are you guys still here?" Actually, yes pig and sheep, but a marathon sorting session of the stuff left in the old house felt like progress and the new house is looking closer everyday. Having friends as tenants let us cheat a little on our original "purge," but now, if we don't move it, we don't want it. Thanks to @l3bc for working through it all with us (and for the Pliny!). #petuniathepig #pastureparking #viewoutthefrontdoor

Don't casually ask if there's anything you can help with while #moochdocking 'cause your host might just think of something. And who better to build a fire pit just off our little trailer park than @telegramsam and his crew? Now to chainsaw some rounds out of the Acacia that fell on the chicken house last winter for seating. #pastureparking #currentlydoingmanuallabor #badsignthatweresettlingin

Growth spurt. #toddlerlife #footiepajamas #trailerbaby

The map is our Airstream travels over the last 4 years or so, first shorter trips to the Southwest and Canada in our 19' with Wynne just under 2 yrs old and then full time with both kids (Mae just 6 weeks old when we moved into the trailer!) in our renovated 25' for the past 2 years. Click the link in profile for all the stories and pics!
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We're shifting back to something like halftime travel for a bit, but don't worry Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma, we're comin' for you next!
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#airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #roadtrip #familytravel #travelwithkids #airstreamwithkids #rvwithkids #rvlife #lifeontheroad #maps

We spent last night at my brother's place in Oakland. Because of daylight savings, Mae fell asleep at 6:00 pm, woke up and crawled into bed with us around midnight and proceeded to kick and flop fitfully. At 3:00 am, an alarm clock went off somehwere in my nephew's room where we were sleeping and was eventually traced to a crevice deep between the bed and the side table.
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Awake now, I went to the bathroom and returned to a room stuffy from 5 warm bodies (Gorilla too). I fumbled with the lock on the window and then turned the crank. The bell and siren from the home alarm quickly woke the entire house up, and I met my brother and his baseball bat somewhere in the hallway to apologize.
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At 6:15 am, I felt a hand on my leg and looked up to see Wynne standing by the bed. "Is it morning?" "Well, sort of," I replied.
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So, when we finally arrived back at the trailer this afternoon, having @jesscurren offer to make us dinner couldn't have come at a better time. We moved a picnic table between the trailers and dangled every LED lighting apparatus we had for some great ambiance and welcome meal.
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#airstream #airstreamfriends #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #pastureparking #nomadiccommunity

We seem to have acquired another traveling Airstream family. Welcome @pilgrim.life to the #pastureparking. #imaybeaccidentallyrunningacampground #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #airstreamfriends #nomadiccommunity

Got some stuff for the house. These two carpets will go up in the small lofts in each of the bedrooms. Headroom is only 5 feet or so, but I think ours will be a nice reading nook/private escape and the kids' will be an amazing interior treehouse/princess castle/pirate ship/spaceship/bear cave. Now to design the ladders/bunk bed integration... #advodnasmallhouse #loftygoals #rugrats

It's pretty super to have a quiet night in the pasture after an awesome (but busy!) weekend. It started with about 5 hours of drinks and dinner with a huge group of friends we've been missing while on the road at a great new beer garden that just opened in Petaluma. Afterwards, we gave the neighbors a taste of what they're in for by bringing the whole crew by the construction site to christen the new house with Coors shorties and Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Saturday night we got a visit from Ann's dad in town on business, and Sunday we saw more friends and had dinner with my entire family. #nowiseewhystationaryfolksneedvacations #supermoon #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #pastureparking

Last week, we had @pilgrim.life and @currentlywandering in the #pastureparking with us and managed to convince @airstreambrands to come up for an afternoon to say hi and talk Airstreams. Lucky for us, they brought swag! Over the past couple days, I've arranged our new stainless logo cups in the foreground of various dramatic Airstream pics with intentions to post, but it wasn't until tonight at dinner that I could capture a bit of our real Airstream life. Plus, it was a sneaky way to post a pic of @advodna_ann's new sassy short haircut which means two pony tails are on the way to @locksoflovelol. #airstream #airstreamwithkids #liveriveted #myairstreamlife #realifeairstream #locksoflove

Three years ago, we started the renovation of our 2005 25' Airstream International CCD while waiting for our second kid to be born so we could hit the road. I spent a lotta hours out in this barn cutting pieces for the kitchen drawers (link to in progress pics in a blog post temporarily in profile) and new cork countertops. Now, I'm out here designing the closet buildout (combo of custom, IKEA and black gas pipe) and cutting another piece of cork for a coffee bar at our new house. Making sawdust is definitely something I've been missing. #advodnasmallhouse #sawdust

We had a nice date night while home last July, dropping the kids off with grandma in the afternoon and heading to Sausalito to dig around in the discounted seconds room at @heathceramics. Lucky for us, they had a big lot of these indented diamond tiles in an earthy, neutral color and we found a couple more boxes of some accent tiles to randomly intersperse. We've been thinking about them in our new kitchen ever since and finally got a chance to lay them out for installation tonight! #heathtile #heathceramics #homerenovation #kitchen #backsplash #advodnasmallhouse #anotherpicofannshair

Pulling the trailer along a curb next to a playground in a small town is something we've done a lot of over the last two years. Only this time, it's *our* small town, and we just hitched the trailer up to dump the tanks. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #airstreamwithkids

Wynne chose their outfit(s) for the day which included a Spanish class, gymnastics, a stop by the construction frenzy at the new house, the playground and horseback riding. Adventure may be out there, but it seems to have followed us home. #sisterhoodofthetravelingparents #sisters #adventureisoutthere #petaluma

We've spent a lot of time on Pinterest in the past 6 months or so developing a vision of how we wanted our new place to look and feel. Wynne saw the iconic IKEA Kura bed on the laptop screen one day and ever since, it has become synonymous for her with moving into the house. Luckily, a friend was just ready to get rid of one, and I'm happy to report that getting it put together was only slightly more complicated and had only a few more steps than crossing the border from El Salvador into Honduras. #movingin #movingonup #bunkbeds #ikea #kura #sisterhoodofthetemporailynottravelingparents

There are gonna be a lot of similarities between our Airstream and our new house, and this cork slab I just cut and finished for the coffee bar is one of them. I just love working with this stuff. Such a nice look and feel. Then again, wiping down the soapstone for the rest of the counters with mineral oil this eve was also pretty amazing. #cork #advodnasmallhouse #ecocountertops

After the tiny wardrobes in the Airstream (and still too many clothes!), we figure we can share a closet in our bedroom in the new house for all our clothes. Good thing too, since there's not really room for a dresser. This L-shaped piece will be supported by two IKEA bookcases we already had with black gas pipe mounted below for hangers. #ikeahacks #childlabor #pintsizedpainter #advodnasmallhouse

In limbo between our full time Airstream life and waiting to move into our new small house at the end of this week seems like a good time for a flashback. This pic is of our 19' Airstream in a National Forest campground outside of Durango, CO in the Spring of 2013 when Wynne was about 16 months old. I remember taking this picture, about 3 weeks into our 5 week loop around the Southwest, and thinking how much that little trailer felt like a home. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #airstreamwithkids

We woke up Monday morning to a full black tank in the Airstream. With a few more days before we can move into the new house, we packed the car and set out for Tahoe to spend Thanksgiving with family. We'll deal with it when we get back.
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With a lot of balls in the air these days, we weren't completely surprised when we realized @advodna_ann had forgotten to pack her toothbrush. And also any clothes for Mae...
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It reminded me of one of our first big trips together, flying from San Francisco to Colorado for a weekend at the Rockygrass Bluegrass Festival. The flight had been early, and it was a scramble to get out of the house that morning. It wasn't until we'd set up the tent at the festival that we realized that neither of us had grabbed the black duffel with her clothes. A quick trip to Walmart and we'd restored her wardrobe for the weekend, had a great story and had begun to learn the lessons of staying flexible while traveling and reacting as a team.
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Luckily, this time, Mae had a box of hand-me-down ski clothes and can wear a "beautiful" matching set of REI long underwear for the rest of the week. In the meantime, while up here, we'll rent skis for Wynne for the year and collect our season passes, ready for lots more visits to see the snow and coyotes hunting in the meadow.
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#snow #itsbeginningtolookalotlikewinter #coyote #captionovel

Fun in the snow. #sisterhoodofthetravelingparents #maewouldntwearajacket #twoyearoldlogic #doyouwanttobuildasnowman

Whenever I see my mom, she hands me a stack of paper-clipped articles she's cut out of the newspaper for me because she thinks I might find them interesting. This morning, she slid this headline from today's paper in front of me which (unlike some of the others) actually relates to our current situation. Except... that this family hadn't moved into an RV by preference. They had become homeless.
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As we choose to spend less time in our trailer and more time in a beautiful house we've just remodeled to our whim, we are incredibly thankful that we have the ability to make this choice and are thinking forward to how we can help others less fortunate in the coming year.
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#thankful #happythanksgiving

We arrived back down from Tahoe this afternoon to a *mostly* done house. Doesn't matter, we're moving in either way, and of course, we couldn't empty the boxes fast enough for these two. #movingday #thinkinginthebox #upcycling #sisters

We've been noticing how many #waysourhouseislikeourairstream, and I'm thinking I might just have to make this a series.
1) While we'd stored some sentimental, bulkier or more expensive kitchen stuff (and have been happy to see them come out of the boxes!), we also put together an Amazon cart of all the same stuff we use while in the Airstream to outfit the house, mostly importantly, a 12" Lodge cast iron skillet, a couple GreenPan sizes and this little Hario Buono kettle. .
Similarity 2) The kids still use too much damn water. .
#advodnasmallhouse #yesiunderstanditsalsodifferentfromourairstream