Been a while

It's been awhile since anyone has posted on the blog. I guess we get to busy with life. We have been having a blast since we left Georgia. Not to say that Georgia wasn't fun but it got a bit mundane after awhile. It was beyond time to move on. Fun in the sun is were it's at today. We spent some time in St. Augustine. WOW!!!! It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I absolutley fell in love. The campground was in the middle of nowere and we had the invasion of deer ticks which was not fun but what fun would it be if everything was always smooth sailing. I haven't a clue but I'd like to try it sometime. Animal visitors to our campsite was not uncommon and Frank the racoon came to visit me every night. Frank was fearless. He laughed at me I swear. He gaurded the bus door one night and I couldn't get inside. Fearless Frank. I was NOT ready to leave. I was in paradise. I wish I could figure out how to get pics on this blog. jacque is going to have to show me. Alas we had to leave ):
We almost ran outta gas in the middle of the night driving through alligator country. No gas for miles. God must have been watching out for us because we should not have made it to the gas station. We were beyond empty. Never a dull moment.
We spent a day at the fair were dennis was performing. Been a long time since we have done anything like that. It was a blast. the kids had sooooo.... much fun. they rode the rides till they closed down. I would have been sick if I spun that much. It was funny watching them walk crooked after getting off a ride.
Jacque got to go to a concert with her dad. I got dibs on the next one. I love that she is to young to go by herself. we have an excuse to go make our ears bleed and see a live show that you know you would find a reson why you couldn't go otherwise. I am still waiting to hear if he behaved himself.LOL.

Doing Nothing and Loving it

Dennis finally made it to Georgia. The mess is cleaned up and we are all settled into the bus again. I appreciate the A/C and a mattress soooo.... much. I don't see tent camping anytime in the near future.
Today was a day to do absolutley nothing but eat,nap,play legos with the boys,float in the pool, and just plain veg. So enjoying the day which is turning to night. Kids are off doing park activities and Den is teaching his last student for the day. than watch a movie and crash early.
Now that the bus is fixed and the sale of the house has a closing date, things seem to be looking up in the adventure of a lifetime. Life most certainly is a rollercoaster ride.

The wild ride

Made it to NY after one WILD ride. The short version is: departure day we decide I must drive our car because apparently we can't tow it with a dolly. Leave much later than anticipated. An hour into trip we almost overheat. The cat freaked out and made a bloody mess until he was let out of the cage and allowed to hide under a blanket. Princess who was always the good dog was a monster. Fido who was always the bad one was the best behaved. The hamsters survived and the snake was a challenge because of so much stuff in his tank. realize a few hours into our journey I left laundry in the dryer. oops. I liked that top. Oh well.  Spent a night in a truck stop. Gopt lost on a country road. Thankfully not for long. Lost easch other several times going over bridges and through city. Spent a very cold night in a parking lot. Kids are headed indoors tonight thanks to a very generous offer. Gonna be another very cold night. BRRRR....... Snuggled under some nice warm blankets I shall sleep like a rock. Need to recoup. Goodnight all.

The lawyer we spoke with said it was not going to be worth it to sue the "lovely" people that have left us holding a bag with our hands tied. Although did say we could probably win. The house is re-listed but we can not sell till we get a termination letter signed by buyers and noone can get in touch with them or their lawyer.
The HOA is threatining to tow the bus because it was supposed to be gone by Friday. It was not our plan to still be here. Crap happens. Please don't tow it. We will be gone by monday no matter what. I promise. Cut us a bit of slack, please. The driveway around the back tire has cracked and sunk a bit. Surely we will have to fix that. I see more $$$$$ flying out the window that is non-exsistant at the moment.
Everyone is beyond exhausted and cranky at this point.
If the house doesn't sell in the next couple of months the bank gets it and we lose the money that was supposed to pay for the conversion of the bus. That will leave us with a mountain of debt on top of the mountain that we got into trying to keep the darned house when business went south. As you can see it only gets better.
Kinda makes me more nervous about what life on the road has got in store for us. The imagination is in overdrive. Not in a good way either. It's been one hell of a ride getting there.
I have been holding onto faith with all my might but to be honest I don't know how much longer I can keep it together. God is gonna have to give me a booster shot or send this ride to a comfortable cruising level for awhile and quickly.
-Stacey

6 days!

So we finally brought the bus home! We had it here for one day until the HOA lady came. Dad just told her we were leaving in a week so thank God she let us stay! The neighborhood garage sale was today. there were a couple of people that looked at the bus in the driveway and got this look of disgust on their faces but, i think most of the people just asked what we were doing with it and after we told them they thought it was really cool. My parents are getting a bunch of help on the bus right now. The have a carpenter that they're bartering with, the family that came to help us and theres an electrician that's helping with the electricity! I think the electricity is almost done, i really have no clue but, i do know that the cabinets are almost done! Yay! so we have 6 days to at least get the basics of the bus and then we have to finish it up while we're living in it. We're also debating weather or not to paint the bus purple, black and white or red and black. What do you think? I'm not sure if anyone reads these things but if you do leave a comment telling what color you think we should paint it. that's all i have to say. Adios!
-Jacqualine

recycling debacle

Looking at an old beat up dresser and thinking we can save a few bucks, we begin transforming it into what is supposed to be dinette benches. So begins our 4&1/2hr project which ends in it falling apart and looking like a kindergartner could have done a better job. It was either laugh or cry so we opted for laughing at our second failed attempt at re-purposing furniture. Not just laughing but we were so flippin tired that we laughed so hard were crying. Guess you can say we laughed and cried. It was bad. It just fell apart. I'm still laughing. No more re-purposing furniture. Never again. Could have had 2 benches built in the time it took us to create nothing. We needed that laugh so I guess you can look at it as a good thing. We have video of the recycling debacle which I'm sure Jacqualine will post.
Till next time,
Stacey

It has been almost 2 weeks since we have gotten our bus. It has certainly been a rough start. Who would have thunk that the ceiling having been taken out would have been such a project. We are newbies and are figuring out the conversion process as we go. I believe hurdle #1 has been cleared. Woo hoo!!!! Onto the next project. Hope to have the bus done within a couple of months. Follow along on this crazy journey of converting a school bus into a home on wheels. It has just begun.
I am excited and terrified at any given moment about this adventure. The kids are excited and Dennis is excited. I'm the chicken in the family. Guess I'll have to get over myself.

Stacey

Gettin the bus tomorrow!!

Hi! It's Gabe and Jacqualine and we're gonna tell you how we're gonna get the bus tomorrow! :D Ok so.... this is how we're gonna get the bus, we're gonna go to sleep and then wake up at 6:00 in the morning. Then we're gonna get in our mom's truck and then we're gonna put the keys in the ignition and after that we're gonna floor the gas pedal and go zooming out of the garage and driveway! We're gonna give the dude the money, get the bus, then come back home and act like nothing happened. But when our parents wake up we'll run downstairs and be like "MOM, DAD! THE BUS IS IN OUR DRIVEWAY!" and then mom's gonna be like "Oh honey, you must be kidding, the bus wouldn't just show up in our driveway overnight." and then we'll say "No mom! We're serious it's really in our driveway!" and then Gabe is goin to burp and say "sorry mom, I had some gas today, gotta let it out, it can't just live in my tummy forever." "oh never mind that. I'll go see if the bus is really there and if you two are lying you're going to be in some serious doodoo" is what she'll say, and then dad says "no honey let me come too." So we were outside in the cold and there was the bus the beautiful bus. When they saw it they woke up everyone in our house and we worked on it and worked on it until it was done, then we just drove away. the end!