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.

An Adventure it is

Had an awesome time in NY. I love the beach. The sand and the ocean. Can never get enough of it. LI is home and always will be. I was a bit sad to leave but excited at the same time. Adventure awaits and I am ready to explore.
We left NY on the 17th headed for GA. Den had a performance to make.
We didn't make it more than 5 min. down the road before oil began sloshing out. Our 5am departure turned into an 11am departure. We were cruising along happily until... the bus decided it didn't want to go anymore. We only made it 3hrs. Stuck on the side of the road in PA.
Finding a place to bring it and getting towed there was not as hard or expensive as it should have been THANKFULLY. Spent the night in a HOT sweaty bus beacause we couldn't run the air. Come to find out in the morning that this is not going to be an easy or quick fix. We need a new engine. GREAT!!! Now I'm really getting sick. Calm down, find a campground for a few days and we will be on our way. Most certainly we will be in GA in pleanty of time for Den's next gig. Well, we did find the most awesome campground run by an awesome couple. Shady Oaks in PA. If your out that way it's a great place to stay.
Turns out we were not getting our bus back for quite awhile. We had no choice but to pack up a tent some clothes and all den's music gear and head to GA. We also had to fit the 2 dogs and cat in the truck. The hamsters have a happy new home in PA. It was NOT a pleasant ride but we did make it.
Can you say HOT?! It was over 100 degrees the first day and hasn't cooled much since we've been here. Fisrt night I got bit by something and woke up with an eye swollen shut for 3 days. Got poured on and flooded the tent twice so far along with an invasion of ants that follow the storm. The flies just won't quit. Sitting in the tent sweltering to hide from the damn flies.Got bit again on the foot last night after all the drama and it's swollen and hurts like hell.
Got a phone call last night, "Can't find Jacque" WHAT? Needless to say I lost my flippin mind. She was at warp tour with some friends and they seperated. She was safely recovered. When I pick her up tomorrow I will count all her fingers and toes, hug her than yell at her and than hug her again. I didn't get to go to warp tour this year but that won't happen again.
This trip has started off rocky and extremly challenging. We are determined to keep pushing through. There has to be a light at the end of this hell. We are all healthy and safe and the kids are having a blast. There are bunnies,turtles,a snake,monitor,skink, and a parrot named Paco that hates me for some reason. Everytime he sees me he climbs down and chases me. I did nothing I tell ya. I'm innocent. The pool has been keeping us cool. Lack of shade has us all pretty tan. It's all good. An adventure it is.

BeHappyKid!

Oh what an eventful day!
This morning right after breakfast the boys started fighting over spots on the couch (no surprise there) and got sent to their bunks for the most of the morning.
Mom and I were gonna go the the bank and walmart today, so we left and went to the bank first. I sat in the car and she went inside, she wasn't even gona 10 minutes when BOOM! (it wasn't really much of a boom) The anti-freeze hose thingy bursts and the car starts smoking. Some guys came over and told us what to do, what we needed and of course how to rig it. Half an our later my dad and grandpa finally showed up and looked and then we went to go get the part. It took us about 3 hours to finally get to walmart.
After we went to walmart I got some ponytail holders and sat on the couch for the rest of the day making bracelets like the ones you'll find here "http://behappykid.webs.com/apps/webstore/" and then I put 'em up for sale.
I made a shop called BeHappyKid and I'll be selling stuff that I make out of boredom and whatnot on there, so you should DEFINITELY go check it out....and maybe buy some stuff? (: It's not really the cheapest, but it's worth it! I promise!
Jacqualine

fgtriukl

Friday night I spent the night at my cousins house with her step-daughter to be, Leila. We went through magazines and criticized all the famous people's faces and clothes, went to Carvel and got ice-cream while Jessica got her nails done, we had pizza and.... yeah. That's about it.

Today we went to an old friend/band buddy of my dad's, Nick. He was pretty cool, he used to play with my dad in Sahara, which is supposedly popular in Europe, 15 years after they broke up, of course. Anyways we met at his mom's house and she thought the bus was a great idea, she said it's a good idea to do it now rather than wait till you're 783383. I'm sure we'll all enjoy it more when we're young because if we wait till we're old we're not gonna remember a damn thing anyway and I'll get to tell people more about it now rather than just saying it was pretty and I would love to go back. We hung out with him for a couple hours until him and his daughter had to go catch a ferry and go home, but they're coming back in a couple of weeks so we'll meet them then

Now we're back home and mom's making dinner, pizza and french fries. So I guess that's it for today.

-Jacqualine

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

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