Saying goodbye to Big Blue after our summer of fun and hello to BRUTUS THE NEWMAR DUTCH STAR!!!

 After our summer of  fun in Big Blue we realized while we loved our first RV we were under powered to take on the mountains (even the Smokies) and while Blue was a great regional bus, as a gas motorhome he could not take us out west and on the future adventures we wanted to go on.  We had stopped at a Newmar dealership in Indiana during our travels and toured the exact RV we wanted, a 4310 Newmar DutchStar.  We oohed and aahhed as we saw this amazing class A luxury bunk house RV and never thought we woudl own one...these things are selling like hot cakes as the RV industry has rapidly changed over the past few years to include families so as soon as a bunk house model is built it is sold nearly sight unseen!!!  This was also the case with the RV we toured in Indiana which was already sold (sigh of relief from me as I could NOT imagine moving out of our motorhome we had been living in for nearly three weeks while on the road and switching out the RV in transit in 100 degree heat no less in the middle of the midwest).   Did you know that the majority of RV's are made and built in Elkhart Indiana...no joke!  All RV'S made by Newmar are also built in Indiana and in fact they employ local Amish to build all of the cabinets in their RVs!!!

 When we got back to Florida we put this on the back burner but then the RV dealer contacted us and told us they had one in Florida over in Fort Myers similar to what we had seen in Indiana.  I again pushed it off we were busy trying to get back to work and could not go over to the west coast.  A few more weeks went by and a few RVs sold again and they called us and this time they made us an offer we coudl not refuse and paid us a lot more than we paid for Blue to trade up. We of course ran the numbers and Jon even called the person we bought Blue from to run the numbers and make sure they were not just up charging the one we bought and making us think we got a deal on the trade.  After some thinking and math we decided to do what everyone that has an RV said to do, don't buy 3 rvs in 2 years (a lot of people do this trying to get into the one that really works for them) just buy your last RV now.  He ran the numbers and confirmed it was a great deal we bought Blue at Easter ahead of the covid blow up and paid a lot less than the RV was worth now and so we decided to take advantage of that to trade up.  Poor Jack had become so attached he nearly cried but soon got over it when he got into the new RV and saw how much better everything was...like going from a normal hotel room to a suite were his words!!  This kid who has traveled, we have ruined him!!!  Seriously though I could live in this thing for extended periods of time without pain, it even has a dishwasher (that I have never used) and a full size stackable washer and separate dryer (not a combo unit like we had before) and two full baths and showers, a bunk house a queen bed with sleep number technology...its insane and the front sofa flips into a king bed and the smaller sofa across from it flips into a smaller jack knife sofa for a child.  The banquette also extends and apparently there are two custom chairs under our bed (I have not yet seen them or lifted it to check) that match the interior and make for 6 seats at the table!  The coach also has a programmable safe in the master bath, programable locking doors, remotes that we had to label for just about everytning including one that with a touch of the button puts ALL inside shades up, down, or on day or night and there are also remotes for the lighting.  THIS IS WHY THERE WAS HOURS OF ORIENTATION.  They said some people stay over night and do two or more days of this...we did it in 3 hours they said it was a record.  Jon did a lot of research and also knows how to find youtube videos about just about anything which is helpful.  I hate this kind of stuff and was glad we brought the label maker to label the crazy remotes..omg.

With the trade offer, we had to put a lot less actual cash of our own down and cleared our payoff on Blue easily and so from a math stand point for us it was a no brainer.  It was ONE LONG  HOT SWEATY DAY the orientation, and the purchase, move out of Blue into Brutus but we got it done and spent the rest of the weekend in a great little campground right on Sanibel Island, a place we have always wanted to take the kids to visit for a long weekend but never got around to going to until we had an RV!  We have big plans to enjoy our RV this year including a trip to and from Ohio since we realized the kids have the entire week off for Thanksgiving this year, a regional Christmas trip over Christmas break down to Everglades National Park in Florida and then a few nights and days including New Year's Eve on Siesta Key, and spring break back on the panhandle and we even planned a ski trip for a long weekend around president's day near blowing rock North Carolina which is the best time to ski in North Carolina!  We are also starting to plan our summer adventure out west for 2021...that is a major work in progress but we got the lottery draw for an amazing spot in Yellowstone again and Grand Teton so those stops are once again on our list to explore with a cross country drive to get there and a trek back through South Dakota (I think its south not north) to see Mt. Rushmore, and then back into Wisconsin and next summer we will spend some good time in northern Michigan's UP, and hit Pictured Rock National Lakeshore and also Mackinac Island which we missed this year due to Covid.  We will drop back down into southern Michigan and hopefully swing by the Burrow's lake house and Toledo and Perrysburg on our way back south to Florida.  We are planning a 4 week trip this coming summer. to make use of our time off and to make the trip worth it.  

Here are some pictures of our trade of Blue and our purchase of Brutus and our long weekend on Sanibel Island, a place we will definitely go back to!  We are coming into some of our best months here in Florida and we have so many springs and amazing places to explore this coming winter just here in Florida on the long weekends. The springs are amazing in northwest and even central Florida the keys are also amazing, the gulf shores are beautiful as well as the state parks right on the ocean on our own coast.  The Sebastian Inlet state park right on the ocean and just up the road from us is ranked very high and in fact I checked and is already booked out for the entire season...better luck next year or this coming summer I guess for us!!!

The FIRST day of school, 7th and 4th grades SHCS

 After an additional two week delay of the school start date we finally started 7th and 4th grades at St. Helen Catholic School.  The kids have been out of school since Friday March 13th and limped through the 4th quarter of the school year of 3rd and 6th grades (we all limped through it) via virtual home school.  We were ALL happy to see this day come after a summer where I struggled to create structure, find exercise for them in each day and keep them going.  We did lots of rv long weekend trips, including one big 3 week trip just to get the heck out of here for a while and do something with the time that was bestowed upon us, we also did a few lake longer weekend trips, and we did lots of sibling private tennis lessons, Jack did a few weeks of sailing camp, Sarabeth did one week of baking camp, we did lots of weekly individual tutoring for both kids, Jack in math, and Sarabeth in reading and language arts to keep our skills sharp and stay on grade level after the home school last quarter of the year this was the only way to not regress I felt, and we also did sibling personal training in the AC in the multi-purpose room at the Moorings with the personal trainer I have worked out with in the past...this was amazingly their favorite thing to do!!  

Alas August 24th was finally upon us and we donned our new uniforms, new shoes, new glasses, shiny new lunch bags, water bottles and backpacks and away they went to start the whirlwind that a new school year always brings.  I cannot believe that Jackson is in 7th grade and that after this year, these two only have ONE more year in the same K-8 school together.  I remember thinking when Sarabeth was in Kindergarten they had 6 years before we had to change schools!  We have lived through 4 of those 6 years and this year starts 5 of 6 oh my!  TIME DOES FLY.  IT REALLY DOES.  Meanwhile I also cannot believe that Sarabeth is in 4th grade. She got a lucky pass and has the same teacher she had for 1st and 3rd grade!!  This is fortunate as this teacher is really kind and loves SB and knows when to push her and when to be more sensitive with her, she knows to encourage her but also not to push too far.  Jackson has the same set of middle school teachers as last year and so this year is starting off MUCH easier, and he also got a free pass, not only does he now have the routine down from last year, he also has NO LOCKER PRAISE GOD due to Covid!!!  The locker was the downfall of Jackson Peshke last year and his ADHD never having the right books for the right class, leaving things in the hallway next to the locker...it was a whole thing.  Now don't go thinking we are just sailing along we still forget our workbooks to bring home and tonight I said what in the world the BRAND NEW PLANNER I bought him three weeks ago was still in PLASTIC WRAP in his cubby in the kitchen and he was clueless as to why Mom was mad that he has not opened it, put it in his back pack or written a SINGLE assignment in the planner........we will get there.  Please say a prayer for each of them as they embark on this new school year!  Sarabeth will have the most challenges this year as the 4th grade curriculum steps up quite a bit and Jackson....maybe he needs to start praying to St. Anthony...somethings lost that must be found I think is how it goes.  Things are always lost in his world, ugh!  Pray for us all to have a happy and healthy year.  

Last stop, Suwannee River Rendezvous Campground on our way back to Vero Beach

 Our last stop of our trip before arriving home in Vero Beach was a bit stressful as I had to be on a board meeting live conference zoom call for the last 2 hours or so of our drive to our last stop and internet was really sketchy as we were in the middle of nowhere!!!  We stopped in a town called Mayo Florida, where there were many springs, and we were about 4-5 hours from home.  This stop would have been cooler but the springs had been overflowed with all of the rain Florida had and so instead of being crystal clear they were muddy and brown so there was no swimming at this spring!!  Luckily my conference call wrapped up shortly after we got parked and settled and after exploring and figuring out there would be no swimming in these springs, we explored the campground a bit more and headed out in the jeep for our last night and found a great local pizza place with cold drinks and homemade pizza.  This was a tiny little town that really was in the middle of nowhere so I was so thankful I had had the good sense that morning to take Sarabeth to have her swimmer's ear checked and to get a prescription while we were still in Destin!!  We also stopped and drove through the University of Florida's main campus as we went right through Gainsville on this trip before getting to our stop for the night.  The campus was HUGE and reminded us of Ohio State, there was red brick but it was nothing like what we saw at Miami University, none of that smaller campus charm existed.  Don't get me wrong Florida is a great school ranked nationally very close to Miami for a top public university but the feel was not at all the same so that was somewhat of a disappointment.  I had been told by others that it felt similar to Miami...clearly those that told me that DID NOT GO TO MIAMI!!

Here are some pictures from our last stop on our three week trek and as we made our way home!  No one was happier to see us when we returned home than our two beloved yellow labs, Buckeye and Beau!!

What an adventure and trip we had in Big Blue...making lemonade out of lemons in this summer 2020 of Covid-19!!!