A Day in the Life in the Airstream - part 3, "off" days
To see part 1 in this series, click here.
To see part 2 in this series, click here.
in God's country...
An "off" day refers to a day where we do not have obligations to play music or travel. Often, we do a lot of work on these days, but we work from home. If possible, I like to get 3-4 off days in a row and find a cozy campground that has a playground and wi-fi and we try to settle into a routine for the week.
7:30 AM - wake up and get ready for church. This is pretty standard in our days.
8:00 AM - Mass.
8:45 AM - Grocery store. We have a habit of going to the grocery store every single day. I try to keep a stock of breakfast, snacks, and some basic "emergency" non- perishables like mac & cheese and red beans & rice. Those are mostly in case we don't have time to get to the grocery store. As far as actual meals, we are pretty sporadic. Even if I do try to plan ahead and buy ingredients for meals, often we get a wild craving and go shopping for something special anyway. We usually pass a store on the way to church, so we've decided there is no reason not to cater to our moods.
9:30 AM- Breakfast. This is usually still standard cereal and eggs. Sometime we we break out and make pancakes or biscuits and gravy.
10: 00 AM - We send the kids to the playground. While most people try to park in a secluded area away from the traffic of the playground and lodge, we take the opposite approach. We try to park as close to the playground and lodge as possible. That way we can send the kids to play freely and still keep an eye on them. The lodge often hosts a free wi-fi connection, so we have a better chance of picking it up in the Airstream if we are parked close. (We recently added a Jefa Tech wi-fi repeater system to our Airstream).
While the kids are playing, Michael and I sit down and look at our "to-do" list. Michael adds items to the "wunderlist" app that syncs across our phones and computers. A typical list is:
- morning prayer
- homeschool
- return phonecalls
- send new booking e-mails
- write a blog
- do laundry
- go on a run (Michael)
Our work is more project based, so the list may include bigger items like recording a music video, writing our book, programming lights for the concert, etc. Once we get our list hammered out, we divide and conquer. Usually we sit and say morning prayers so we can get one thing checked off the list immediately.
11:00 AM - Work the list. The kids come in for schoolwork.
1:00 PM - Lunch. At this point, we often ave something with easy prep for lunch. Schoolwork takes about 2 hours and I hate to break it up for lunch. The backpacks and books clutter up the space, that I like to pack them away and be done. This often means a late lunch of frozen pizzas or pasta.
2:00 PM - We evaluate the "to-do" list. If we have made progress, then we may set aside time to do an activity with the kids. Basically, if there is a swimming pool - we are there! Other times, we send the kids back to the playground, have MJMJ take a nap, and then work for another 2 ours before heading to the pool.
4:30 PM - Start cooking dinner. If we managed the early pool time, then we can choose a new recipe for dinner. Michael picks something interesting from the internet and pours a glass of wine while he cooks. Since the kids have had showers, we try to keep somewhat clean. We ask them to stay close to the Airstream, so they dig into their small toy stash. Often they will play "tag" or "pretend" close to the campsite.
6:30 PM - We settle in for the night. The kids have their dinner, we do the dishes, and have them watch one movie before bed. Once they are settled, Michael and I will sit down to a late dinner.
8:00 PM - We tuck the kids into bed. Most of the time, they are not tired. (Let's be honest, they're tucking in closer to 10:00 most other nights). Michael and I agree to let them have some reading time.
9:00 PM - Michael and I often watch a movie before tucking in for bed.