In about 6 months, our family of 5 will leave our home in Idaho, USA, for adventures unknown. Well, some of it is known–not enough to ease the worries of our families, but enough to give us an initial launch destination.
These plans have been years in the making. Early in our marriage, John and I knew travel would be in our future, but we had jobs that didn’t allow for more than a week of vacation each year. Even if we’d had more vacation time, we had no money to go anywhere. Plus, we had a toddler to care for! So, we decided our “5 year plan” would be to spend some time living abroad. We’d have the money and flexibility to make our dreams come true by then, right? And then we had another child. And then one more. (Yes, I know that only makes 3 kids, and the name of this blog includes 4 kids. For more on that, check out our “About Us” page.)
Nearly 10 years later, we are on the verge of finally making our dream a reality! We’ve spent the past year and a half doing ridiculous amounts of research (ok, I’ve been doing the research and giving John the micro-CliffsNotes versions), making decisions we’re unsure of, and attempting to get our kids on board (depending on the day, I think we’re 2 for 3 there). Oh…also selling, donating, and begging people to take our stuff, which is by far the biggest task of all in this whole process.
This spring, we will put our house on the market, in the hopes that the sale won’t close before the school year ends, and we have to spend the last weeks of school camping in my parents’ backyard. After school ends in mid-June, we figure our launch date will be sometime in July 2018.
Our initial destination is a homestay Spanish language school near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala for 4 weeks. After that, we’ll head to somewhere in ol’ Mexico (I swear, that’s a song lyric) to complete our temporary residency requirements. The rest is TBD, hence, our families’ nervousness. At some point, Nicaragua and the rainforests of Costa Rica will be involved–we promised Bird Nerd, and he’s been saving hundreds of dollars for just that purpose. We hope to venture into South America, as well, especially Ecuador and Chile, and who the heck knows where else?
A(Broad) With 4 Kids 