About Us

We are a family of 5 from Idaho, USA: Kendra (mom and “I” in blog references), John (dad), Bird Nerd (age 11), The Boss (age 9), and The Entertainer (age 6; I promised that I would state, for the record, that The Entertainer wanted his blog name to be “Wildcat Grasshopper Karate Fighter”–I simplified). In summer 2018, we sold nearly all we owned, including our house, and set out for full-time travel. For more details about what went into this process, check out some of our travel prep posts: T-Minus 6 Months, The Money Thing, Realtors, To-Dos, & Yard Sales, House on the Market + Our First Official Housesit, Tent Trailer Livin’ + Good-Byes & Parenta l Guilt.

About the blog name: A(Broad) With 4 Kids. You may have noted above that we have only 3 kids. When trying to come up with a name, I thought of several, all of which were promptly and emphatically shot down by John (they were pretty bad, for the most part). I challenged John to come up with one that included either the words “abroad” or “travel” in it, and he immediately spit out, “Abroad With 4 Kids. Get it? A ‘Broad’ With 4 Kids and ‘Abroad’ With 4 Kids! You’re the broad and I’m your fourth kid, and we’re abroad!” It really isn’t that funny, but Bird Nerd thought it hilarious, and to be honest, I couldn’t come up with anything better. Anyway, it suits us–John does act like a child sometimes, and we do like bad puns. And so, A(Broad) With 4 Kids was born. You’re welcome. Or I’m sorry. Not sure which.

We began our travels with a homestay and language school in Guatemala, and have been mostly housesitting ever since. We spent almost 3 months in Costa Rica, several more months in Mexico, and are now in Europe for the foreseeable future.

The Great Idaho Potato Drop — How Idaho celebrates New Year’s: dropping a giant turd—I mean, potato—from a crane in front of the state capitol building.

Boise Balloon Classic — Idaho also has hot air balloon festivals that are free and open to the public. It’s all about trade-offs, right?

Thousand Springs Campround, Shoshone Falls, our backyard — And then there are the Idaho rivers that can turn the most energetic kid contemplative, waterfalls to rival Niagra, and red-tailed hawks nesting in your backyard.

One half of a red-tailed hawk pair in our backyard

Western Idaho Fair — Remember that “trade-offs” thing I mentioned?

3 comments

Marilyn Friedrichsmeyer says:

January 13, 2018 at 6:33 pm

Great visual summary of Idaho.

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- abroadwith4kids says:
  
  January 14, 2018 at 10:07 pm
  
  Thanks! It has a lot to offer, despite the sometimes frustrating aspects, as you certainly know!
  
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Colin Clapp says:

September 26, 2019 at 2:55 am

Remember the sense of humor that went into this post! Hang on to that when you need a lift. Thinking of you and wishing you many more laughs along the way.

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