Our New Beginning
How it all Started
Have you ever had that moment when life just seems to be kicking you when you are down? My family has been dealing with hardships that felt like a weight on all our shoulders that we couldn’t shake. I felt like we could all use a change. Something that would bring my family some much needed joy. So I asked Reese what he thought about RV living for a while. He was hesitant, of course, with all kinds of questions. How would we make an income? How do we afford staying in campgrounds and the travel expenses? What about the importance of having ‘Roots’?
I had looked into RV living before when the kids were younger, before I had met Reese. I began researching it again, so I could answer his concerns with facts. I showed him what I had found about work camping. It’s an option that isn’t just an income for us, but can reduce the cost of our stays at campgrounds we would be working at (I’ll go more in depth about work camping in another post). I explained with the right balance of budgeting and planning, we could handle the travel expenses.
The one question I had to really think about was the importance of having roots. Reese is from Missouri and has lived here all his life. His family is here, so I understood why he asked the question. I don’t have those same attachments. I’m the proverbial black sheep of my family to say the least. Roots had never been a thing I felt I could achieve. Every time I tried to put down roots, it ended in disaster. I racked my brain, trying to come up with some sort of compromise. After a couple of weeks, we found time to talk through it. We decided we could try out travelling. If we don’t like it or we find somewhere we absolutely love then we can put down fresh roots. We have the means to return to Missouri whenever we need a break.
The Preliminary Planning
We pitched the idea of vacationing over the Summer to the kids to see how they would feel about it. Emma and Teagan were pretty nonchalant about it. They were more interested in their phones than what we were asking them. Reese and I had already discussed a few locations in Missouri that could be fun and educational.
Kearney, MO- the birthplace of Jesse James (History)
St. Joseph, MO- the home of Jesse James (History)
St. Louis, MO- the Gateway Arch, St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis Zoo, etc (Engineering, Science, Nature and History)
Branson, MO- Silver Dollar City, Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum, Titanic Museum, etc. (History, Science, Nature and Culture)
We could turn any of the above into weekend trips as they aren’t a far drive. It’s a good starting point for us to get acclimated to a minimalistic lifestyle and limited space. Our biggest problem we could foresee having was getting the kids excited about it.
The Kids’ Brilliant Idea
We were heading home, after running some errands, a couple days ago when Emma decided to pitch us an idea. Her and her brother had been putting some real thought into their proposition. So here is how this conversation went:
Emma: Hey Mom, I have a question.
Me: What’s up?
Emma: So since we are going to be travelling and stuff… what about starting that family YouTube channel we had always talked about? You know, before we moved to Missouri.
Teagan: Yeah, it could be fun Mom. We could do challenges and stuff. We could call it The King Family.
Reese and I looked at one another in surprise.
Emma: Yeah! We could be just as cool as some of our favorite YouTubers!
I got on YouTube and looked to see if the name was available
Me: We are going to have to come up with another name. The King Family is already taken.
Reese: What about The 4 Kings? Check that one.
Teagan: That’s a cool channel name.
Emma: Yeah, I like that one.
Again, I checked Youtube. There were no channels with that name. So I jumped right on it and created the channel.
Me: Well we have a YouTube channel. We are now The 4 Kings.
What it all Means
In just a 10 minute conversation, our lives have changed. Not only are we excited, the kids are too. Our plans turned from just travel and vacation to a whole family adventure filled with endless possibilities! With the hardships we have all been dealing with lately, it is such an exhilarating feeling to embrace the future instead of fearing the unknown. My family has found a purpose in making family friendly content that we hope will inspire others. As a mother, all I have wanted is to bring my children joy not just happiness. That is because, happiness is fleeting, but joyfulness is what creates those core memories that last us a lifetime.
We are looking forward to making our first video soon, so please keep an eye on our YouTube channel.