Her school was a perfect private Colombian Catholic school. Run by nuns and probably strict, and good for her!

Her teacher Daniela was a beautiful person. She LOVED the kids and loved Aspen. She cried the day we left.  It was a busy week of birthdays in Aspen’s small class and once we experienced the festivities we realized why each kid needs their own day! It was literally an all school day event, celebrating that child. The school got together and even bought Aspen a mermaid barbie- I mean… heart explode! She was loving it.

We brought cookies and the kids sat on the floor and giggled and ate cookies and drank juice.

Then we had a “family” party with our “Blink family”. Our Spanish school there was our family and some really wonderful people who took the time to make it super special for Aspen.

Breeze and Natalia (Pollito) really went all out and decorated the school and Breeze worked hard to get Aspen the perfect cake in town ($60 USD, but it was 3 stories and it was my-little-pony)

Her 3rd birthday was great! And full of much love!

The post Aspen’s 3rd Birthday- Medellin Colombia appeared first on Living Maverick.

Because it was much cheaper for us all to fly from NYC to Paris we enlisted Scott’s parents, who are pretty much always game for a road trip, to drive us from Michigan to NYC and then drive our car back to our shop in Michigan. It worked out pretty well! No major issues and I got some good road trip selfies!

First things first! Why Dijon France?

Well a few reasons. If you know me, you know I am a Disney World freak! I truly, although I own very little WDW items, I adore Disney! We wanted to venture international after spending a lot of time touring the USA by mini-van! And we couldn’t decide where. It was a combination of Disney World’s Epcot France Pavilion and the book “The Road to Burgundy: The Unlikely Story of an American Making Wine and a New Life in France” by Ray Walker.

I fell in love with the architecture, the food (at Disney’s France Pavilion, that I was told was authentic and I can now attest, IT IS!) The charm of castles and countrysides and bread and quiche and cheese! I have attempted to love french wine or wine at all… I am still working on this!

But France was safe, cheap to get to from the USA and still foreign and international. So we set out to plan our France adventure.

Booking our flights I tend to book the cheapest and just deal, this meant a midnight flight, with 3 kids! This actually ended up working in our favor because Aspen slept the entire flight. It is a bit uncomfortable to not move for 7 hours as a child sleeps on you, but you do what ya gotta do! Sleeping baby WINS!

We arrived in Paris in the afternoon but our train to Dijon wasn’t for several hours until 6pm. So we waited, excited, tired, and pretty bored. Airports are less than fun. Especially with children. We had our first taste of french food and coffee. And then we hit the train!

The train left right from the airport (score and a huge bonus to Europe as a whole!). Trains are fast, convenient and inexpensive in Europe. We arrived late to Dijon, and here we were, 5 people, hauling suitcases for a 3 month adventure though the streets of Dijon in the dark. Thankfully Dijon is SUPER safe and we got lucky booking an apartment literally 1/2 a mile from the train station, still we had no idea where we were going and our ability to speak french was about that of a 3 month old! So….

We took a picture of the map at the train station. We needed to walk toward Darcy Place. This is the shopping district and where our house is.

We were wandering, in the right direction and a man approached us, “Angela?” he said. It was the man we were renting from! Sweet! he found us. He lives out of town by about 90 minutes but drove in to welcome and help us. He got us to the apartment. I will say, we could NOT have booked a better location.

Our apartment is small. VERY SMALL. It is an attic apartment of a very old building.  You have to walk up one large flight of stairs, then hit a mini elevator to the 4th floor then walk up 2 more stories of stairs. But it is cute and a perfect location.  We are literally at the center of the posh shopping district.  We had no idea! The Darcy Station (the train that runs though town) is right out our door. We have a about a mile by 1/2 mile area that has no cars just boutiques, coffee shops, cheese shops, bakeries.

I think we will enjoy this town!

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Leadville’s history is thick, rich, haunted and the ultimate comeback. Back in 1859 Leadville, formerly known as Silver City, was founded. It was first settled during the gold rush when placer gold was found in the waters. However, the placer gold frenzy that lead this town to boom to 5,000 people in 1 year,  It was a challenge to mine placer gold and not worth the work. It was really the finding  in 1867 of silver that skyrocketed the town to wealth and in population. At Leadville’s peak in 1882, Leadville is estimated to have over 50,000 residents, but you would never know it now days.

Leadville, like all other mine towns, fell. Although there were some mines still running, the population shrunk. And it was a little known town, not making any headlines for so long. Then one of the major mines closed and it sent the town into a spiral. Crime was up, mostly petty theft and domestic violence. But, being the rugged folks they are they had an advantage, location and the vast wilderness.

Enter the Ultramrathon. What is “an Ultra” as it is called in the running world? It is a 100 mile running race though the hardest conditions you can imagine. Leadville took it on and it has attracted not only extreme runners, but bikers too. It is the “goal” for an ultramathoner to run at the Leadville 100 and not only to run, but to survive.  Leadville had embraced this with a fantastic and safe trails. The Mineral Belt Trail is a nearly 12 mile, fully paved wide trail that winds though the old mining epicenter. You ride along wildlife, collapsed mines and pines.  It only crosses the road a few times and is mostly in the woods in the most perfect scenery in the world. Take a walk, ride your bike, work on speed drills, run the trail, push a stroller- it doesn’t matter! It is wide and welcoming to all.

Because we are always looking for small towns with a pool (super hard to find) Leadville may reign top when you consider it is a town of only 3,000 people, at least 25 minutes form the nearest town and has an actual pool, with lap lanes and all. The only drawback is the pool is HOT! Unfortunately that makes it extremely hard to actually train in the pool. The elevation of Leadville makes the oxygen levels lower and thus elevation sickness a real thing. When you add heat to it and extreme exercise, it is just not safe.   It would really be the sports heaven if they go their lap pool to a safe and trainable temperature. But, the fact that they have a pool is potential! 

Another awesome thing about Leadville is the little hidden untouched gems that still exist as you scroll through town. I doubt these will last long, especially with the gem being uncovered. But for now, you can find these untouched moments in time.

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Aspen’s “birth” day!

HAPPY 1st Birthday Aspen Everest

In celebrating Aspen’s first birthday of course we would reflect over the first year. Holy Moly have we done a lot with this kid!  We decided to compile a list of her first year adventures and it even shocked us the things this kid has done!  So if you are so inclined to recap with us:

Aspen’s First Year Adventures!

Ways Aspen has taken as Transportation
Car, Truck, Stroller, Baby Carrier, 4 Wheeler, Tram, Train, Ferry/Boat, Dinosaur Roller Coaster, Bike, Scooter, Feet, Airplane, Monorail, Horse Carriage, Dog, Canoe, Shopping Cart.

Aspen’s States she has visited: 27 States plus 2 extras!

Aspen has visited a lot of: Places

Disney World, Super Hero Museum, RV Museum, Amish B&B/Farm, Children’s Art Museum, Churchill Downs, Lincoln’s Birth Place, Civil War Grounds, Lake Tahoe, Fort Meyers Beach, Crystal/Gem Hunting, Golden Gate Bridge, Walked the Mighty Mac, 5k with Sissies, Universal Studios, Car Accident, Paint & Wine with Mom and Dad, Painted Ceramics, Been in -20 degrees and 107 degrees, Traveled across the USA fro North to South and from East to West, Hiked, Mt. St. Helens, Swam in several pools, Napa CA, Air and Space Museum, Train Museum, Botanical Gardens, Mammoth Caves and Horsehead Caves.

** Plus places Aspen has slept. She was on the road at 3 days old. been in about 50 hotels, an 5th Wheel, and about 10 different houses.

Happy Birthday precious girl. We are so blessed by you and your bring so much laughter to our lives. We can’t wait to see what the next year adventures have in store for you/us!

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Animal Kingdom – oh the beauty of this park! It is visually just stunning. From the architecture to the plants. you truly feel like you are walking into other countries- dust, dirt, weather prayer flags, burnt out lights (on purpose) and all!  It is magical!

Let’s list the must do’s and do not’s of Animal Kingdom

1) Don’t waste time standing in line for rides. Every time we have gone to Animal Kingdom to just let the kids go on rides we go 2 hours before close and make our way against the stream of those leaving the park to the back (where the rides are). For some reason the parks always clear out 2 hours before close (with minor exceptions). Animal Kingdom is the earliest park to close due to the animals sleeping schedules, (although they are about to launch a night time festival). But, don’t even waste time standing in a line go later to the rides and you will have much more fun. My kids have gone on Expedition Everest 12x in on evening just by going in the last hour.  I swear. TRUST ME!

2.) There is a difference between Rafiki’s Wildlife Express Train and the Kilimanjaro Safari.  I can’t tell you how many people we have talked too that were disappointed because they thought they were taking the Safari ride and ended up on the Wildlife Express Train.  Let me take a second to explain the difference.

–RAFIKI’S WILD LIFE EXPRESS TRAIN: This is a train that takes you to a small science center.  It is a working lab. It has a small petting zoo with goats that love to ram each other and be silly like goats are. It has some life bird shows. It is also a great place for a few meet and greet with characters without lines.

–KILIMANJARO SAFARI: This is what people think of when they think of Animal Kingdom and a must see! This is a ride in a big jeep like rig that takes you back through the “African Savanna”. Here you will see lions, giraffes, hippos, beautiful birds and other exotic animals.   This is a MUST SEE.
NOTE: The animals go to bed early and the ride typically stops going at 4pm (and by then most of the animals are already put up for the night). So, go early and don’t miss this!

3) Eats: I can’t say Disney has the best food in the world. It is basically cafeteria style food. But there are deals to be had. I am a huge fan of eating at the parks vs carrying a huge backpack full of food. It really ruins a day hauling that stuff around.  Here are some of our go-to eateries.  NOTE: Animal Kingdom doesn’t allow lids on cup drinks nor do they have plastic straws, they use paper straws- it is to protect the wildlife. ALSO, water at ANY PARK is free. Just go up to any restaurant window and ask for a cup of water. Bottled water can range from $2.50-$4.00 for a SMART water.  So get a cup of water!

–RESTAURANTOSAURUS: Located in DinoLand Restaurant”OSAURUS” is a huge inside/outside cafeteria style dining area. There are 2 awesome things about his location. First, it has unlimited refills. PERFECT for the heat of Florida. It is a great place to sit outside as the kids explore DinoLand and sip on some cold drinks. The second thing about this restaurant is that it has a “fixings” bar. If you get a burger or chicken sandwich or anything else, you can go to the fixings bar and load up on everything from grilled onions to mushrooms and tomatoes. I personally don’t like the hamburgers at Disney parks, but I will leave that judgment up to you. I go for the bean burger and take off the bun and load it up with fixings and have a bean burger salad.

–PIZZAFARI:  As you enter the parks you will cross the river and be looking at the “Tree of Life” from here go left. Pizzafari is just down the path on the left hand side. They just redid this whole restaurant and I personally think the food was better prior to reno- but it is still a filling, cheap stop. Here you can get a personal pizza (4 small slices) and a side salad for under $10 plus you can add a pop for about $3. This location doesn’t have free refills, but we would go get 2 pizzas, one drink, 3 waters and the side salads and it would fill our family for under $25.

SPECIAL NOTE: Try to eat off hours. If you show up at Restaurantosours at noon you will wait FOREVER! If you show up at 1:40, you will walk up.  This goes for all restaurants and for the more costly sit down ones, MAKE A RESERVATION that morning! They book up especially during the busy season but even in the off season.

4) The MUST SEE SHOWS: Remember Disney is a theme park, not an amusement park. This can lead to some being disappointed. Although Animal Kingdom has the best rides of the parks (IMO) it also has the best show of any park.

–FESTIVAL OF THE LION KING: I can honestly say I have seen this show no less than 40 times. It is by FAR the best show of any park. It has amazing costumes, amazing energy and amazing music. It last about 35 minutes and the theater is darkened. The music is loud and all songs are from the Lion King movie. It is brilliantly executed and choreographed.  If you do NOTHING ELSE at Animal Kingdom, do this! There have been many times where we just went to the park just to go to the show, again. Even our baby loves it! Her first show was at 7 weeks and she has never looked back. She gets up and dances and claps and screams. It is fantastic.

-Street Shows: There are several areas around Animal Kingdom there are street shows of music and dance. You will see these just randomly passing by. Stop, watch, move on. They are great and lively and allow for a some culture education.

–Finding Nemo– The Musical: I don’t want to be a hater, but this is not my favorite show. Mainly because Nemo had no real soundtrack- so it doesn’t feel like you are part of anything energetic.  It runs the basic story-line and the costumes and the stage are cool. But the music gets repetitive. If you have smaller children they will like it. I would suggest getting there a bit early and trying to sit down closer to the stage as the dancers will come into the crowd in the first sections and kids love that.

5) Must Do Rides: There are some really fun rides at Animal Kingdom.

– EXPEDITION EVEREST: Our 3rd daughter was actually named after this ride, well her middle name, Everest. My older girls just loved the name and the power and meaning behind it and it is just an awesome ride! It really isn’t too scary but if your child gets scared on rides, you may want to do it first before they puke all over the seats! It does go backwards and it does have a huge “big foot” reaching down to the track as you zoom by.

–PRIMEVAL WHIRL: This small roller coaster is located in DinoLand, but don’t let the size fool you- it is 100% fun! It zips you around and spins you crazy. It is a favorite of my whole family!

-KALI RIVER RAPIDS: Now we need to have a heart to heart here… If you are one of the people who think they need a poncho to do a water ride in Florida, you have something wrong with you! It is Florida after all!!! You will most likely get wet, possibly drenched. There is a waterfall you go down near the end (3/4 though) and if you are going backwards down the fall you will be WET! But this is part of it, and wearing a poncho just makes you look like a sissy. Enjoy the experience. I personally like to hit this ride more to the end of the day so I don’t have to walk around in wet clothes. It would be a good idea to wear quick drying clothes and maybe even a swim suit for kids.  There is also a bridge that you can go on and watch the loading and unloading of the ride and spray the people getting off with water guns. Many times my husband and I just went to this bridge and the girls went around and around.

Animal Kingdom is by far my favorite park. I hope this gave you some tips as you plan your trip and enjoy!!!

The post 5 Steps to a low stress trip to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom appeared first on Living Maverick.

So here is what I have learned about clothing diapering on the road and hopefully, even if you are taking a weekend trip, you can find some advice that will help you in your journey.

1) Breathe…. It is not THAT hard… promise!

2) Keep it simple. When Aspen was born we had it all, and the van was loaded up with prefolds and Rumparoos covers as our main go-to. But, she leaked everything. I started off the cycling trip hauling an array of diapers. From pockets to prefolds to fitted and so on. It was a mess of a system. We changed over to GroVia hybrids and that work ok until the dryer incident (I will cover that a bit father down in IMPORTANT #2 in section #6). We now use GroVia ONEs exclusively.

3) When you call to book your hotel ask if they have a washer and dryer. I have found, after spending nearly 50 straight nights in a hotel, that Hiltons nearly always have a washer and dryer.  Rooms typically run around $100 a night and they are clean hotels and I don’t have to hunt and sit at a laundromat.

4) Bleach is ok. Seriously, I have tried a lot of stuff to get stink out- and bleach, just a little, and it prevents the drama of stink and that is one less thing you need on your plate. If you are going for a quick weekend/week trip, don’t sweat it. If you are living on the road or looking at a 10+ day trip, get you some when you get to your destination. Don’t want that spilling in luggage! Some laundromats sell single packets for $1.

5) This could be the best “sanity saving” tool ever! Get a cart. Seriously. It not only makes traveling in airports with diapers so much easier, it saved my life on our bike trip when I had a newborn and luggage to get into a hotel room all by myself.

6) Laundromats: I am giving this it’s own little section because I have a few things to say!
– First thank God for laundromats! Seriously! And the ability to buy detergent on the road for $1.
– There are places where laundromats have signs that you can not wash human waste. I only saw one sign and after I had already washed my diapers. I think it is a big deal in places like Oregon, or at least I heard this from my Grandma that signs are all over their laundromats- but I didn’t see it. I find it funny too- because in places like Oregon, they are so natural and hippie, but yet are against cloth diapers. The irony.
–IMPORTANT #1– When washing diapers at a laundromat be HIGHLY aware of what is left in a washer. I was in Reno, NV and tossed in my diapers and didn’t check. Someone had left an ink pen in the washer. My diapers, although functional, were ruined visually.
–IMPORTANT #2– Reno, NV was just a bad day to wash diapers… So after the above insistent with the ink pen I tossed my diaper in a dryer on high. BAD MOVE! All my covers melted… like- a total disaster. I mean melted! I had maybe 3 covers that were functional enough to get me to Petaluma California later that day where I spend nearly $300 replacing my whole system after a deep discount from the store (this is where section 2 comes in and my first introduction into GroVia ONEs).

7) Truth time… I use disposable wipes. The Naturals 99.9% water kind and here’s why…. I was having a dang time on the bike trip with cloth wipes. She would run our quick, or I would be pouring water on dry ones.  They were freezing or got musky. I just couldn’t win. So, it is what I do- and I am ok with that!

8) The poop! What about the poop? Well truth be told she just started getting more chunky poo. She is just starting to eat a bit more solids daily. So, I just take a wipe and wipe what I can and call it good. It is what it is. I have thought about getting the GroVia liners, buuuttttt…… they are like $8 for 100 and she doesn’t poo every time but yet I would need a liner in just in case every time and that is just one more thing I have to haul and order and haul and order. So, we just deal. I never had a sprayer with the older girls and I lived.

9) Sometimes you have to be creative. I have hung my diaper covers to dry on a bike rack, over bunk beds, sprawled out on our dash and laying in the grass. Life isn’t always perfect, so you have to find quick solutions.

10) When on a plane what to do? All airlines allow you take a diaper bag for your baby free. So, I take all her diapers on a carry on- we have 24 GroVia ONEs. And I take a few of my large wet bags and tuck them inside.  You never know if that day will be a 5 diaper day or a 10, so I just take them all. I keep 2-3 (depending on the flight time) in my purse (large bag) under the seat plus wipes and put the rest in the overhead. Also I keep one change of clothes in my purse.  But I NEVER check on my diapers. I would freak an ever loving house if they got lost.

We love our cloth and are totally committed to them. As far as the GroVia’s we use, we find they never leak and work great for night time. They are a bit bulky, but I will take that for my sanity!

Happy cloth butting!

The post 10 tips to Cloth Diapering on the Road appeared first on Living Maverick.

I have 1 1/2qt ball jars, these are about 2.5 cups. My 1 gallon brew does 4 jars. I leave starter for the next batch from the spigot down.

Pour each glass to the fill line

I take 2tbsp of loose leaf Teavana tea into each jar, I love the youngberry & orange peel mix.

1/2tbs of Teavana rock sugar (adjust to taste)

Cap tight, place in the fridge for 2+ days.

The tea will mostly settle at the bottom. But if you want you can pour it from this jar to you glass and use a strainer to grab any loose leaf tea.

Enjoy

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Secondly, I want to thank everyone for your overwhelming support. From friends and family who watched our animals to strangers along the way who guided us onto safer streets or packed lunches and snacks for our girls, there is no way we could have done this without your support. And my mom who flew in from Washington and spent 2 weeks on the road with us helping with Aspen, reading maps, finding hotels and being just an awesome help. And Scott’s parents who shuttled me all over MI and helped with my dog.

I know many people have been waiting for an update. It has been several weeks since Scott or I have been able to sit and actually compile a thought. When we got into GA Scott and I went our own ways. I took Aspen down to Orlando to fly back to Michigan and he continued on through GA into Florida with the girls. We both found ourselves single parenting and exausted. We had a system of posting updates that took both of us. But when we were apart things didn’t quite work out as it normally does. We had our system disturbed. He had cameras with him and the iphone and I had left my laptop in Florida when I flew to Michigan. So, as much as we had hoped to keep things totally updated daily, it clearly didn’t work that way.

Tim Ferriss says not to blog everyday- people learn to expect it. This is true. And honestly we were just trying to keep our sanity.  It is extremely hard to be on the road with 3 children and one just weeks old. I think many people forget what it is like to have a newborn, let alone imagine criss-crossing the country starting days (like 3 days) after giving birth. This country is a lot of rural abiss. And nearly from the second we entered into TN until mid Alabama we had no cell service. WiFi at hotels was shotty to say the best- so, we did the best we could.

Scott and the girls made it to Disney World on July 1st 2015!
They raised over $1500 for children’s cancer research and each rode over 1700 miles down this country! It is amazing to have watched them and been a part of it. They actually rode their bikes right into the Disney World gates!

I flew back home to Orlando on July 7th 2015. It was a VERY long 18 days without my 3 loves. Aspen and I were more than thrilled to be together with them again.

Me being back with them also meant more pictures!

When I flew in it was a Tuesday and we left our house by Sunday to head back to MI for about 8 weeks. But in those few days we did some of our most favorite Disney things! Plus found a few more awesome things to do like join a cycling club, pottery class and did our favorite Disney things- like watched the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. Aspen loved this show!

We also found time to visit one of our favorite towns, Winter Garden, FL. This is where some really great bike trails run right through downtown and where our most favorite bike shop is! Wheel Works.  There we got Rainey a unicycle and Breeze a new tri bike. We though with such a great physical adventure the girls need a little reward.

Here are some of my pictures of the few days we were in FL together!

Of course I have more pictures, and of course technology is being a PITA at the moment and my phone will not talk to my computer. So, these will have to do for now.

We said goodbye to Kissimmee, FL for about 8 weeks on Sunday and headed north. We have landed in Benton Harbor, MI for 2 nights then back to Hillman for the rest of the summer. We learned many things on this trip, and have many stories, advice and tips to share as we settle down over the summer and into the fall.

To keep the most up todate on our adventures (because some don’t require a huge blog post) visit us on our Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/livingmavericktravel

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