We did it!

We drove from Key West to Alaska!

When we started out I had all these grand intentions of working out in amazing locations. As it turned out we were moving very fast because I was on a writing schedule for Go RVing and winter was (is) on our heels so we couldn’t dawdle. It’s not the easiest thing to fit in workouts or get motivated while traveling in an RV full time but add in a baby, 1000s of miles under our tires in a matter of weeks, travel planning,  sightseeing, normal family stuff, writing deadlines and fitting in workouts becomes even more challenging. It was kinda like working full time while being on vacation.

Ummm….not complaining!

I’m not complaining because it was one of the best summer’s of my life! We fell in love with Alaska. I lost count on how many times Brent and I had the “what would it be like to live here” discussion. If it wasn’t so far from family I really think we would live there half of the year.  The beauty of Alaska is beyond words. Anyway it’s all documented on the Go RVing blog.

We might have been busy hiking, seeing glaciers, spotting wildlife, and working but I did find time to fit in a few workouts here and there. I think they averaged to about 1.5 a week. Most of them I did with my new workout partner Thing 1. He’s quite disciplined that one and puts me to shame!

Here are a few of the spots. I didn’t bother capturing all of them.

At a rest stop on our way to Chicken, Alaska.
It’s hard to see but that’s the Alaska Range in the background.

This was outside on Palmer on the Knik River where we camped for 6 nights.

This was at a campground near Fort Nelson in Canada.

There is a lot of construction on the Alaska Highway and sometimes you have to wait 15-30 minutes for the pilot car to lead you down the road. Brent (It was his idea this time. <=== Somethings just don’t change.) thought it was a perfect time for a mini workout.

We are getting to old to care what people think.

This was my favorite workout spot of all on the spit in Homer, Alaska.
Have you been to Homer?  It’s so rad!

Since I spent way more time sightseeing that working out here are some glimpses from the last few months on the road.

(The top middle is Mount McKinley or Denali!)

This guy is getting so big! He’ll be as heavy as my kettlebell soon!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at Newschool Nomads as we travel in our RV through the United States!

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The post We did it!!! (And I even managed a few workouts.) appeared first on Girl Heroes.

So here’s our big news…

We are going to ALASKA!!!

We are not just going to Alaska we are making it an epic road trip of 6000 miles from Key West to Alaska. I’m so excited! Alaska has been on our dream list since we left but until now we’ve only talked about it. Honestly, driving the Alaskan highway seemed a little scary to me. I’ve heard it can be very remote at places. What if we run out of gas? What if we are in an accident and there isn’t reception? What if? What if? What if? But after seeing the 48 states we knew it was time to set those “what ifs” aside and make our dream a reality so here we go!

Go RVing is partnering with us on the trip so I’ll be sharing our weekly update on their blog. Our first week in Key West was posted this week. I’ll certainly be sharing parts of it here too but if you are interested in the details beyond food and fitness check out my posts on the Go RVing blog. Or you can like Newschool Nomads on Facebook. I post photos daily and share the Go RVing posts.

So going to Alaska means I get to film my 49th kettlebell workout. Filming another kettlebell workout also means I need to deal with some body image stuff.

It’s been 8 weeks since Thing 3 was born and my body is nowhere near where it was and to tell you the truth I have mixed feelings about it.

Don’t Care Days

Much of the time, I really don’t care.

Truly don’t care. It’s quite freeing.

(Although to be honest, most days my hair is a mess and I don’t brush my teeth until noon so maybe I’m just “letting myself go” in the name of freedom!)

I even have this vision of myself that’s smaller than reality. For instance, the other day I went shopping and I grabbed a few pairs of shorts that by looking at them I was SURE they were going to fit. Into the dressing room I went and was shocked that I couldn’t get them up over my thighs. I had to get two sizes bigger than what I thought.

Here’s the really good part.

I mentally shrugged my shoulders and felt nothing.

Nothing.

There was no emotional low afterwards because my self worth was not attached to my size. Grabbing a different size of short was like deciding a different color would look better.

It’s a sign I have either come a long way in regards to body image or I’m just too dang tired to care. Probably a bit of both.

Do Care Days

Then there are days when I button up my pants and notice my tummy pushing out and over the waistband and think, I really need to start working out again and maybe I shouldn’t have eaten those three heaping spoonfuls of almond butter.

And the tone I’m using with myself may not be so nice.

Then I think of filming my Alaska workout and feel a little horrified imagining how much my butt is going to jiggle when I do swings.

Images of all these other fit bloggers fill my mind with self doubt.

I remind myself….

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

…and I move on.

___

When we first hit the road, I had all these grand ideas of filming a workout in every state with a six pack. Months before we left I thought I’ll get my six pack back but as our departure date grew close I didn’t get any leaner.

Once we hit the road, I still didn’t get leaner. In fact, I started to gain weight especially when I added sugar back into my diet. I decided I would rather indulge in the unique culinary experiences to be had all over the country than to chase after a body type that would require huge amounts of discipline. (Side note: I don’t see anything wrong with having this type of body and the discipline it requires as long as the person is still thriving emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. There’s too much body bashing out there from all directions and I don’t want to join the mob.)

Two and half years later, I’m back at a size that may have triggered depression 6 years ago.

Now things are different. There are days I care and days I don’t. The “don’t care” days far outnumber the “do care” days. Perhaps when I’m less sleep deprived I’ll care more.

But one thing is for sure whether I do dare or don’t care, I’m done attaching my self worth to my size.

Done.

So I’m heading up to Alaska and I’m going to film my 49th kettlebell workout and if I’m still two sizes bigger then so be it. Take it as a sign that I’m thoroughly enjoying my life and body as it is.

Or that I’m still seriously sleep deprived.

Or maybe that this little guy’s face melts aways all the worries in the world.

I hope all is well with you. Aside from being sleep deprived things are going well in our world on wheels!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at Newschool Nomads as we travel in our RV through the United States!

If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” on Facebook, or 3.  Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!

The post Big News and Body Image appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Being pregnant has a lot of ups and downs, thanks to hormones. Or maybe that’s just part of being a girl. Or maybe it’s just life. Yeah, that’s what it is life. Making Videos

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sell almost everything and hit the road in an RV with your family? We did and two and a half years ago we decided to follow that dream. It was risky. It was scary. It was crazy. But here we are now loving our life (when my hormones aren’t getting in the way) and creating memories.  If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to travel full time in an RV watch this video Brent put together for Go RVing. It really captures the essence of what it’s like to live in an RV.

  Cooking

When we lived in a house friends from our church would bring over meals for a week or two after the baby arrived. It was awesome. Since we don’t have a stationary community, I thought I would try precooking meals and freezing them. At first I was going to try one of those 40 meals in 4 hours, i.e., cook all day things. I used to do that when we lived in a house but I’m finding this late in pregnancy it’s not comfortable to be on my feet for more than a few hours at a time. So instead, I’ve been doubling or tripling our week night meals. I’m hoping by the time baby gets here I’ll have at least a few weeks of meals in the freezer.

Working Out

Still doing kettlebells about 2x a week. I’ve given up that third workout and definitely slowing down. It must be because it feels like I’m carrying a 35 kettlebell around ALL. THE. TIME. Yoga is AWESOME even when there is a snakes involved. Yes, a snake! The other day I was doing yoga outside our RV when a black racer slithered out of the bushes up ahead of me. I must have been feeling pretty zen because my heart only raced a little and I finished the workout.

The Baby in the Belly

I was right! My midwife confirmed he turned and is no longer breech! However, he is still posterior so I’m still doing the spinning babies exercises, one of which is “rebozo sifting”. Don’t ask. And definitely, don’t expect your teenagers to find it funny. This past weekend we also decided we better take a few photos before baby gets here since he is technically full term at 37 weeks. (I’m 37 and a half weeks now!) We are trying  to save as much money as possible so we decided to take them ourselves. They didn’t turn out too bad considering our modest equipment and using a self timer and tripod for the photos with both Brent and I.

My favorite.

An RV is not everyone’s first choice for a background but I love it!

This one was really hard to get with a self timer. We must have looked like total weirdoes!  

My second favorite except I forgot to take the sunglasses off on the back of my skirt. Ooops!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Life Lately appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I haven’t been posting much because there has been a lot going on. A lot. Some good. Some bad. Some kinda boring like spending 30 minutes a day practicing hypnosis.  Yeah, I’ll get to that but first let’s start off with the good.

The Good

We got our new RV. You can see pictures of all 400 square feet here or if you prefer here’s a video tour. Aside from the decor looking a little generic (it feels very impersonal like a hotel room) we are loving it. There is so much more space and the kitchen is amazing.

The full size fridge has changed our life. No more playing Tetris after coming home from the grocery store. We even renewed our Costco membership. So that’s all good.

We’ve been traveling around in Florida hanging out with friends. Our first stop was a full time RV family rally. About 40 families who live full time on the road in their RVs like us were there. That’s just the kids at the rally in the picture above! It was a lot of fun even for an introvert like me.  A few days later we headed over to Orlando to spend a few more weeks with other families. The boys have made a lot of new friends so that’s good too!

While we were in Orlando my nomad friends, some who I have known and some who I had just met (even a few I just met that night), threw me a surprise baby shower! I was in shock!  These are the type of things I’ve come to accept that I miss out on by living on the road except I didn’t. What a blessing!

I mentioned last month that I was going to start blogging for a company. I started writing for Go RVing. It’s a trial partnership but so far it’s been a lot of fun and feels like a perfect fit. You can check out my posts on their site.

The Bad

Now for the bad.

My OBGYN was diagnosed with cancer and is taking a leave of absence. So sad.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

First of all to be diagnosed with cancer is terrible and I’m so sad for him and his wife.  At the risk of sounding selfish, I panicked about who was going to deliver our baby. I was 32 weeks along and we moved to Florida specifically for this OBGYN because he has such a high success rate with VBACs (vaginal birth after cesearean). My doctor in CA was no longer allowed to perform VBACS due to a hospital ban on them. Since I have already had one successful VBAC  (before the ban) with a midwife from my doctor’s office in CA, my doctor there said, “It would be criminal of me to give to you c-section.” His words. I’m not going to spend the time right now debating women’s rights, medical liability, and the like. I’m just going to say the risks of complications of me having another c-section outweigh the risks of me having another vaginal birth. I’ll agree to a c-section to save my or our baby’s life but I will NOT be cut open due to oppressive hospital rules or for someone else’s convenience. Period.

“Coincidently”, the day we found out about my doctors’s cancer we had met with a midwife earlier that morning. I was hoping she would either be my doula or could recommend one. I had a doula with both of my other births. Considering the unfortunate turn of events, we decided to go with her as our care provider for the remainder of the pregnancy. So while it is very bad news about my doctor, I’m thankful we found someone who will take me this late in pregnancy and and does not want to cut me open. I feel very blessed to have met her when we did. Not only does is she very kind, she is very experienced.

I want to share more about VBACs later. Many women don’t even realize that a vaginal birth after a cesarean is not only possible but most of the time (not always) a safer option than a repeat cesarean. There is a growing movement of women standing up for their birthing rights!

The Blah.

So between getting a new RV and finding a new healthcare provider, I’ve been doing lots of stuff that some of you might find blah. Of course, I don’t find nesting, exercising, and preparing for baby blah but I realize a lot of people do.

Stuff like reading birth books (I’ll do a post about the best birth books later), researching strollers, and nesting in preparation for our baby nomad. We are getting excited. It sure is going to be different raising a baby in an RV with limited space. I’m looking forward to not having all sorts of baby crap that we don’t need laying around.

Along with the nesting and research, I’ve been practicing self-hypnosis using Hypnobabies. Hypnobabies believes in peaceful comfortable birthing. There is so much unnecessary fear surrounding birth, most of it put in place by our culture. It reminds me a lot of the standards of beauty women are expected to maintain. Like those standards, I don’t buy it. I’m retraining my thinking to believe that birth is  a beautiful, sensual, bonding, and peaceful experience.  As part of this preparation, I’m spending roughly 30-60 minutes a day practicing self hypnosis. Hypnosis is not what most people think. It’s not like the cartoons you saw as a kid or about losing control. In fact, all of us experience various states of hypnosis every day! It’s quite the time commitment but, not only are there some really great reviews online, I’ve had a few friends talk about how much they enjoyed their births almost pain free. Their stories were enough to convince me to give it a try. So I’ll let you know in a few weeks how my experience with Hypnobabies goes.

Speaking of baby, my last post I mentioned Thing 3 was breech. I’ve been doing Spinning Babies (told you some of this was boring) for the last few weeks and I’m pretty sure he has turned. Not only am I pretty certain I can feel his bum and legs in my ribs, yesterday I used my dad’s stethoscope and found his heartbeat at the bottom right. I even counted the beats and it was 138 bpm. While I’m sure my count was off, it’s close to the 140 bpm that the doctor had been recording at my last few appointments.  I have an appointment with my midwife this afternoon and hopefully she can tell me if I’m right!

Yesterday, I went to the chiropractor for the first time ever. I went to someone who is Webster certified. I have read good things about chiropractic care for optimal baby positioning. (There’s a lot of baby talk today!) Thing 2 was born posterior which means his face was facing up when he came out. Posterior, or “sunny side up”, babies often mean gnarly back labor for most women.  Typically, a baby is born anterior with his face facing the backbone of the mother. That way the smallest part of the head goes through the pelvis and the skull isn’t grinding against the spine. If possible (Pleeease Lord!) I’d love to avoid pushing out another posterior baby so I headed to the chiropractor. She said my sacrum was crooked which doesn’t surprise me after taking a very bad fall on my snowboard last winter. Again, I’ll let you know how it all goes after the birth.

33 weeks

34.5 weeks

Lastly, I’ve been keeping up with my workouts. I’m still doing 2-3 kettlebell workouts a week, a few days of yoga, and a decent length walk every day. I wish I could show you something exciting but really it’s just been about consistency. There have been no feats of strength or impressive numbers, just me and my kettlebell hanging out a few times a week.

Well there it is the good, the bad, and the blah.

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? Tried Hypnobabies? Worked out with kettlebells pregnant?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post The Good (New RV), The Bad (My Dr Got Cancer) and The Blah (The Rest) appeared first on Girl Heroes.

There have been so many changes as of late.

First, I found out I was pregnant. A TOTAL surprise.

Second,  we returned to our hometown, Ventura, CA, after two years of full time travel. While we were already pretty sure we were going to keep traveling before going back, we weren’t sure how being home would actually feel. We were open to the idea of staying if that was where we felt lead. As it turned out our gypsy hearts won out and we decided to stay on the road.

Third, in January I’m going start blogging for a company I’m super excited about! It’s not a health or fitness company, although I’m scheduled to do a little of that, but it’s a perfect fit.

Finally, we spontaneously sold our RV a week and a half ago! You can read the full story and see the RV makeover (before and after pictures) here. Better late, than never.

Oddly with all the changes, I’m feeling really chill which is not exactly my style. Something about my surprise pregnancy (and living on the road) has mellowed my out a bit. Admittedly, I was shocked and freaked out when I found out I was pregnant but knew I could either choose to embrace change or fight it. In the past, I’ve fought change tooth and nail and let me tell you change always wins. Always. Even if you think you’ve beat change you haven’t because you’ve missed out or delayed growth and opportunities. During this time of change I’m making a conscious effort to surrender and trust that’s it’s all going to work out for good.

It’s not always easy. I know. Finding out I was pregnant wasn’t the easiest news. My youngest child is 11. I spent my twenties taking care of little ones and now I’m going to spend my late thirties and forties doing the same thing. Brent and I thought we were going to send these guys off to college and pack up to travel the world. We still may but there will be another family member in tow and it will be good. Very good.

There are times I’m second guess our choice to stay on the road. Is it the best thing for our family? For Brent’s work? Brent works freelance and that, in and of itself, is riding a constant sea of change but you know what? It always works out one way or another. Our life isn’t conventional but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I questioned the timing of getting this new blogging job. But I believe we can make time when there is no time if it’s something we are passionate about and so I decided to go with it.

When we got the call about our flippantly posted Craiglslist ad as we were leaving Austin, I questioned whether we should stop and show the RV. Should we just keep going? We decided to stop and 30 minutes later agreed to sell it. For the next two days I questioned our decision. Then I decided to stop questioning and trust. After all we had already sold our home what could I do?

Now after packing our stuff up in a U-haul and making a mad dash from Texas to outrun the winter storm, we are at my parent’s place in south Florida looking for a new home on wheels. Looking for a doctor or midwife to deliver our new baby in a few months. Looking forward to the changes that will inevitably come.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Learning to Embrace Change… appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Deciding to stay on the road wasn’t an easy decision but I’m so glad we did! It feels so good to be moving and exploring again. In the last few weeks, we’ve traveled from California to Texas stopping to see cool places (even walked across the border to spend a day in Mexico) and spending time with friends.  I’m loving almost every minute of it. We are on our way to Florida where we’ll spend the winter exploring and early spring we’ll have our baby near Ft. Meyers if all goes as planned.

All the traveling explains (Along with my desire to stay in bed in the morning and cuddle with Brent…gotta enjoy that while I can!) my lack of blogging lately.

Here are some mostly food and fitness related glimpses from our life on the road lately. I’m saving our day in Mexico, Salvation Mountain, Saguaro National Park, and White Sands National Monument for my travel blog.

After spending over a month in our hometown area we headed south to Julian, California where we spent three days with my friend Deb. I met Deb through blogging almost four years ago and although she doesn’t blog anymore, we’ve built a true friendship. Not only have she and I maintained our friendship but it has grown to include my kids and our husbands. My kids just love her and her husband.

While there we went on a long and beautiful hike.

And out to a few dinners.

(Thanks for the pictures Debs!)

We also explored some local markets and stores.

Our next stop was near Yuma, Arizona. We stayed at a very mellow and nearly empty campground where I decided to get some sun on my growing baby bump.

Speaking of baby bumps, I took this a few mornings ago. My bump is still small but I decided I finally looked pregnant. I’m 21 weeks in the above picture. The next day at the grocery store a stranger said something about having a baby to me. I’m glad to be looking pregnant. It feels like I’m taking longer to show this pregnancy which is strange since I’m 11 years older than last time. I’m attributing it to being more in shape at 36 than 24. Thank you kettlebells!

After Yuma, we headed to New Mexico for a few days where I got in lots of steps climbing and playing on the dunes. By the way, I have reluctantly accepted that I’m not going to reach my goal of 3 million steps this year. It will be close but I decided I didn’t want to stress of reaching a number. Maybe next year.

Then we headed to Dallas where we spent a wonderful week with some of our friends who we spent the winter with snowboarding in Breckenridge. We hadn’t seen them since we say goodbye in Salt Lake City last May. While there I got in a few workouts.

One morning in Dallas, it was so cold I had to break out the Jack Skellington gloves.

I’ve been averaging 2-3 strength training workouts a week for the past month and I already feel much better.

Along with strength training, I just bought this DVD. So far I don’t like it as well as the Yoga Studio app but I don’t “dislike” it. I wanted something specific for pregnancy.  I’ll let you know how  I really like it once I’ve done all the routines.

Last but not least, I bought myself a gift with the birthday money I received back in August. A fancy pants blender!!!! I spent hours and HOURS reading reviews on Vitamix vs Blendtec and ended up going with the Blendtec. Costco had a good deal on one that came with the Wildside and Twister jars. I ordered it back in Ventura but had to wait until I got to my best friend’s house in Austin to get it. So far I’m liking it. I’ll try to write a full review after I have spent some more time using it.

Well that’s what’s been going on in a nutshell. What about you? Do you have a fancy pants blender? Have you ever been to White Sands?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Recent Glimpses from Life on the Road appeared first on Girl Heroes.

This morning I spent some time reading some fitness/healthy living blogs of friends who I have “known” for the last 3-5 years of blogging. I have not done this regularly for months and months. It made me nostalgic in a strange way for the time when I read blogs and interacted with bloggers almost every day.

It also made me want to come here and post because blogging has almost always been a very fulfilling hobby.

As we approach our 48th state and near our two year anniversary on the road we are facing some big decisions and life changes. I’ve been so preoccupied with traveling and schooling (we homeschool year round) that I haven’t made much time for myself. My workouts have been sporadic, internet not always reliable, and I find myself reluctant to go online much of the time.

Then this morning I realized how much I missed this space.

So I’m dropping in to say hello. I haven’t forgotten the state kettlebell workout series. I plan to follow through with those even if it takes me another year to finish editing because it’s not good for my self-esteem to start something only to quit halfway through. Something I’ve been known to do more than once.

Anyway all in well in my life. I’m enjoying my family more than I ever thought possible and while life on the road is challenging at times I can’t imagine having spent the last two years any other way.

I’m still doing yoga although it’s more like 5 times a week instead of every day like I had hoped. I’m also still working out with my kettlebells a few times a week with the intention of maintenance instead of pushing myself to be stronger, faster, or any other “more”. There is certainly a time and a place for that mentality but now is not the time for me. For a period of time working out was my life, or at least a huge part of it. Now it’s just something I do to live a more full life.

I workout to live not live to workout.

I’ve not been as good about taking pictures of workout locations lately but here are few of the food and fitness highlights from the last few weeks.

We stocked up at another another farmer’s market.

We picked over 8 pounds of organic raspberries and blueberries at the original Cascadian farms. The berries were $2.25 a pound! At that price, I will never be able to buy berries from a store again!

There have been hikes in the Cascade National Park, Olympic National Park and the Hoh Rainforest which is part of Olympic NP.

There was some yoga with Brent overlooking the Puget Sound.

Just to keep it real there has been yoga in the RV because there were too many mosquitoes outside.

What have you been up to lately?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Life Lately appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Roadside fruit stands, farmers markets, a raw milk drive-thru, espresso stands on corners even in the most rural towns, mountains, ocean.

Washington is a food and nature lovers paradise.

At least in the summer.

 Getting food this week has been a fun adventure!

There has been an abundance of Rainer cherries and berries galore.

We even found green tomatoes so I can make one of our favorite summer recipes, fried green tomatoes.

After leaving the farmers market we saw a sign for raw milk.

We haven’t bought raw milk since we lived in CA because, while I’m all for raw milk, I’m a little cautious.

We decided to check it out and drove up to a window where the girl told us about the raw milk and the farm’s testing procedures.

So we bought some.

It was expensive but I love to support local farmers when we can.

Especially a farmer who I would consider a freedom fighter.

To top off a wonderful week of food experiences, we bought our eggs from a nearby help-yourself egg stand.

 We  bought the last of the eggs and had the responsibility of following the directions to turn the “sold out” sign around.

However, I can’t say much about my gym this week.

Our campsites have been pretty blah and I didn’t take out the time to search out any beautiful places to workout. I just got it done wherever we were parked.

Any interesting food discoveries in your area? Do you have a farmers market near you? How do you feel about raw milk?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Washington ROCKS with Rainier cherries, Raw milk, and Rural Coffee Stands. appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I workout with leaves, dirt, and bugs.

I’ll take a beetle crawling across my toes over a stinky sweat drenched bench. Hypothetically anyway.

Yes, nature is my gym.

The last few weeks have gifted us with some of the best nature has to offer.

Here are the highlights minus all the biking and hiking we’ve done.

In Yellowstone National Park, I had a perfect spot to set up my rope right outside my door. There was also plenty of space for my pull up bar and kettlebells.

It rained a few days while we were there so I brought my workout inside. The RV rocks with a lot of movement and the space is small so there were no ballistic movements like swings but there is (barely) enough room for turkish get ups, squats, presses, and rows.

With the rain came an impressive display of clouds. Brent and I did some yoga together on this little dock overlooking Madison River.

During our yoga practice our hands touched so I insisted we recreate and capture the moment. Yeah, it’s a little dorky. Oh well.

More yoga in Yellowstone.

After Yellowstone we headed over to rural Wyoming to stay with a childhood friend who I’ve known since kindergarten. She lives at the foot of the Big Horn Mountain Range. Unfortunately, I didn’t properly warm up on my first morning there and I hurt my back (nothing major…it’s better now) during my kettlebell workout. So I took the week off. However, my friend and I went to yoga at her gym every morning. We rode our bikes on days class started at 6:45 am The days it started at 5:45 am we drove. I’m the slacker not her. She got up early every morning regardless to feed her horse and goats!

Finally, we made it to Glacier National Park. Brent and I found the perfect secluded spot a short walk away from our campsite for more yoga.

More than once I practiced while the boys or Brent swam in the lake.

It was hot in Glacier and the sun doesn’t set until around 9:30 pm so we went to the lake for late evening swims and yoga.

I haven’t abandoned my kettlebells for yoga. Yoga just makes prettier pictures and frankly my body needs all the extra stretching and relaxing. However, by the time we got to Glacier my back had recovered so there were more kettlebell workouts. Here is a sneak peak at my Montana kettlebell workout location. I think it may be the most stunning location place yet.

On somewhat related note, some of you might be curious as to how we make our living traveling full time. It may look like we are on a perpetual vacation (I wish) but that is far from the truth. The reality is Brent works very hard to support our simple but fun nomadic lifestyle and we didn’t grow our business overnight. (Like fitness there aren’t any magic pills…just a lot of hard work, consistency, and commitment.) If you would like to know more about how we got to the point of being able to travel fulltime, our friends from Gone With the Wynns just posted an interview with him called Make Money and Travel. If you are interested in full time travel yourself they are a great resource.

Well that’s about it. I’m really going to try to get another kettlebell workout video edited over the weekend. I just filmed my 45th workout but I’m still editing workout number 30-something.

Do you prefer working out outdoors, at home inside, or at the gym? Would you ever consider traveling full time? You won’t hurt my feelings if you think we are crazy! The nomadic life certainly isn’t for everyone.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Nature Is My Gym (And How We Make Money and Travel) appeared first on Girl Heroes.

My connectivity has been the pits as of late.

It has made posting next to impossible.

However, when you leave the conveniences of civilization you gain another perspective.

It’s a worthy trade off in my opinion.

This was my gym for a week.

Then we spent a few days in the Tetons.

Yesterday morning, I filmed my Wyoming kettlebell workout on Jackson Lake with the Tetons towering in the background. I’ll get around to editing that next year.

My lack of connectivity has freed up time for other activities as well. I started playing with the idea of taking up yoga a few months ago. Last month, I started practicing a few times a week but quickly saw how much my body needed to stretch and relax. Soon I found myself wanting to do yoga every day.

This was my view from last night’s yoga practice.

I love feeling small. It’s makes me feel so alive. So free. So close to God.

Anyway I’m feeling the benefits of consistent stretching in a big way physically and, without getting all “woo woo”, spiritually. Sometimes my mind runs in worried circles and physically relaxing my body and focusing on God is helping me to let go of my worries and perceived inadequacies. I certainly can experience this through regular prayer time but doing yoga is helping me to physically relax in a big way.

Since I’m enjoying yoga so much I’ve set myself a new goal, a summer yoga challenge. June through August I’m committing to do yoga every day if only for 15 minutes. I intend to keep up with my regular strength training workouts although I may shorten them a tad. While I know that going to a yoga teacher would be best I don’t have that option right now so I’m using a yoga app that I found and love. It’s called Yoga Studio. I also took some pictures of my favorite poses so I can compare them at the end of the summer and hopefully I’ll see some improvement in my flexibility.

Do you do yoga? If so,  as a stand alone or in addition to strength training?  What are the benefits in your experience? Any online classes or apps you would recommend? 

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post A Workout with a View appeared first on Girl Heroes.