Who We Are
We are Richard, Karen, Zachary, Zoriah, Zoe, & Zinnia a full-time adventuring family. We live, work, and school on the road and the water. (Ok, not on the water yet, but that will happen.... at some point).
Richard
The dad, the fun one, the person in our house who makes all the money and takes the longest showers. (Although Zachary is giving him a run for his money). Seriously, he can spend half an hour just basking in the warmth that is the water. Richard runs his business from all over the place. He figured out that if we have ALL the internets, we can always have internet. which is useful, because without internet, he can't get any work done. And that would make my job (the cooking food thing, and the educating children thing) much more difficult. Ok, Impossible. Groceries for six people aren't cheap. He is basically magic. He has made a lot of money for a lot of people, and those people pay him to make them more money..... That's the only way I can explain what he does. AND in all of that, he still has time to do awesome stuff like teach our son that touching fish isn't the worst and carry our daughters (even the big one) around like they're airplanes.
Karen
Hey, that's me! I'm the mom, the wife, the chick in the videos who has the crazy hair and is generally seen carrying one of the smaller humans. I am Mr Darcy's version of an "accomplished woman" (as told by Miss Bingley... but we won't get into that.) I'm the one who educates our children. I take them on nature walks. I make sure they get their schoolwork done and coach them through the horrors of 4th grade biology (seriously, we had to find, and PIN a BUG!!!!). I also create the smaller people's curriculum (What, preschool is fun). I write stories. Teach language, make art, dole out stickers, fix boo-boos, and make toys. I also cook, clean, (teach my small people how to clean so they're not useless as adults), organize our whole tiny house and am in a constant state of "decluttering". I'm a stay at home mom who takes her home on adventures with her.
Zachary
Zachary: The oldest, the only boy, the falcon enthusiast, and my most useful minion. He's the one who will remember even the beginnings of our Adventure when we were still figuring out HOW to do what we wanted to do. He's an awesome big brother to his little sisters (as is evidenced by the fact that our youngest prefers him to me sometimes). He does archery, folds paper airplanes, climbs anything that will sit still long enough and counts down the days until he can start his falconry apprenticeship. He is also the absolutely excellent answer to the question "but how are your homeschooled kids going to be socialized?" Seriously, give that boy five minutes and he'll be your best friend, ask you about your life story, and give you his.
Zoriah
Zoriah means Princess. And she totally lives up to her name. She is the one with the HAIR! She is our "homebody." she would prefer to snuggle in her bunk and work on whatever crochet project she's come up with, but once out in the wild, will adventure with the best of them. She's our engineer. Present the girl with a physical problem and she will be the one who figures it out the fastest and with the most workable solution. She loves those little metal puzzles where you have to get the two pieces apart and back together. She might be a little dyslexic, but her grades are pretty good and she's got one of the kindest hearts you'll ever meet.... unless you're one of her little sisters. But they totally deserve it.
Zoe
Another child we named well as her name means "LIFE!" Her catchphrase seems to be "best day ever" and if she were a Pony she'd be Pinky Pie Through and Through (what, I'm a geek, MLP rocks!). Zoe was only 6 months old when we started this crazy adventure so she's grown up on the road meeting new people and seeing new things almost her whole life. She has an uncanny ability to wrap people around her little fingers. Her favorite pastimes seem to include annoying her big sister and hugging.
Zinnia
Four children and I finally get to name one after a flower. She's the baby and she seems to think that this means she is in charge of life. (She's not entirely wrong). She was born on the road so she's never even known what it would be like to stay in one spot. In most of the videos, she's in a carrier, but has recently started setting out on her own and is as avid a rock-climber as her older siblings. This has freaked out some of the other moms on hiking trails, but the girl is basically velcro. When she wants to stick to something, she's good at it. Her current occupations include: stealing her sister's toys, building stacks of blocks and buckets, and filling containers with whatever she can find.
Zippy
The floof-ball of doom! And by doom, we mean cuteness. Seriously, I'd never had a poodle before and didn't realize just how adorable they were. He's a little skitish around new people sometimes, so he doesn't go with us a LOT, but loves it every time we do. OH, and he's got pretty pretty ribbons from dog shows. (We show him in Rally which is like Obedience without being too strict.) He's my escape from the kids when I need a break. He's the extra blanket when we run out of propane and it dips into lower temperatures. Having a dog on the road isn't always the easiest, but we love him and he's obsessed with me. So it works out.
So, yeah, that's us. We live in a 40 ft RV named Rachel Verde and have visited almost every state in the contiguous US. We're planning on getting the northern (read 'cold') states next summer, and then we will be off to see what new adventures we can find. So join us virtually. You'll see us break down, find new things, meet new friends, cuddle furry creatures, and have the adventure of a lifetime (literally Zinna's whole lifetime).