The Land of Mañana

IThe urgency so many of us get use to in our daily lives, the I've got to have it now, I need it done yesterday, the pressure to constantly go, go, go. . . You know what I'm talking about. It is one of the things I wanted to escape. I wanted to change the pace of our family and my lack of ability to let it all go and just be in the moment. It is no easy task. Fortunately the place we decided to move to is known for being "The Land of Mañana". The pace out here and the expectations are completely contrary to anything I've ever experienced. In their mind there is always tomorrow and it is more important to take you time, enjoy life, and get to it tomorrow. People slow down, enjoy nature, enjoy meals together more, place less pressure on their kids, take time to meditate, to hang out on the plaza and listen to music while socializing .  

Perfect example of this way of life: My Mom and I stopped at a cafe to grab lunch. First of all, it was a charming place and you felt like you were walking into a house out of the 1950's. There was one woman waiting on everyone and running the register and one woman cooking all the food from scratch. There was one more woman who appeared to be in her 90's sitting in a pink ulpostered chair taking it all in. The waitress brought us menus after about 5 minutes and told us she'd be right back. Most tables were shared between different parties and one particular patron was an author working on something he needed to send to his publisher. He was quite talkative and a colorful character. After we placed our order she informed us there were several other orders in front of ours so it would be a little while. This is just the way it was, she was attentive but there was no hurry. The whole process took over an hour. It is strange and upsetting to most who are new to the area but you gradually learn to accept it and use the slower pace to your advantage. It can be frustrating if you are "in a hurry" but then you have to remember you are in the Land of Mañana. 

I'm learning; I'm trying to keep letting go. To live in the imperfect moments and truly enjoy each moment for what it is. In theory it's great in practice is is very hard. But I just do the best I can and which all we really can do. There is definitely a balance between getting it done and living in the land of tomorrow but I think most of us could use a little more of the latter. 

I'm a failure. . .

A blogging failure. I honestly have the best of intentions but then life happens and I'm living it. I had my Mother's Day blog ready to publish, complete with pictures but my computer crashed as I was about to hit publish. I neglected my kids and house to get it ready, and then "poof" it was gone. After that, I didn't want to face the computer for a while, so I didn't.

Instead I've been trying to enjoy every moment and soak it all up, because life it pretty amazing. However, it is hard because we are away from most of our friends and family and they want to know what we've been up to, so I will try to do better. It may not be pretty but I'll try to throw up some pictures of our adventure and some narration.

Life has continued to be pretty simple ( as simple as it can be with 5 kids aged 7 months to 11 years) and we've got some other big changes we are going to be pursuing( more on that later). One of my favorite parts about simplifying our house and getting rid of a lot of belongings is how much easier it is to keep it clean! AND I'm STILL working on this. We still have too much! It is crazy how much you have and how easy it is to accumulate.

So what have we been doing?

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On Mother's Day we hiked to a natural hot spring along the Rio Grande and soaked. Initially we got lost but then found the correct path and descended down into the gorge 500 feet with the crew. It was a perfect Mother's Day gift and all I wanted. We are going to focusing on experiences for "gifts" rather than things from now on.

The following weekend we toured the Enchanted Circle to look for wildlife and soak up the views. We ended up seeing elk, antelope, a bald eagle, deer and big horn sheep along with amazing views, so I'd say it was a success.

Wheeler Peak

In Eagles Nest

Palisades in Cimarron

A herd of Elk in the tree

Big Horn Sheep

Finished our tour with dinner with Wayne and Nora

Memorial Day Weekend we took a quick jaunt up to Colorado Springs, where we visited The Royal Gorge Bridge, Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs and a quick drive by the Olympic Training Center.

Royal Gorge Bridge

View looking down from bridge - Over 1,000 feet down!

We got caught in a thunderstorm and had to walk a mile back down instead of riding the gondola because of lightening. Quite the memory!

 

Garden of the God

Simply Amazing!

Lu's Favorite thing was to jump down the steps. Thankfully G is pretty good at keeping up with her.

Balancing Rock

Pikes Peak

A lot of snow on top. They only had 13 of the 19 miles open. It started snowing harder while at Mile 13 and the ranger made everyone go back because the roads were becoming icy. It is definitely not a road you want to be on while it's slick.

G at the entrance of the training center

After that we headed east to Indiana to visit family driving 15 hours on our first leg. Yes, our kids are Road Warriors! We spent 5 days with family and enjoyed every minute. Sometimes you just have to pick up and go if you can.

The day after we got home Honey and Pops arrived and we have been sightseeing nonstop! More on that in my next post. Hopefully I can stay caught up.

 

We are loving it here and if you get  a chance to visit come on out!

Let's try this again . . .

 

From Shawn:

Six years ago today Tiffany and I were legally acknowledged as married by the great state of Tennessee. Our kids, Gunner and Paisley, stood by our side as her Dad officiated the family-only ceremony in a local Nashville park. Our family of four has grown to seven with the addition of Lachlan, Talulah and Carrig. We’ve always talked about creating a family blog to document our journey. I am gifting this introduction of our blog to my beautiful wife as her anniversary gift. Many people might question this as a gift, but I know she will treasure it. She is the center of our family and the love of my life. I knew since our first date that we shared many beliefs and desires on how to live our lives. Our family is our world. This blog will be filled with past stories to help you understand how we went from the classic American family to one that creates opportunities to live a richer, more fulfilling life. This blog will also be filled with current stories, many written by our children, to document the upcoming year in our life. Last weekend we sold or gave away half of our belongings, packed up the rest in a 6’x12’ trailer and towed it behind our 12-passenger family van to the mountains of Taos, New Mexico. Our plan is to live in the mountains for the next six months and then spend a winter on the beaches of Florida. We don’t know where it will go from there, but intend to share all sides of our life through this blog: the exciting events, the struggles and the simple pleasures.

 

From Tiff:

Back to trying our hand at blogging after our lives came to an abrupt halt March 10.  

 

Simply 7 is a blog to share our family adventures and what like it is like as we try to simplify living in today's world with 5 kids.

 

There is nothing simple about 5 kids but it is our goal to make it as simple as possible and focus on what we want out of life. I already felt strongly about this before my sudden cardiac arrest on March 10 but afterward it magnified that feeling 100 times. I almost wasn't here to watch my children grow up, to experience the various stages they will go through, to build more memories with them. In an instant that was almost all gone.  My desire to embrace each day, and to let go of all the things that don't matter whether it be emotions, pressures I place on myself, or physical things is going to be my top priority.

 

This is all we left home with!

 

The Magician's Here!

My great Uncle, The Magician, showed up two days ago. He’s from Indiana. He showed me a box that he could open, but I couldn’t open it! The box is clear and red so I can see a dollar in it.  Paisley could open it, too. It made me so mad! I looked it up on YouTube after I got back.  

 

It was so easy! I can’t believe I couldn’t do it!

He also showed me the 3 ball! The 3 ball trick is where he puts a ball in his hand and one in my hand and two come out of my hand!  I couldn’t figure the trick out!

 

 

 

 I’m going to swim and do more magic tricks today!
Gunner



Fun Family Day

Today was cool at the beach. At eight o'clock me and my family did a twenty minute work out. It was fun and hard. It was fun to do it with my family, including Honey and Pops! After that me, my dad and my brother went on a two mile run. On the run I looked for shells. I found some, picked them up really fast and carried them in my hood. Then when we got back we went to my Grandma and Grandpa's condo. They had just got done with their breakfast. My two brothers, my sister and I stayed there for a little bit. It was fun to hang out over there for a while.

I went back to my condo and a little bit later I went on a walk with  my other grandma, Honey. It was fun because we looked for shells the whole time. That's why it was fun! I also found starfish!

After that we all played on the beach. We dug holes to layout in, had long jump contest, threw football and ate a picnic.

I took Honey and Pops geocaching for the first time and we found 4 caches! Then me and my mom went on a walk. It was peaceful because it was just me and her. We got back, had dinner and played cards!  It was a fun day with my family.


Paisley

Seeing Winter and Hope

This week we got to go to Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The car ride on the way there was ok. However, the last 5 minutes were awful because my baby brother was screaming his head off.  When we got to the hotel everyone was very hungry. After we ate everyone was happy. The next day we drove 45 minutes; it was ok. Everyone was good in the car and that made me happy. When we got to the aquarium it was fun to see Winter and Hope. Winter was so cool. It was neat to see her do tricks. Hope had to get a shot and she did a head stand in the water so the trainer could grab her tale and give her the shot. It was cool to see.

Next we went behind the scenes. It was cool to see. While we were back there the rescue truck was out rescuing an animal. We hade a chance to see it come back, but it didn't get back before we had to go. Bummer! Still it was cool. They told us about how the aquarium become an aquarium. They explained who started it and I think it was cool that it was originally a water treatment plant. Next they told us about sea turtles. They have green sea turtles there and the reason they are green is because they only eat algae and sea plants so it turns their fat green. Then they told us about otters. Otters can swim up to 8 miles an hour! I thought that was amazing! 

After that we rode on a trolley to get to the behind the movies making exhibit. I liked to see the things they used in the movie and the clothes the actors wore. There was the hurricane part in the move and they had an exhibit that was the  house. It was designed just like the house in the movie and you went inside the house.  The first part of it wasn't scary but the second part of it was very scary. It felt just like you were in the hurricane and it was very loud. It frightened me, but I went through the house again. What was I thinking! I was crazy to go in there again. If I was you, I would just stick with one time going in there, but if you do want to go again, go for it. It was scary but that made it fun.

Then it was time to go home. On the way home it was ok. Everyone was good. but the most annoying thing was my 4 year old (almost 5 year old) brother asking how many more minutes every minute for almost 6 hours! It was so annoying! We didn't get back to the condo until ten o'clock, I was tired. I slept in the car for maybe one and half hours,  but still I was tired. When we got to the condo I went to bed.



That was my story about going to see Winter and Hope. I hope you liked my story. If you did read it, thank you for reading it.

Paisley