There are few times during the year when our family is not together. We are accustomed to being together so when one of us is gone for 2 or more days, it is out of the ordinary. When I was hired for Automattic, I knew that part of the job included traveling a few times
Author: Ben Chilcote
The end of October is a very busy time for our family. In the span of 6 days, we celebrate Dad and EC’s birthdays, CJ’s adoption day, EB’s adoption day and Halloween! Lots of special meals, gifts, and decorations. We have developed some traditions for Halloween. The past few years we have gone out for an
As it turns out, there is an inherent problem with starting a blog about being too busy to write a blog. I have not written a post in a few months. Have you ever felt like you were pushing a boulder up a hill? You make a bit of progress and when you stop to take a
2015 was a transitional year for me. I changed careers after 11 years in full-time ministry. Once it begain, the transition seemed to span most of the year. While things unfolded before me, the path leading up to the transition seemed to extend behind me – revealing that this was some time in the making. In the
After 11 years in full-time ministry, one collects many important books. One also collects many seemingly important books. After the books sat in our storage room in the same boxes they arrived in 8 months before, I decided it was time to get them out of here. I took the books from my old office, combined
Back in late 2008, I was introduced to internet business and I started learning about various ways how people make money online. I soon began building my own websites and experimented with internet marketing and small online business ideas. Years later, in early 2014, I heard about Amazon’s FBA program and the success ordinary people
As a parent, have you ever wondered how in the world your house has accumulated so many toys? We sure have. In fact, we ask this question on a regular basis. Especially in December when the inflow of toys tends to increase. We try to regularly donate old toys and (secretly) throw out broken toys, but it seems to
When we set out, we did not plan to have a family that was outside the mold. However, it all started when two adventurous people got married, enjoyed a bit of life together and decided to start a family. And the Lord said let there be children After about 9 months of, well, no luck,
Not much to write about our final day. We woke up, ate, packed up, and drove home. Here are a few pics and videos from our final day. Videos! Driving through St. Louis Crossing into Indiana – almost home! Crossing into Ohio. Arriving home! What the van looked like
Woke up, packed up, ate up, and drove out Drove a few hours to Mansfield Missouri to Rocky Ridge Farm – final home of Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder Took a tour of the home, preserved as it was since the 1950s. (no photos were allowed) Drove a mile away to the home Rose Wilder had
We had no plans in Oklahoma except to drive across it. Woke up in Texas, ate, swam, loaded up and headed out Drove across the rest of Texas into Oklahoma (there was no sign on the road welcoming us to Oklahoma – c’mon Oklahoma, have some hospitality!) Stopped at McDonalds to eat lunch and let
Woke up, ate breakfast, cleaned up, checked out Got to see a good deal of Las Vegas, the actual town, while making a trip to Trader Joe’s before heading on our way Drove less than an hour to Hoover Dam On the way in, we didn’t pass security – they had to take a peek
Usual routine – wake up, eat breakfast, pack up, head out After a while we started to realize that we were driving through the Mohave desert The land grew more desert-like and somewhat mountainous Stopped at a rest area and marveled at the 94 degree heat Finally made it to the big city in the
Thursday – Spend the day in San Francisco Woke up and had breakfast, loaded up Filled up the gas tank Drove in morning commuter traffic Noticed orchards Crossed Golden Gate Bridge (paid the night before online) Followed 101 into town Drove down Lombard Street Found parking spot Walked Pier 39, saw Sea Lions Waited
The plan for this location was to get as close to San Francisco as possible – in order to spend the entire day there. Woke up in Bandon Oregon, ate breakfast, went swimming while dad packed up the van Walked across the street to the hotel’s private beach entrance and played at the beach one