Large Family Thanksgiving in a motorhome
Hi there, I appreciate you stopping by my blog today.
Now, while I usually write about homeschooling and other mom life stuff, it wouldn’t be complete without writing about our trips, vacations, and activities we do as a family, and in our case, a large family.
So, this post today will be about our family of 11, 2 cats and a dog, taking a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving.
While I try to post weekly, I also had my 30th wedding anniversary early this month.
So, I have been a busy mama and wifey, trying to juggle all those activities back-to-back.
I am glad things are going to slow down now for a while. We just finished our Christmas church dinner and program, and this weekend is Christmas.
I really love this time of year. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year.
However, this is me slowing down.
Anyways, I want to talk about our Thanksgiving vacation.
We had a wonderful time.
Though we should be thankful every day, Thanksgiving gives us time to reflect on the many blessings God has given us.
When we got there, we all met at my mother-in-law’s house. It was a full house and a special time we all had together.
When you don’t live close to each other, you really must cherish the time you have when you see each other.
It truly is a blessing from the Lord.
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Getting the Gang to Together
Getting all the family together is always the fun part.
You need to be on everyone’s work schedule, college schedule, and whatever other things the fam has going on in their life.
One thing for sure, you don’t have to worry about your school schedule if you’re homeschooling.
Likewise, one of the nice things about taking a vacation at any time during the year, you don’t have to get permission to go on your trip.
You can plan and work around your family schedule.
Packing for 11 People
The secret to packing for 11 people is lists.
Although it’s not a secret at all, it’s just list, list, list.
Maybe you are a list maker. However, if you’re not, you surely need to be with a large family.
This is how I keep up with everything. Either paper lists and planners, digital lists, or planners and apps. Lots of apps.
I don’t know how I would get everything done without planning in advance.
That is key! I can’t stress that enough.
What to Pack
Depending on where you are going on vacation, depends on what you need to pack.
Since getting our motorhome this year, we already have it packed with games such as corn hole, horseshoes, ring toss, and more.
This made for a lot of fun when we got to my mother-in-law and hooked up with the rest of the family.
The kids all loved the games and had a great time.
Nevertheless, we packed inside games, coloring books, and a computer to watch movies on the road.
Of course, you need to pack your clothes. It’s important to check the weather where you are going.
When we left, it was in the ’20s here. However, we were heading to Florida, where it would be warmer this year. So, we needed to pack lighter jackets for there and heavier ones for when we left.
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Since we had already packed food for the trip, that saved time and money. Besides, stopping at fast-food restaurants in an RV is tricky.
Since the pandemic, restaurants don’t always have the option to walk in and order, and you can’t go through the drive-thru with a motorhome.
We found that out on the way back from our trip where we decided on fast-food to go at Wendy’s.
A couple of my boys and I had to walk up and order in the drive-thru. You could imagine how crazy I felt standing there behind cars, waiting for them to take our order.
Moral of the story. Always plan with food onboard if you are going to travel in an RV.
Traveling Adventures
So, we are on the road by 2:57 a.m.
Kids are excited and wide awake. They were looking forward to our trip to Florida to see the family and enjoy Thanksgiving together.
We left early in the morning, hoping to arrive sooner. At least that was the plan.
It always feels like it takes longer to go somewhere when you are so excited to get there, but it seems quicker going home.
Have you ever had that experience?
We were riding down the road, when “what was that noise”?
If you guessed a flat tire. You guessed right. There we were, just before 5:00 a.m. with a flat tire.
You all, there isn’t much open at that time in the morning.
We had to wait an hour for the Home Depot to open to get the supplies we needed. While the guys were putting a spare on the motorhome. The kids, my daughter-in-law and I wandered around Home Depot to keep warm.
I’m not kidding when I say it took us about five and a half hours to get back on the road.
It took the tire shop a while to get our tires replaced and for us to get back on the road.
However, we were back on the road and ready to roll.
We finally made it: 11 people, two cats, and one dog in a motorhome. A lot later than we expected, but we had arrived safely.
When we got there, my sons had to get on top of the motorhome and trim tree branches around my mother-in-law’s circular driveway, and they were able to make it fit.
Now that we had made it, we could enjoy our time together and make memories we would cherish for a lifetime.
We had 16 members of my family together for Thanksgiving and, because of our motorhome, we were all able to stay at the same place. It was a wonderful time.
My husband and I spent Thanksgiving with his mom, all 8 of our children, two children in-laws, and three grandbabies.
It was a wonderful time.
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Our pontoon ride with 16 people
The next day we went on a pontoon boat, all of us together. That was great too.
I was kind of surprised that we could fit 16 people on one pontoon boat. We did, though, and it was a beautiful day on the river.
Seeing the wildlife on the river
We saw an alligator and a manatee swim very close to the boat. I have added those pictures.
They had to raise the bridge for us to get through. That was something cool for the kids to see.
All and all, we had a great time on our vacation to Florida for Thanksgiving.
After a fun-filled time being there. We all loaded back up in our RV and headed home. This was our first trip traveling with that many people in our motorhome. I think all and all; it was a very fun adventure in and of itself.
What kind of adventures have you had with your family that are memorable to you?
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalm 100
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