Rock On Living

Welcome

Happy Fall!

“Our goal should be to live in radical amazement, {to} get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” – Abraham J. Heschel (1907-72)
If you are new to our site, welcome! Pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and let’s get to know one another!
Our family just returned from an adventure of a life time! We cruised around the Mediterranean and visited the bedrock of what we believe of civilization and everything sacred and holy. All our adventures change us, but this one hit different – at my core. I normally give a day-by-day  of the places we visit, but this one has called to my soul different – a whisper – what did this experience teach you? show you? please share that…
Rock On Living (ROL) is a space carefully designed to curate content that nourishes, inspires and cultivates intentional living. We promote exquisite personal self-care and celebrate inspired living. Please take a moment to look around the site and what speaks to your heart! There is information on traveling with a family, secularly homeschooling children through high school and personal writings. Our family takes risks and values growth. If you are thinking about making change in your life, however big or small, our hope is to become a member of your tribe to support you and give you the confidence to go for it!
Consider signing up for notifications from the ROL blog below and hop on over and join me on my daily walks on Instagram @rockonliving where I post an image each day that makes me smile, or as many of you know, a “Morning Walk Delight!”  
Vickie  xo

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Our Home

In 2014, Quinn and I downsized. We moved our family of five onto a property with some of our extended family to multigenerational live in Raleigh, NC. This lifestyle has allowed our daughters to have daily access to their grandparents and Aunt & Uncle. This change also simplified each family’s time, energy and money spent on maintaining individual homes. This lifestyle  decision has allowed me to retire from  my nursing career and  home educate our three girls. It has also given us the ability to take our girls on some awesome World-Schooling Adventures!

 

Years homeschooled

years MARRIED

COUNTRIES VISITED

NUMBER OF COFFEE MUGS

About Our Logo

The Rockonliving Family has a tradition of taking a family jump picture at the end of our adventures. One of our favorite spots in our home is our travel wall! It is a collection of all our family jump pictures that greets us right outside our bedroom door every morning. We took one of our family selfies from Maine and had it digitalized for our logo! Join us in the family jump tradition and tag me on the IG @rockonliving so we can share in the joy of travel and adventure together!  

 

A Morning Walk in Winter

A Morning Walk in Winter

Walk in Winter Most days, when I take my Morning Walk Delight, I send out the following question to whomever it is that does the listening, “what message do you have for me today?” Most times, she answers me in ways that make me not only feel comforted and heard, but...

Our Week – October 9th –                        A Season of Reflection

Our Week – October 9th – A Season of Reflection

Lots of Time for Reflection now that all our kiddos are in high school and college. Here is sweet Miko in our early days of freedom to do what we wished with our days and time. Bravewriter Book Reveal Preparations for 2022-23 Read Aloud! I put clues on back of wrapped...

Costa Rica, Tamarindo

Costa Rica, Tamarindo

Family Jumpy Pic (minus one) As always, Miko creates the family a packing list for our adventures! She makes copies for everyone and places them on our beds to help us get our acts together! See below for her recommendations for this trip! We will unpack what we would...

Iceland – Day Four – Christmas Eve & Northern Lights

Iceland – Day Four – Christmas Eve & Northern Lights

Christmas Eve! Christmas Eve Lunch in Reykjavik - note the Christmas lights in window! We woke up to the excitement of Christmas Eve bubbling in Reykjavik. Many families and people out and about in town celebrating, shopping and preparing for Christmas morning. We...

Iceland – Day Three

Iceland – Day Three

Vatnajokull Glacier, Iceland After a cozy slumber in our Iceland hotel, we woke early to get on the road to the excursions planned for the day - hiking into a glacier cave and then a winter visit of Iceland's Black Diamond Beach. We were able to keep our window...

Iceland – Day Two

Iceland – Day Two

Iceland is about 18-25 millions year old. Sounds pretty impressive, right? So you may be surprised to hear it is actually one of the youngest countries in the world! Iceland lies where the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean meet. Iceland is sparsely inhabited,...

What We are Reading in September:

Quinn: Be Water, My Friend – The Teachings of Bruce Lee by Shannon Lee. Quinn isn’t a huge book reader but is taking his time simmering on content of this thoughtful book gifted to him by one of his generous clients. “Bruce Lee’s daughter illuminates her father’s most powerful life philosophies, demonstrating how martial arts are a perfect metaphor for personal growth and how we can practice these teachings every day.”

Vickie: The Electricity of Every Living Thing – A Woman’s Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home by Katherine May. This is my second book by this author. The first, Enchantment, is lovingly displayed on my book of special close to my heart reads. In this book Katherine brings the reader on her walks to understand herself and her discovery of surprisingly being an undiagnosed adult on the Autistic Spectrum and all the implications of that in her life, from her personal experience of living, to her marriage and motherhood. Her honesty is appreciated in our social media age where we tend to mostly see only the glossy, picture-perfect, filtered aspects of our lives. “I sometimes feel as though social relationships are nothing more than a precarious set of plates that I have to spin, and I’m bad at it. People seem to want so much more of my attention than I have to spare.” 

Kayah: Discourse on Colonialism by Aime Cesaire. Kayah is a sophomore in college and just finished this book for one of her courses. The timing of this course/read was in the backdrop of the Queen’s death and juxtaposes with the book I am reading. She feels the book allowed for some in depth exploration of the darker side of colonialism. Here is one the quotes from the author who is a black French writer in the 1950’s – when Queen Elizabeth was just a few years shy of her ascension to the throne.  “No one colonizes innocently, that no one colonizes with impunity either; that a nation which colonizes, that a nation that justifies colonization – and therefore force – is already a sick nation, a civilization which is morally diseased.”

Kira: Self Love Poetry by Melody Godfred. This little treasure of a book was gifted to Kira by a dear family friend and contains wisdom to remember the most important relationship one will ever have, the one with themselves. “If putting everyone else’s needs first hasn’t worked, there is another option…” 

Miko:   Avatar: The last Airbender and Philosophy by Helen De Cruz & Johan De Smedt. It’s mixing pop culture and philosophy, taking lessons from philosophy in the show and translating it to how to solve real world current problems. It’s a collaboration of 32 authors, philosophers, and others that all bring a different take on the different types of philosophies in the show – native indigenous philosophy (2 indigenous collaborators), the philosophies of eastern religion – such as Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, and many more philosophical types. Miko shared she has just started it, but is “super excited to keep reading!” 

Family Read Aloud: We are finishing The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and are all enjoying it very much! Like most of the beloved classic childhood books, at times a little shocked by the intensity!  At a time when our children are launching into their young adulthoods, the quote “There’s No Place Like Home…” squeezes this Mama’s heart a little more than usual.

 

Our Upcoming Trips

Reveal coming soon...

 

Countdown to next Adventure!

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Vickie & Quinn’s Top 5 Traveling Tips with Children on a Budget!

1. Sign up for a Credit Card that rewards Travel Miles! A long time ago, before we even had children or traveled, we signed up with American Airlines and over decades have accumulated so many miles we rarely ever “buy” airline tickets. Many times, your flight oversees is the most expensive part of your travels! Let your credit card work for you!

2. Cook! Other than a few places in Italy, we rarely eat out on our adventures and save that cash for excursions! We try to rent houses/apartments with full kitchens and nice big tables and use dinners as a time to unpack our day and connect. You can buy food local, take your time and save a lot of money! I always bring some nice napkins from home in my suitcase. Also, if we are celebrating a holiday or birthday while we are there I include special items to have on hand that are easy to pack and put that extra touch of home-away. Having a kitchen and cooking also saves you much to get out and enjoy your day!

3. Bring home new traditions or items to integrate into your daily living, not “souvenirs or trinkets.” For example, after traveling to Italy, we try not to buy coffee “on the go” any longer and sit down, and enjoy my coffee, in a real mug. (Ask a barista in Italy for a coffee to go and they will look at you like “why would you do such a thing?”) In France, chilled glass refillable water bottles were used on tables for water. When we returned from Paris, we bought these exact type water bottles and have used them for years on our table for dinner. They feel and remind of us of our special time in Europe. (When our kids were young, “buying cheap stuff” was ALWAYS a priority for them, but as they have grown up, they save their cash for only really special items.)

4. Sign up for a Travel Site that sends out weekly alerts/deals. We use TravelZoo. Many times Quinn will use the deal to build our own trip for less money and longer/better itinerary. Always consider traveling to your dream location during their off season, many times it is not only more enjoyable with less crowds, but usually less expensive as well!

5. Say NO to “stuff” now so you can say “YES” to experiences later. You get such a small window of time with your children, make the memories while you can! The house, the new car, you fill in the blank,can wait! As Quinn would say, “Make it Happen!” Many people have a desire to travel but they tell themselves that they can’t. If you start with the premise that you can and will…then it becomes a matter of just figuring out how versus thinking that you just can’t and that it’s beyond your ability. Go for it!

Morning Walk Delight

 My very first Morning Walk Delight post was on May 23rd, 2016. I decided on that day I would offer my social media platform to Mother Nature to showcase her awesomeness! Want to hear something astounding? Even after walking the same path, for years, I still find something to Delight and make me smile almost every single day. 

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