As of 3 o’clock in the afternoon on April 17th, the Opheim family were officially homeless… and jobless and FREE!

But, the beach adventure couldn’t start just yet.  We needed to hang out in the midwest until our good friends Justine (also our first nanny) and Michael got married on May 3rd.  This meant we had two weeks to find places to crash.

What does a family of four do when they don’t have a place to hang their hat?

Well, you book various “bed and breakfasts” at our family and friends’ houses staying anywhere from 1 to 4 nights on blow up beds, recliners, couches and spare bedrooms.  It ended up being a great way to:

A) Decompress from the insane drama that is moving out of a house and selling all of our stuff.

B) Enjoy the red carpet treatment from all of them with many busting out their best recipes (thanks guys – I gained the 8 pounds back that I lost before the move!).

C) Just enjoy quality time with our lovely friends and family before we began our road trip to Florida.

If you had attached a GPS to the Opheim family, you would have tracked us at the following places:

• Tim and Rebecca Hopson’s in Gurnee, IL for dinner our first homeless evening (voted best margaritas)
• Ryan and Saramarie McMorrow B&B for 2 nights in Grayslake, IL
  (voted best sliders this side of the Mississippi)
• Jeremy and Jaime Boehlke B&B for 1 night in Brown Deer, WI (voted best chocolate cake ever)
• Meema and Bumpa Puls B&B for 4 nights in Slinger, WI (voted most comfortable bed and best snuggles by the kids)
• John and Mandy Puls B&B for 2 nights in Slinger, WI (voted best burger and OMG the beef tenderloin)
• Corey, Elly & Hannah Foerster B&B for 1 night in Slinger, WI (voted best ribs EVER eaten, anywhere.  Also voted Alex’s favorite kitty)
• Another 4 nights at Meema and Bumpa Puls B&B in Slinger, WI – included great visits with…
  • Aunt Pat & Uncle Ken
  • Aunt Pam, Uncle Mike, Mo & Nutmeg Konrath
  • Cousin Shelly and Toby the bunny
  • Grandma Geri – she made us “schnecks” (handmade, from scratch pecan rolls) at 90 years old – THANK YOU Grandma Geri!
• An afternoon spent with our friends Todd and Linda Taylor at their beautiful house on Lake Wisconsin for lunch and a boat ride.
• Tim and Kerry Newquist B&B in Waunakee, WI for 2 nights (voted house you can eat off the floor it is so clean!)
• A quick visit to University of Wisconsin in Madison to show the kids momma’s college stompin’ grounds and meet up with my old college roommate, Mark Wochos, his wife, Kendra Wochos (who funny enough, went to high school with Travis) and their adorable kiddos.
• Final stop at a hotel in Hoffman Estates, IL to celebrate Justine and Michael’s beautiful wedding.

Thank you to everyone who hosted us… we are truly grateful!  It was hard to say goodbye to all of you – we shed some tears but we know we will see you again soon.  Just know that we are only a 2 hour flight away and you have an open invitation to visit.

People have asked us, “how does it feel to be on Pink Day?” and honestly, both Travis and I feel that it hasn’t really started yet. Our bet is that when we sit on the beach for the first time with just the four of us – it will sink in.

Time will tell. You can expect our next update from the beach in a few days as we are on our way!