The Triplet Life - Triplets Blog

Guest Blog: Kids Are Not The Priority

Meet the Livingston's! Marci was gracious enough to be a guest blogger on our site. They are a family that has started full-time living in their RV with their children. You can follow them on their blog: Livingston Family Adventures or on their Facebook page: LivingstonFamilyAdventures

Our kids do not come first! That's right, you heard it here!

Mark, Asher, Adin and Mason are not the most important thing in our lives.

You must think we are crazy right? How could we do all this (sell everything we have, travel with 4 kids under 8, and spend countless hours with our kids instead of other adults) if our kids were not the priority?

Yep, our marriage is more important than our kids. Read more: Guest Blog: Kids Are Not The Priority

Guest Blog: The Coast to Coast Trips

This is a Guest Post by some really talented and all around outstanding 17 year old triplets. At the bottom of the post you will find links to their facebook, youtube, twitter, and other online profiles. Be sure to follow them because these guys are going places!
Hello all! We are Gary, Rebecca, and Kimberly. A lot of our Internet friends know us better as The Coast to Coast Trips; it's our fulltime traveling nickname, as well as our band's name. Like the Barnett family, we are also traveling fulltime across the USA! However, there is something else we have in common; triplets! The three of us are 17 year old triplets, and we love it when we make contact with fellow trips (especially when they are as adorable as Criton, Caitlin, and Haley)! We were really surprised when Lisa asked us to write a guest post on her blog, what a cool opportunity! Thanks Lisa, your blog is so great and we are really happy to be a part of it.
We have been traveling across the USA for a little over 3 years now. What first started out as a one year expedition, to see the country, has turned into a nomadic lifestyle! Since hitting the road, we cannot imagine settling back down again anytime son. The open road is far too exciting! It is an amazing way to live! We have been able to get to know our country firsthand while meeting a lot of interesting people (many of them who we now consider lifelong friends). There are a lot more families who travel fulltime than people realize. We have met many throughout 47 states and it is incredible how that one bond, the traveling lifestyle, can draw people together. Read more: Guest Blog: The Coast to Coast Trips

3 Years of Haley

The triplets just turned 3 years old this month and so I thought it would be fun to do a post about each child filled with a collage of pictures from birth to now.

Haley was the first one born. She is definitely our laid back hippie child, though when her temper does flare watch out! Her favorite color is pink. She is very much a tom boy when it comes to playing and getting into things but she loves to dress in girlie clothes (bright colors, pinks, tutus, dresses, and so on). She is very imaginative and comes up with the greatest games. Loves fruit but hates chocolate. Haley definitely loves her sleep and gets very grumpy if she is woke up too early in the morning. She has a huge heart and loves animals. 

3 Years of Caitlin

The triplets turned 3 years old this month so I thought we would do a collage of pictures from the time they were born to now. Caitlin is the middle child. She has two sides to her. One is very helpful, teaches the other kids things she has learned, a smile that brightens any room, the greatest laugh ever, and a passion for learning. The flip side though is she can be very controlling and has to have things a certain way or she gets upset. Steals toys but does try to give the other child something in exchange. When she gets upset or mad though you won't miss it, the ear piercing screams are very dramatic. Her new color obsession is red (used to be purple). She loves to build with block and color. Maybe she will be on the creative side like her mother :)

3 Years of Criton

The triplets just turned 3 years old so I thought I would do a collage of picture from the time they were born to now. Criton was born last. He is all boy, all the time. He absolutely loves dinosaurs to the point we are pretty sure if he had one wish it would be to turn into one, lol. He loves books, and can often be found curled up with a blanket surrounded by books. He has his Dad's wild streak in him and is generally in good spirits. He loves to try and "help" me with whatever I am doing. He has recently taken a big liking to the color blue. Basically a good way to sum him up is "a clone of his Dad".

Keeping Your Marriage Solid After Kids

   Having children is a wonderful thing, but it is also something that can take a toll on your marriage. Sleep deprivation, little “us” time, even littler “me” time, and as they grow so do the time demands. Whether you have one child or multiples. Whether you live in a house or travel in an RV. Whether you both work or one works and one takes primary care of the children. Whether you have babysitters to give you Date Nights, or you have no options of getting out without the kids. No matter what the situation, there are some things you can do to keep your relationship happy and healthy. If you think your marriage is great, then perhaps some of these will just be the icing on the cake.

Read more: Keeping Your Marriage Solid After Kids

Kindness of Strangers and Divine Intervention

Special Thanks to: Jim at Applied GMC (www.appliedgmc.com) and Gabe Livingston (http://www.livingstonfamilyadventures.com)

Saturday morning we started prepping everything to leave our campground and head to the Lake House to have Christmas with Michael's family. Everyone was excited and giddy. Michael had just fixed our brake issue with the RV last weekend and was excited to test it out. The kids were excited to spend time with the Grandparents and for a change of scenery. Nothing could have prepared us for what was about to happen though...

What Matters

All my life Christmas has been commercialized. It's about buying gifts for others, making lists, and receiving gifts. Yes there is spending some time with family, having a big meal together, but it never really felt like the family aspects were the most important. This has weighed on my mind for years because I feel as a society we have lost a lot of core family values and have replaced them with monetary values. Working longer hours, sacrificing time with your family, so you can buy a bigger house and acquire more stuff. Giving the kids gifts or money to show them you care instead of just taking the time to be with them and doing what THEY find fun. Bringing a gift to your spouse because you feel guilty you have barely spent time together the last week due to a big company project. Financial stress from your job spilling over at home creating more stress. One of the most common cause for divorce is cheating and drifting apart over time, usually because one or both were more focused on making money. Instead of giving time to the needy, people find it easier to just give money.

Read more: What Matters

Berkey Water Filters

 With constant reports of trace amounts of drugs, bacteria, and other contaminants being put into our drinking water by water treatment plants all over the country, water filtration and purification has become a big concern for many people.   Also the taste and clarity of water has been affected which has led more and more people to drink less water. Others have water filters on their kitchen faucets, integrated into the kitchen sinks, and they buy bottle and jugs of water y the ton. These water filters though only clean some of the contaminants from the water. They also are not portable and able to go with you when your out, on vacation, camping, hiking, and so forth. There is a solution though and it will remove the most bacterias, viruses, heavy metals, chlorine, and other contaminants then any other filter system. 

Like Father, Like Son

These two just crack me up! Criton has always been a mini copy of Michael from day one and it is hard to see any of me in him. He even dresses up in Dad's clothes when he is away at work! Here are some great pictures of them hanging out at the park and making faces :)