Last week the kids and I sat down to discuss what they thought about living and traveling full-time in an RV. This week I’m sitting down with my husband, Matthew, to talk about the past year.

What do you think the hardest part of moving from a house to an RV was?

Matthew: Downsizing my wife’s stuff. I never had a lot of stuff in the first place, but she would never let me get rid of anything.

Alicia: Yup, getting rid of all the things I had accumulated over the years. I kept putting off going through everything and it really came back to bite us that last week as we were moving everything out and deciding what was coming with us.

Which of the kids had the hardest time adjusting to RV living?

A: Probably our oldest. He’s the only boy of the three, and he loves the video games he rarely gets to play these days. Moving to an RV meant leaving friends (because who wants to play with their sisters all day, every day) and not having unlimited internet means video games are a luxury.

M: The oldest. The transition to go from being entertained from games to spending more time in nature was the hardest for him.

What has been your favorite part about living in an RV?

A: The freedom to move! We can move as often as we wish, wherever we wish, and at a pace that works for all of us. I also love that we get to see so much more of the country this way, instead of limiting ourselves to what we can do during our two weeks of vacation every year.

M: The simple lifestyle and being surrounded by more natural landscapes.

What do you miss about living in a house?

A: Long, hot showers. But to be honest, I don’t mind taking fewer showers. What I don’t miss is having so much space to store things that we don’t need.

M: High-speed internet.

What has been your favorite place to visit so far?

M: The Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.

A: Definitely Olympic National Park.

Is there somewhere we haven’t been yet that you really want to visit?

M: I want to visit all of the states, especially the east coast. I just want to keep moving and exploring.

A: I would love for us to visit all of the National Parks, and spend some time on the east coast eventually.

What’s it been like living in such close quarters with three kids 24/7?

M: I’ve worked with kids for many years and I’m used to having kids around me all the time. It hasn’t been much different living in an RV. We’ve encountered great weather wherever we’ve been so the kids spend a lot of time outside anyway.

A: I love my kids, and my husband, but I need more alone time than the rest of them do. It’s tough to get that time when you have nowhere to hide so I will often go shopping by myself to get that alone time. Otherwise we get along great most of the time and we all love it.

How has our marriage been affected by being together all day, every day?

A: We’ve really had to work on our communication skills. We can’t just escape to different rooms if we want to ignore the other person for whatever reason. We have to be on the same page about what is going on and when, where things need to go inside and outside, etc.

M: People presume that we spend a lot of time together, but that’s not really true. We might be in the same space, but we’re usually doing different things and mostly interacting when it comes to the kids. Like any marriage, we have to make time for each other.

How do you think homeschooling went this first year?

M: Miss C has absolutely loved it and is passing her love of learning on to her little sister. Mr. C had to adjust to having his parents as teachers and it hasn’t always been a smooth ride.

A: Overall, though, I think we had a great first year. The kids made a lot of progress and I am so glad we were able to help them grow and learn, and do so right alongside them.

What kinds of items did we think we needed at the start that we no longer need?

M: We started out with a large stroller that we hardly ever used, since we spend so much time out in nature rather than in the cities. We also had a small manual push mower that I thought we could use but we never ended up using either.

A: We also had a bunch of extra towels and blankets that just stayed in the storage bins under the kids’ beds. We downsized to 2 towels per person (and a couple for the dog) and any blankets we need are already on our beds.

What changes are you looking forward to making this year?

A: This year is definitely not going to be like last year, and we don’t really know what’s going to happen. I look forward to exploring more and spending more time with my husband and children. I’d like to find a way to spend more time in campgrounds and parks as well.

M: I don’t have any specific changes in mind. I want us to keep moving and seeing new places.