Hammocks to Coasters

09/20/2025

Good Morning 🌞☕️
How’s everyone doing on this fine Saturday?

I snapped this photo earlier while having my morning coffee with my mom. However the time and date portion of this particular instrument is off, yes we know. Now at 7:42 AM it’s still only listing 36 degrees. My topic for the day in our group platform (H2C’s Travel & Adventures Chat) for Science & Nature Saturday is Fall. Fall colors, fall frost, fall flowers, fall fruits & veggies, and more. Please feel welcome and encouraged to go look over folks shares there (I just added a ton of photos I just took around the yard), and feel free to add on your own if you’d like on that thread.

Fall is an excellent time for cleansing of the old and preparing for the eventual new. Don’t hesitate to incorporate this into your own life in any manner that you see fit. Bonfires are a good tool, figuratively as well as literally.

See you tomorrow ☮️

09/20/2025

Today’s Episode:
Colonial Williamsburg
Homeschool Days
Part Two

Link:
https://youtu.be/iifN1VGnzm4?si=neHYA5E4V_HszKxb

Join us for our second fun filled day at Colonial Williamsburg during our Homeschool Days discount. We got to do and see things that we hadn’t previously done. Still so much we didn’t get to. Colonial Williamsburg is truly a multi-day destination, especially for history lovers. Teddy truly enjoyed both of our days here and he has already requested to return.

09/20/2025

Photos from our day at American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Link to video can be found in the comments section.

09/19/2025

Home/Life Update:

Happy Friday everyone! How has the week treated you? How does your weekend ahead look? Whatever you’ve faced or whatever lies ahead; choose the power of positivity, choose gratitude, choose kindness, and choose making great memories.

We’ve had an interesting past 24 hours, truthfully an interesting past few weeks since we’ve started implementing changes in how we approach life and how we approach social media. Last night was a kicker for sure.

We got hit last night with a video produced purposely aimed at us that was a lengthy detailed attack. All content creators get trolls, that’s the norm. However this is the same thing repeatedly, creating new profiles to attack/bully, and extremely detailed; too detailed and too lengthy to be a random troll. One would not be human to not be affected by it, even if temporarily. When I had some friends willing to listen to me and process with me (thank you Ann and Andrea), I was able to clear my head and think it all out better. Now, after a night’s sleep; I can see a lot of things with much more clarity.

Sadly, one person that I thought I could trust to open up to and process with; opted to not see perhaps where I was coming from, why I was feeling a tad irrational at the moment, and that I just needed someone to be there for me while I attempted to process. PTSD is an evil creature that often rears its ugly head when new triggers arise. If given a bit, one can help if they are a trusted safe person. Sometimes people you think are safe, aren’t. This person opted to walk away from my life. I tried to call to talk it out and try to explain, but it wasn’t a go. A sad ending to a chapter of my life.

We go on, and we go on happily. We choose to share openly, the good and the bad. We choose to continue to love each other, despite past mistakes or blips in the road. We are not remotely ashamed of our past or our present or what our future potentially holds. We choose not to be public anymore about our political opinions or our spirituality, but we certainly aren’t ashamed of it. We aren’t judgmental of those who are teachers or those that send their children to public or private schools, but we absolutely hold no shame about our choice to homeschool. We don’t judge others based on whatever they do or don’t do for work, but we hold no shame for my actions to be a caretaker for my child, husband, and mother. We don’t feel ashamed about when we reach out to friends when we’re struggling and ask for help. We don’t feel shame about being the same safe space for others.

I absolutely love my life. My husband loves his life. Teddy certainly enjoys loving life. So much more gratitude than attitude, even when things temporarily knock me off my path. Thankful for good friends that choose to hold my hand through the rough patches and help me adjust my glasses of life, to see clearly again.

See you tomorrow ☮️

09/19/2025

New video is up! Join is for our adventures at American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.

American Revolution Museum at Yorktown Homeschool DaysFilmed:September 10, 2025Find even more additional fun on:​⁠ Facebook:~ Hammocks to CoastersFacebook Gr...

09/18/2025

Throwback Thursday:

This was taken on September 17, 2024, therefore almost a year ago to the date. Teddy and I were on our way back to Big Bend in Texas from Maine. We had come to Maine to spend some time with my parents. What a year it has been, lol.

Let’s add in that we had recently moved to Big Bend from Everglades just a few months prior to this, a move that none of us truly desired but it was a necessity. Actually the plan was for Teddy and I (and Lucy) to actually head to Florida after Maine and start searching for an apartment to get set up in, and then have Mark join us when his contract was up. During the trek back, sometime in Virginia, we made a decision as a family to try to stick it out in Texas, so we headed there.

Mark hadn’t been acting quite right before we took our trek to Maine but I assumed it was unhappiness at Big Bend. Once we returned from Maine, he really just wasn’t right at all. I urged him to get help, but he didn’t want to. Then come late October it was time for his training in New Jersey. He was so excited for that. I had hope that maybe it would help him. Teddy and I decided to drive to Florida to see friends visiting there during the same time, which wasn’t a great thing after all. The visit wasn’t what we had hoped. But hey, nothing is awful when we’re in Florida. At least to us, lol. We understand it’s not exactly everyone’s cup of tea. To us, however, Florida is our chosen home.

Then, on Halloween…. I get a text. A text telling me he’s at his limit and headed to the ER. Then following day, looses two toes. A few days later, two more and part of his foot. He’s scheduled to be in treatment in New Jersey for at least 6 weeks. Teddy, Lucy, and I stay in Florida.

The story goes on with the odd awkward survival in Florida, homeless but not technically. At same time, my dad is failing quickly and each day I’m expecting the call home to mom to tell me that dad’s gone. Mark comes to us in Florida right before Christmas. At first he actually appears better mentally than before. After the New Year, it turned bad again. I knew something was wrong but we couldn’t figure it out. He pushed me away a lot, he just didn’t know himself. Add in job loss, which meant home loss (we had employee housing). Then at end of January as I’m trying to move us to Florida from Texas (our stuff, etc, and tie up loose ends there); my dad passed away.

We turn the direction of our sails again, to move home to Maine. Not something we wanted but knew we needed it, and my mom needed us. Really was a difficult adjustment. For everyone involved. Especially while grieving so many different aspects. Underlining it all, was that Mark had a ticking time bomb going on that we didn’t realize. A heart murmur caused by stress of the loss of his toes and the infections. It all exploded for us in March, but honestly folks, how could it not? We were at our limit, all of us.

Eventually Mark did manage to reach out for help. I’m so thankful he did. He did get in with a free clinic and start getting treatment. His heart murmur has decreased, his blood pressure and blood sugar is stabilizing, and his mental health is improving significantly.

The past two months, we’ve worked hard on a lot. Acknowledgment, acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go. Not just in regards to our marriage, but as individuals and with past demons and so much more. Both of us. We chose to roll up our sleeves and dig in deep, as individuals and as a family.

Funny thing….. we all actually miss Texas, lol. We never had the opportunity to truly get to know it and get to know it without stress. We actually would consider living in parts of Texas. We do hope to return to Texas in 2026 to visit.

Different times in our lives with different circumstances can alter our perception of a lot. It’s been one heck of a year since this photo was taken, but by golly we all are so much further along our healing journey because of it.

See you tomorrow ☮️

09/17/2025

If you couldn’t make tonight’s livestream, here’s the link to watch. We apologize if quality isn’t top notch. We will get better over time. However everyone needs a beginning, so begin we shall. We will tru to go live at 7 PM on Wednesday evenings if we are home. Travel times we may or may not go live on Wednesdays. Thank you everyone, for your ongoing support. ☮️

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09/17/2025

Home Cooking Fun 😎

Peanut Butter Shrimp & Noodles
Using the stock from the chicken I cooked off today, cooked noodles and shrimp in stock, (low carb noodles & frozen shrimp), added: tarragon, cracked black pepper, ancho chili powder, ground flaxseed, nutritional yeast, organic powdered peanut butter.
Yum!!

09/17/2025

Home Report:

First off, thank you for all of the kindness sent my way yesterday for my sobriety anniversary. Much gratitude!

Yesterday was full speed ahead to switch hats from travel mode to home mode. I had started laundry when we got home on Monday but had to finish up our clothes portion yesterday and then wash our travel bedding. I also did some general cleaning and chores. Then it was kicking into the type of homeschool that we do while at home. We have three components that we utilize: online based, book/workbook/printable, and travel/road trip based. Yesterday we also decided to film a little homeschool update for the YouTube channel. It was a gorgeous day out yesterday, so Teddy also enjoyed a bit of outside time with his grandma. For those new to us, after my dad passed away in January (and my husband was facing becoming disabled); we came home to Maine to share life with my Mom. I took time to edit the homeschool update and the Fredericksburg KOA video. Mark spent time yesterday making a matrix, as he called it, of the KOA locations up and down the east coast. We’d love it if you could consider checking out both videos that were released the past 24 hours.

It’s felt nice to get back to home cooking. Balance is my new mantra as I head into the next year of sobriety. Last year was “more gratitude, less attitude” and obviously we still will utilize that. Balance is something that we all are incorporating in our lives. One, of many, examples is food. We try to eat healthy and we try to do more buying groceries instead of eating out, however we fully appreciate random treats as well as acknowledge the necessity of grabbing a convenience while on the road. After a two week road trip, I am excited to cook again and eat a bit more nutritiously. I cooked three meals yesterday. Our typical breakfast, then chicken burgers for lunch, and then high protein pumpkin spice chocolate chip pancakes for supper. Real pumpkin in them, not just chemical flavor. Today I’ve had my breakfast (boys are still sleeping), and I’ve started making chicken soup. I make my soups from scratch, including making stock from the chicken and then doing the soup from the picked chicken and the strained stock. My breakfasts at home typically consist of: one slice of multigrain toast, hummus, three eggs, nutritional yeast, beet root powder, kimchi, and a griddled tomato.

I typically utilize my quiet morning (at home) by first enjoying coffee and conversation with my mom, then I feed Lucy and take her out, then cook my breakfast, and then I enjoy some YouTube watching while I eat and putter around on my social media updates. This morning’s choices have been Spoonful of Ashley and now, Jacob the Carpetbagger. Both great channels.

I do hope folks are enjoying these daily updates, and the variety I’ll put into them. I plan to write daily and it’ll flow between travel, life, and home. For additional daily fun, please consider joining the group platform, H2C’s Travel & Adventures Chat group. This is a new group that we chose to create as part of stepping away from some things, and stepping towards a direction that we’ve decided to flow towards. We are very comfortable as well as positive about our future and where we’d like to take our channel and our social media. We firmly believe in our scope to share, inspire, and entertain to a diverse range of followers. We choose to not openly discuss nor focus on political or religious beliefs. We want to be an escape from that. We just want to share our journey and our adventures, free from the drama and hate surrounding so much in today’s society. We are sorry if that bothers some folks, but it’s just not our jam. We have a lot of viewpoints, sure; but we also are overall a rather diverse mixed potpourri of a lot. We choose to be random, unique, and kind. We have been around a lot and have seen a lot, and it’s shaped us differently than possibly some folks. We can see and understand a lot of various viewpoints on many issues. Overall we just choose to focus on travel & adventures along with a little home life. Choose peace, don’t push your views on others, and possibly find your own adventures or hobbies to share with the universe in a positive and respectful manner.

Last note: a livestream tonight around 7 PM, if you’d like to come hang out or ask questions.

See you tomorrow ✌️

09/17/2025

Today’s Episode:
Fredericksburg / Washington DC KOA
Camping Cabin 51

Link:
https://youtu.be/FcvLNn95iPA?si=zN4B2MUsTYX79T6-

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to create this video, so that’s why it’s out of chronological order. I had lost the files that were the actual cabin tour, but still had footage of outside. Yesterday I decided to just voiceover some photos of inside the cabin to add to outside stuff. We really enjoyed this particular cabin setup and we also really love this particular KOA, so we definitely wanted to salvage it for not only the KOA and Virginia playlists but also for our own memory lane, especially since Teddy did get on the KOA train here. Please enjoy these fun photos and please consider checking out the video. We appreciate all of your support!

09/16/2025

We decided to start doing a Monthly Homeschool Update. Here’s the one for September. We filmed it today, a bit impromptu. Additional home vlogs, etc, will continue to go out regularly for channel members. We thought, however, that wed experiment with adding in a monthly update to all followers or public to see how it goes.

Grade 2Homeschool Monthly Update Filmed:September 16, 2025Find even more additional fun on:​⁠ Facebook:~ Hammocks to CoastersFacebook Group:H2C’s Travel & Ad...

09/16/2025

Life Update:

8 Years Sober

This photo was taken the day after I almost died from alcohol poisoning. Day 1 of what has now become 8 years of not drinking.

I remember those few days before this photo. I had returned to Mark in Yellowstone after my brief time switching from working at Yellowstone to come here to Maine to work at Acadia. I had just driven from Maine to Wyoming, first long solo road trip ever. It was definitely an emotional trip. I had not left on good terms with my parents when I left Maine. When I got to Mark, who really doesn’t drink hardly at all; rare circumstance was that he had booze in his housing that a coworker had given him. I started into it and didn’t stop. We really had hardly any cell service there, but I got into texting/messaging some people and it just was a hot mess. I got even more emotional and then dove into the booze harder. Bad, just bad. I think there was one point where Mark wasn’t sure I was going to come to.

On September 16, 2017 we left the trailer (Mark’s housing in Old Faithful District of Yellowstone) and went away on his days off. Just randomly driving around Wyoming. I began a journey to heal from that drunken spell, and then began a journey of healing.

Eight years, I’ve been walking this path now. It’s never an easy path, for anyone. I’ve been rather open about most of it. Which in turn brings on other hurdles. I’ve been up and down and all around. I’ve failed at things I’ve tried, I’ve succeeded at things I’ve tried. Friendships have come and gone. My relationship with my parents has had its own interesting and sometimes trying twists. My marriage has really been through the wringer, with my partner bringing on board his own baggage and needs of healing. Yet I’m determined to keep walking this path, step by step. Sometimes hour by hour. Sometimes minute by minute.

Shortly after this photo was taken, we were blessed with conceiving Teddy. We wouldn’t learn of it until we got to Florida. But yeah, our precious little boy was created on Wyoming soil at Yellowstone. He, by far, has been my biggest motivation to keep walking this path and I know he’s also his father’s biggest motivation for changes that he constantly makes. Teddy is our best magic, and our glue. Also, when his dad does make his way along his own path of healing, I’m also able to walk a little lighter, and vice versa. It may not seem pretty at times, but this, all of this for all three of us; it’s truly a family experience and family effort. We stay pretty honest with our son about our demons and about choices to heal.

If you battle with addiction, in any form, or if you utilize alcohol or drugs or other things as unhealthy coping strategies…… I urge you to please consider taking steps to alter your choices. Recovery is never the same for everyone. Some avenues work better for some than others do. Don’t be afraid to keep exploring to see what truly fits you. Don’t be afraid to switch it up if something isn’t working. Don’t let others tell you that your choices are wrong. Healing, acknowledging, loving yourself, loving others, finding better coping strategies, etc….. is truly what matters.

8 years of no alcohol and no drugs and most of that now has been free of to***co as well. However it goes way deeper that just not using. It’s been 8 years of consistently digging deeper into myself and learning to look at my true self. Learning to acknowledge, accept, let go, etc.

Again, not always a good thing to witness; but it’s the authentic me. I don’t ever want to not be the authentic me.

See you tomorrow ☮️