It’s only 8am and already we have caught 3 herring, lost 5 lures, scooted about 3km and visited the playground. But this is just a typical day in the life of a stay at van dad.
In all honestly I never thought that I would be the one in my family spending a majority of my time painting toenails and reading bedtime stories but I wouldn’t change it for the world. When we decided to hit the road in 2020 I thought we would drive till we ran out of diesel and then I would pick up a job wherever we were. Then covid struck and everyone's plans changed. We still managed to hit the road when we wanted to but with one contingency, Mindy was gonna keep her job and work remotely. Super cool, super helpful, but not exactly our intended holiday. Not for Mindy anyways. For the first 6 months of our lap around Australia Mindy was working 20+ hours remotely managing social media and emails while I was settling into my new role of stay at van Dad. Nyah and I have become thick as thieves and I like to joke that we are on a national playground tour.
Whilst I’m the ‘fun’ parent Nyah and I don't always get along. After taking on my role as the stay at van dad Nyah no longer takes me seriously. I'm pretty certain she just thinks of me as her playmate and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather be the good guy then the bad guy any day of the week. Obviously this isn't always the most ideal situation, for example, when we are leaving a playground or shop and she doesn't listen to a bar of what I have to say, but I manage. Or try to at least. Not going to lie though Mindy has received a few phone calls to come save me from our 5 year olds tantrums but then again which mother hasn't? I like to think of these moments as a forced lunch break for Mindy seeing as she usually forgets to eat lunch anyhow.
Now that we have been travelling for over a year I think we have things down pat. I am still the fun one in Nyah’s eye's and whenever Mindy has work to be done I head straight to the nearest playground.
I feel so fortunate that I get to spend everyday watching Nyah grow up as before we left on this trip I was working 10+ hour days and was always gone before she woke up in the morning. Kids grow up so fast and so i'm just holding on to every moment we have together. I always looked forward to one day teaching my child all of the fun things in life that I love to do. We have already checked bike riding, scooters, rock climbing, and body boarding off the list but what I’m most excited about is to finally teach her snowboarding. This adventure has taught all of us so much and I can't wait to see where it takes us.
To follow along our daily adventure come say HI over @life.in.olli on instagram.
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