Why are you taking a six-month-long trip?

I always thought I'd be one of those parents you see in a Marrakesh market or on a Thai beach holding one kid by the hand and carrying another in a sling. (I don't know why I thought that, as I have never visited either of those places.)

Then I actually had children, and I was so not that parent. The gear we shlepped to visit the grandparents in Florida required sherpas.

Now that we're out of the baby stage, parenting has shifted from the tedious, exhausting work of the early years. The kids are 11, 8 and 4 -- old enough to carry their own backpacks but not so old that they don't want to hang with us anymore.  We're in a sweet spot for exploring and making memories. We wanted to hit the pause button on everyday life and do something memorable as a family.

Alex is always telling me the key to life is having low expectations. If he's right, then our trip can only be better than I'm imagining. I'm excited - we've been planning for a year - but my overriding feeling right now is fear. That we won't have fun, that we won't get along, that the sibling bickering will send me over the edge, that our boisterousness will ruin my parents' good reputation among their retiree friends and neighbors, that it will be too hard for all of us to be away from Alex for days at a time, and so on. You get the picture.

Where are you going?

We're spending three months in Florida with Grandmom and Pop Pop, a month in Washington, DC and then a month or so in national parks in Utah, Arizona, Montana and Wyoming.

Wait, you're taking the kids out of school?

We ditched school for the second half of the year. Officially we're homeschooling, but it's really more of a homeschool/tutor hybrid. A tutor will work on the three r's with the boys a couple times a week and make sure I don't completely screw up their math education.

Connecticut has pretty relaxed homeschool laws, so I wrote a letter to the school district that we're withdrawing the kids for the rest of the year. They sent me a form to fill out, and they may or may not review our "portfolio" at the end of the school year. I'll be tracking the boys' assignments so we have something to show for their work.

What do the kids think?

At first, the kids were high-fiving each other all over the place at the idea of not going to school for six months. Totally on board, ready for anything at all, as long as they were freeeee. 

Then we told them not going to school doesn't mean they won't have schoolwork, so their hedonistic high was tamped down a bit.

As the reality of leaving their friends and teachers started setting in, they've become more cautious. The goodbyes on the last day of school before Christmas break were tough. 

There was also the unfortunate misunderstanding about exactly what we're planning to do. I kept referring to our "adventure trip" without realizing that Will understood my phrasing literally. This only surfaced when I asked what Will was most looking forward to doing and he told me sky diving, bungee jumping and scuba diving through shipwrecks. That required some finessing of expectations, which he took in stride.

What's Alex doing about work?

Alex will be working long days in the office, traveling for work as usual and spending weekends wherever we are. He'll parachute in (note: not literally) for the big events -- a few days at Disney, a camping expedition to the remote Dry Tortugas National Park, exploring the Keys, and traveling out West. 

What about Kristin's robust freelancing career?

Hey, so nice of you to ask. A few weeks ago I emailed the three editors I work with to let them know I'll be gone for six months. One wrote back. (Thanks, Jan!)

I suspect the other two are still processing their feelings about my absence.

Shameless self-promotion: An offhand comment by a curator during our visit to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum did inspire this New York Times story.

Do you want to be left alone while you're gone?

NOPE. We'll be sick of each other within the first three hours. We want to hear from you!  Email us, FaceTime us, send us updates on school and friends, please.