The video documents a family’s first vacation in twelve years, chronicling a multi‑day trip to Florida that blends everyday chaos with moments of wonder. The family grapples with children’s sudden illness—Jonah and Josiah vomiting, Lily’s bathroom mishap—while also enjoying beach outings, a rock‑climbing gym, and a visit to the historic House of Refuge, where they learn about 19th‑century survival methods. Interwoven throughout are the narrator’s reflections on personal challenges: a battle with chronic Lyme disease, financial strain, and a forced shift from a frugal, farm‑based lifestyle to online content creation and product marketing to sustain the family. The vlog also highlights long‑standing friendships, the importance of staying connected, and ends with a metaphorical “banana” moment symbolizing the reward after a hard race. The tone is conversational, candid, and occasionally humorous, offering both a travel diary and a personal testimony of resilience.
Chapters
Pinch me. That's our view. It was a perfect vacation till Jonah and Josiah each puked. Are you going down too?
No, I think I'm on the way up. I, um, I took charcoal because I didn't want to throw up, but, um, so Jonah came and he puked all over the floor, and then we laid down 20 minutes later, and we're talking like, like an over an hour.
I was gonna go show it.
Oh, okay.
It was crazy. It was crazy.
It was just nuts.
Jonah called us. There was puke all over this floor, walls, beds. How you feeling this morning?
Very sick still. I'm not eating anything or anything so I don't throw up.
Okay. And Lily Oh my word, she deserves a medal. She woke me up saying, "I puked in the toilet." Yes! Lily wins. Remember we said we could always take Lily on vacation?
She did win.
She sleeps in.
She made it to the toilet.
She likes the movies we like to watch. Uh, but look at this view.
Above all, she made it to the toilet.
All right, so out of all the days to be sick, this is it. It's windy. It just now stopped raining. Look at the clouds. It's only supposed to rain today. You want to hear how windy it is? I'm gonna take my dead cat off here.
Can you hear?
This is like crazy windy.
Isn't that nuts?
Nuts. All right, good day to be sick. Hopefully everybody's gonna kick this by tomorrow. Hopefully I don't get it. We can go back to fun in the sun in Florida. I guess it's a good time for a little nonsense. A little Netflix nonsense. A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest of men.
Roald Dahl.
It's been like 12 years since we've taken a vacation vacation. Like since our children were born. 12 years. You see, we've lived happily— happy lives for a good Your best guess.
Happy heck yes!
See, we've gone on trips, plenty of trips, and we stacked in fun. I think I learned that from my dad. He was a travel salesman, and the Grand Canyon was great, but it was even better when you could write it off on your taxes. Day 3 of vacation. We go to the beach and we go to a rock climbing gym. So this is kind of Jonah's belated birthday party. There you go, killing it, buddy.
Look at this guy, he's a natural.
I've seen Alex Honnold work on one of those in Free Solo.
What?
You did it! Yeah, I did it! Good job on the auto belay. Look at these guys.
Oh my gosh. Good job, Lily.
Mr. Brown, you're going to the top. You're keeping up with big brother. We could only travel on business. So for sanity's sake, yeah, we'd go and have a little bit of fun. You see, our frugal lifestyle was great. Growing a lot of our own food was great. But when I got struck with chronic Lyme disease and had to slow down physically and the bills rised? Raised? Went up? So it got— no, it got real troublesome and trips became even more— here, is that— all right, let's keep going. The mother load, Lily. So basically, to get out of that pit, we had to shift, you know, couldn't— sure, we couldn't go at it so physically, but yeah, we needed to raise our bills. So long story short, we I hit the ground running in a different form this time. Basically studying, immersing myself in online business content creation, marketing products, creating and marketing informational products that help people's lives and create a revenue for our family. Day 4 of vacation. The weather has cleared.
Hi guys! Hi guys! Hey, come on!
We're heading to the House of Refuge. Aunt Rachel's here now taking Grandma. Taking our shoes. You got all our shoes? I got all the shoes just in case. No shoes, no shirt, no service.
All right, we gotta make sure.
You gotta be prepared.
I'm enjoying this barefoot vacation, right, where we don't have to wear shoes. Like yesterday we had to put shoes on. What a disappointment.
It was 25 degrees yesterday at home with ice.
Oh, how lovely.
We were barefoot. I see you got your shorts on.
Yeah, I do. I got my shorts on.
Convertibles.
Me, why are you wearing a coat?
Why are you wearing a coat?
Well, I was cold inside. I'm just making— I'm getting heated up.
Look at that giant sea snake.
Oh yeah, those are what, Rebecca? Man o' war washed ashore.
Portuguese.
So crazy how you can see through them. Can you touch it?
There's a horsefly that likes me.
No, don't touch it.
It feels like a balloon. Only for the stinger, right?
No, I can touch it. I have a big stick.
The tentacles—
Mom said that it's gonna die up here, right?
Oh yeah, it's going to. It will, um, dehydrate.
It's crazy how clear that thing is. You can see through it. It's a living thing. It's absolutely insane. This says it's open. This is going to be fun.
Very good, thank you. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
It's the collection of aunts today. Yes, it's good to see you. Thank you for letting me come up and wait to see everybody. Oh, Aunt Rachel's here.
She's my niece.
Oh yeah, I like those red shoes, Mr. Brown.
Get in, get in.
Right here, mark this one off.
Like that off now?
Yeah, and then mark that one off. You saw the tower.
And then that one, please.
It's on the porch.
This is the House of Refuge, built in the late 1800s. US government as a way not to rescue, not to go out and see and rescue anyone, but if they made it ashore, to then help them— water, food, and shelter. That's their cistern. They used to collect rainwater. I've been wondering, how do you get water out on an island like this? That's it. Collect it off the roof, runs down. They just collected on the other side so it wouldn't be as salty. This is the top of the old cistern. So how would you kids like to be the family that lived here and worked here before fancy roads and grocery stores? And you can't grow any food on the island, huh? You wouldn't like it?
I'd be out there with a spear and my mask.
Exactly. Catch some fish for dinner. Yeah.
Well, I wouldn't make as much money. I'll get a giant— I'm a ginormous fish.
Yep, ginormous. Because guess what, guys? That's where their food was. Pretty much all seafood, turtle eggs, and then what they could catch in the sea.
You could have shark for dinner.
Yeah, they said they didn't have to worry about food. What about you, Rebecca? You want to be the house parents here?
I would do this. The dining room isn't bad. I mean, this isn't like super rough. I mean, it would definitely be rough in it.
You're gonna have to get used to seafood, honey.
I know.
That's all they ate.
She don't like seafood.
Bears in Florida. Do you guys know it?
Bear trap.
Look, there's a chain.
And the bears and Florida Panthers, there's their trap. That's how they do a Christmas tree, huh?
Yeah.
And I know from from past experience that that stairway right there led up to the living quarters for the housekeeper.
It was outside, or there's a stairway right here?
Right there.
Okay. Yes, we went on the Great American Farm Tour. So fortunate to travel all 50 states. Yeah, that was one mega work trip. See, I basically figured out how to not just have outings while on a business trip, but make those outings The business trip. Is that something, Lily? Oh yeah, you put that in my bag. Thank you. So that's why I say it wasn't really a vacation vacation, because I was filming. But more importantly, I was almost— I was always editing. Saturday, Sunday, Christmas. Can you say Halloween too?
Halloween too.
That's a good score. Toothbrush. Good job. So basically at the pit of our physical health, our financial health, like maxed out credit cards, y'all, like we're gonna have to sell the farm, y'all. We gotta grip. You know, people ask, how have you been so successful? Well, we hit rock bottom, but we were falling towards rock bottom. And when you're falling towards rock bottom, you don't need any instructionals. You don't need any motivation. Your adrenals kick in, you grab at anything. Well, we finally did get a grip. We're able to pull ourselves up, and long story, finally catch some relief. All kinds of trash in here. Lids, phone. Day 5, hanging out with long-time friends from Florida. Rebecca's friends from growing up. So how long have you guys been friends?
Oh, since we were 9.
Best friends or just friends?
I think fourth.
Best cat.
Been good friends for about 3 years. We've known each other for about 25.
Since fourth grade.
Fourth grade.
Fourth grade.
So who of your children is in fourth grade? Caitlin. Caitlin? Okay, so that's— you guys were that little. Is that a trip?
That is.
Kaitlyn, how many friends do you have?
Uh, 2.
2?
From my school.
Okay, do you think that you'll still be friends with those friends when you're 40 years old and have your own children?
I don't know.
How do you stay friends for 30 5 years. Oh wow, 30-something years. What's the key? 45, 50 years old here.
Oh, okay, we've been friends for 31 years. Don't make us older than we are.
I think it's appreciating the person who they, who they are, and appreciating who they are. And you know you have a good friend when even if you don't talk to them in months you pick up right where you left off.
Yeah, that's right. So how long has it been since y'all talked?
Well, we talked last month. We text.
Sometimes we text more than others. Sometimes we just text.
Krista's better about calling. That's probably one of— that's probably one of the reasons.
Gotta be in touch with the other.
She's, she's good at keeping— I feel like you have so many friends from childhood.
Uh, a few.
Yeah, yeah.
Hey, Anne's gonna show us how to skip stones in the ocean. She is from Florida, by the way. This is Rebecca's mom's sister. Ah, perfect! You're liking that too much. Okay, turn! Sunburn check. Let's see it, baby. Oh my, see the chest too. Sunburn check. Nope, you got your grandpa's skin. Hey, you got my skin. Sunburn check. Oh my gosh, your face is ready.
Hey, you can come back and get more.
I'm just giving you some, okay? Is, uh, why I don't wear shorts. I used to run these races. Back in the day. And at the end of the race, you were tired and thirsty and hungry, and at the end of the race you'd have this fresh water and bananas. Bananas?
Wet bananas?
Oh, they'd always have bananas at the end of the race.
Bananas!
Always crave them too. Why? I don't know, potassium maybe. So finally, after a long race, we finally get our bananas, so to speak. So that's what this vacation finally feels like. No editing, a little bit of filming, but I enjoy that. And the kids don't mind. It feels like we're getting our bananas. Day 6. I don't even know if y'all can hear me because of this wind. It's crazy. Date day with the beautiful one. So going back to the running, you get to the banana pit, but guess what? After that race, what happens? You begin working on the next one.
