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About us
The FIBI Family
Just a family slowly convincing the internet that ordinary life is wildly overrated
We are Mark AKA Shark, Hayley, Piper, Scout, Nollie, and Ender, a family of six who finally decided to stop waiting for “someday.” Some people know us as the FIBI Family. Others know us by the phrase that completely changed our lives: F*ck It. Book It! No, we don't hate responsibility, and we didn't want to run away from life (okay, maybe we did a little), but because one day we realized we were slowly disappearing inside of our life.
We had the house, the routines, the jobs, the schedules, and the endless cycle of waking up, working, paying bills, sleeping, and doing it all over again. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, we looked around and realized we were spending most of our lives inside a box we called home while the entire world sat outside waiting for us.
We knew our kids deserved more than watching life pass by through a windshield on the way to aschool, a daycare, grocery stores, and taekuando practice. They deserved tide pools and mountain air, rainforests and deserts, campfires and oceans. They deserved to know this planet is enormous, alive, and overflowing with beauty. We wanted them to grow up seeing how incredible nature really is, how endless wildlife can make you feel small in the best possible way, and how there are loving people everywhere carrying stories worth hearing. We wanted them to understand that the world is not something you only read about. It is something you step into barefoot.
So we sold the comfort. We let go of the predictable. We walked away from the life we spent years building because we could no longer ignore the feeling that we were meant for more than surviving inside routines that no longer felt alive. Also, Midwest Michigan's long winters that are gloomy, grey and cold for more than half of the year were really starting to take a toll on our souls.
Were we nervous? Of course. There was fear in leaving behind income, stability, and closeness to the people we love most. But strangely, there was very little fear in actually taking the leap. Somewhere deep inside us, we already knew this life was waiting for us. And we also knew something important: if this journey ever stops serving our family, we can pivot again. Nothing about this lifestyle has to be permanent except the memories we are creating together. That is the beauty of living life on your own terms.
For us, life on our terms looks like slow mornings together, watching our kids chase hermit crabs, learning from real people and real places instead of textbooks, and collecting moments instead of more stuff. It looks like freedom, connection, curiosity, and presence. It looks like raising children who know the world is bigger than fear. It giving our kids the childhood we wished we could have had.
And yes, we know “F*ck It. Book It.” might sound a little bold coming from parents with young kids. But the truth is, our children only get one life too. They deserve parents willing to choose adventure, willing to take risks, and willing to show them that life was never meant to be lived half asleep. To that we say F*CK IT, BOOK IT!
This is not about us trying to escape life, but to us actually living it.
Welcome to the journey. We're so glad you are here and we hope to meet you at a campground, National Park, or floating down a river somewhere.
Hi there!
I'M HAYLEY
If you read the words around here, there’s a good chance you’re reading mine. And if you ever reach out to us, there’s an even better chance I’ll be the one answering you somewhere between feeding the kids and trying to figure out where we are going next.
I’m Hayley. Wife of Mark AKA Shark, and mom to our beautiful, chaotic, loud, wild not so little crew. The heart behind a lot of what you see here.
I am a true Type B mom in every sense of the word. I rarely have everything we need when we leave the RV. There is a high probability at least one of our kids are not wearing shoes, I forgot snacks, someone has dirt in places dirt should never be, marker on their body and I am mentally calculating whether turning around for the forgotten water bottles is actually worth it. Most days feel like a traveling circus run mostly by the kids, intuition, and not so mild overstimulation.
And speaking of overstimulation… everyone talking to me at the exact same time might actually be my personal version of psychological warfare. Physical touch is absolutely not my love language, which honestly feels like a cruel joke from the universe considering I have like a million tiny humans touching me literally all day long. Some days I do feel like I’m hanging on by a thread. Some days motherhood feels beautiful and sacred. Other days it feels like answering “Mom?” 4,700 times while hiding I debate locking myself in the tiny RV bathroom just so I can breath. Then I reel myself back in and remind myself the RV bathrooms have a distinct smell to them that I don't really want to inhale.
Despite all the quirks that make me the mother I am there’s will always be one truth I come back to over and over again:
I would not trade this life for anything.
Not for an easier version.
Not for a quieter version.
Not for a version with more sleep, less chaos, or a perfectly clean house.
These truly are the best days of my life, even when they are messy and exhausting and painfully human. I get to spend my days with my favorite people in the entire world. I get to watch my kids discover the planet in real time. I get to witness who they are becoming before the world tells them who they should be.
And somewhere along the way, they are shaping me too.
I care deeply about growth, learning, and accountability. I believe one of the most important things we can do as humans is take ownership of our lives instead of endlessly blaming the world for why we stayed stuck. I don’t think healing is always pretty. I don’t think growth is comfortable. But I do think there is something unbelievably powerful about choosing to become better and to take action toward living the life you actually want to live.
I’m not here because I have marriage, motherhood, travel, or life figured out. I’m not here because I’m perfectly patient or endlessly calm. I'm not here because I was born with a silver spoon or because I live in endless wealth. I’m here because I’m willing to be honest about all of it. The beauty. The burnout. The freedom. The fear. The moments that crack your heart wide open and to share our life from my point of view.
Our life is wild and imperfect but its full of adventure and I am so excited to share so much of who we are.
A few of our favorite adventures...so far!
