Stephanie on this project, the house project, the car project

look who we've got in front of us today we've got John and Kate Plus Stephanie looks like John and Kate Plus Eight no it's just me hi so I'm so excited that you guys get to join me this morning I've been watching your Tick Tock Adventures your Instagram adventures and it does you're right I'll start following one and I'm like wait but this one has a little bit more and this has more and now you're gonna do a YouTube yeah yes please adding on YouTube so John talk to us about the origin story of flashback the boss so uh our bus is a 1953 GM uh 5106 yeah Transit bus originally ordered for the New Jersey red and tan lines after its service a mechanic from the New Jersey red and tan lines bought it he kept it maintained it and then a local band in Rhode Island had it for a little bit they used it as a tour of us then our previous owner bought it used it as a glorified shed parked it in the woods that's where she sat for the last wow 12 years that's insane so you see this on Facebook Marketplace while you're on vacation and you're like babe let's go do this this one okay yeah yeah I mean there are times he's totally been like we should totally buy this look at this like one time he wanted a fire truck I did put that down so I'm not completely crazy but the bus I mean I couldn't say no well the thing the only thing that would keep me from said project because I am very much like when we're on an adventure and we're gonna go do something we did the same thing Mojave and I had a pop-up tent coming back from Nickerson saw one of my friends post their camper and I was like let's just get it because we were we've outgrown it I know exactly that feel that space there she sat for years and years and we're waiting for that run out and I keep watching all these Pinterest things and I keep watching all these things for design and here you are just actually doing it so I'm super jealous I'm hoping watching all your videos is gonna let it fire under my own ass to get stuff done but I think the real story is you two finding a hobby to do as a family on the cape when you're already stretched thin for time to work to provide for your family and and you're young you're not retired where you're like oh we have 20 hours to kill today what are we doing right right I mean we we like you said we want to do something as a family and we do actually include the entire family in this yeah I'm watching it's great yeah so like Olivia she's helped Noah's helped my mom helps his dad helps every weekend yeah so your dad's the mechanic he works at uh Don's Auto cosmetics in Brewster and is are you leaning on him a lot more or is he letting you take the reins uh well him and I have built a lot of cars so what he normally does is he handles all of the body work that's really okay his specialty whereas I handled more of the mechanic side so we're a good tag team so he's going through the body getting the doors set starting starting the paint process I'm going through the mechanical systems I love it and is that how you normally work together when you started when do you did you start working on cars with Dad I started at my uncle's shop uh probably around age 10 or so sweeping floors yep and then I started doing Bodywork there and then I started taking over the mechanic stuff there yeah and that led me to start my start my own photo company and that's how I transitioned out of that I love the entrepreneurial ship here on Cape Cod I feel like we have to be that always flexing and moving and and going where we're needed and our skills are so I love that you are we're already doing that and had this specific skill set so your mom's watching by the way hi Susan thanks for watching the kids I appreciate that what has been the biggest challenge for you so far mechanically John um probably the biggest challenge would be the uncertainty of the motor we had no idea it was freshly rebuilt that was a really nice surprise what this motor sat uncovered for years we had no idea if it was seized we had no idea if it would turn over but it's solid yeah it's the cleanest 671 Detroit Diesel we've ever seen that's another thing that I we should mention was he said it's was sitting uncovered in for years and it it has been not only were there doors missing on the back of the bus yeah the back window was crushed in and because the windows those back windows were crushed in right above that is where the air intake is correct so every single time it was raining the possibility of water getting into the ice bucket yeah so that's pretty incredible I watched you guys build your own custom windows that was that was pretty neat someone was like but wait how'd you do that you're like uh follow my tick tock so fun hey Sue how are you supergrew is a a photographer here on the cape she's got her little calendar you also do photography but you're so busy with that and then now you're doing Social Media stuff which the explosion of your social media talk to me about that incredible experience Kate and what that was like to have people find you and all of a sudden you just look at your photo you have nine million people following you you're like I live in Brewster what's happening pretty much yeah I mean we the whole reason I even just started filming our process with the bus is because this isn't our first project we've taken on a lot of different projects yes and we've have friends who've been like oh my God guys would you just film what you do yeah like we want to see it we love it you guys are amazing just film it I'm like okay fine whatever and I finally talked to him and his dad into letting me film and I started posting it thinking just our friends and family are going to be interested right and then we posted what I call the sad Bus video and it instantly just exploded I mean seriously though like the hundreds of thousands of randos like hey this is cool all over the world I have people being like hi from Istanbul I'm like what like babe we should go to Turkey and not only are you renovating this bus you're renovating your home yeah what the hell is wrong with you two gotta have a project I was like why is she doing countertops is that countertops to the bus no wait that's countertops for their freaking house okay so the amount of chaos I would I would be breathing into a bag I would it's a lot okay so we bought our house August 2019. this house had a what 40 foot drop in the back hey Dave hey Michael so we cleared the alarm out back because we have like a acre and a half and half of it was just a giant hole yeah about 45 feet 45 feet deep yeah so we cleared that now we're filling that in so our entire backyard is a large sand pit for adults as I like to joke um and then as that was happening just as covid hit our bathroom in our main section of the house started to fall in so when we opened that up we realized that the entire back half of the house was collapsing I would lose my mind I really would even little projects around the house I get so frustrated when they're not complete in a certain amount of time but to have all of them at once and then like the kids like that that would make me mental it was It was a it was a project um there were times where I was just like I can't do this so we don't have any we have nothing this is completely stripped but somehow we managed to get it done right before Christmas that year but it was it started what we started that in June and was done by December I mean that that's really very little time for you two to be able to do anything other than that's the projects yeah I think your life is a project life is a project I used to joke that uh our date nights consisted of you know long romantic walks down in the Home Depot aisle so got the amount of times the Home Depot we had like a couple of things going on in this house and it was like every single day going to the Cheapo Depot and I'm like not again not again don't make me go there I can't right if we didn't go to Home Depot it was like oh it's a fifth time to Ace down the street today yeah you even filmed yourself going into your favorite store as you called it as the Brewster race you're like here we are again did you miss us it's been 20 minutes right right but you do have family to lean on which I think is really really important your mom is very helpful your dad is really helpful I mean it does take a village when it comes to being able to do projects like this and just maintain anything life in this town so they're in Brewster they're filming all this you've got people from Istanbul you had three of your British people like what time is that I can't get up that early yeah I was like uh it's on the Internet it's forever you'll be able to see it but I you really do have amazing fans that are like rooting for you and enjoying this journey with you so that has to give you that spark of excitement a bit oh yeah oh yeah 100 so when we first when I first started posting the videos um there's a guy who who reached out to me and was asking me questions being like so does your husband know what he's doing and I'm like I hope so yeah he does I it's okay and I'm like try I normally don't typically answer people because you know stranger danger but right I somehow managed to just be like no I think I'll answer this one even though I was still really leery about it well because that's the yeah he's been amazing he's out in Michigan at some point where it's going to be one of our trips to go visit him but he is a diesel mechanic and he has been helping us that's awesome through a lot of the diesel mechanic part because even though he is a mechanic he doesn't typically work on diesels I like that you're highlighting the community aspect of social less the troll aspect of social oh yeah there it's it's 90 good stuff I think so too you know every now and then you get somebody who's a troll but it's you just let it go the sour grapes are a bad day that day or somebody that just likes to stir the pot just because there are those people out there always I feel like a lot of people are anxious about social because of that aspect I think so too I really do I think that's a lot of reasons why people don't do it is because you see so much about the trolls and how they tear people down but really we've had nothing but good feedback that's awesome do you find it overwhelming at times though to deal with all of that like what's your worst day look like 100 and it gets to a point where with a video where there are so many comments that I just I just stopped responding because like you can't yeah I could spend all I would be there all day just looking at my own and I'm like I got other clients trying to deal with I can't be sitting here dealing with my own stuff well that's it so you're now you're like well this went off so well so now we're doing social media management but John you were already a photographer to begin with correct so you've got the aspect of the photos and the social and you've got your handle on the way the algorithms now work yep for today and I'm sure you'll figure it out next time as well it's just one of those changing things so if you're looking to take that burden off of your own business and you're watching I'm your girl yes yes definitely so we'll drop in the chat how to find people good morning Mark thanks for checking in uh how people can find you make sure that you come back to the live and drop all of your links oh yeah because I want people to follow your adventure and also if they need your services at any way shape or form I'm sure this won't be your in your dad's last project actually after this we're gonna paint her 66 Mustang yep and then we're gonna paint my red uh red vet whoa this is more than just a paint job yeah but that's a little bit of a secret until the next the next video that's awesome I'm so excited for this even your mom is like no more projects right yeah Mom it's not gonna happen anything else that you want people to know about the stuff that you're working on right now well it I can promise you the videos are not going to stop with the bus I love it other things to film they tell bad jokes John looks so super annoyed John's like actively working and she's over here telling plus Jokes which I think is hysterical I really do I have I have one planned for today and I love the Misadventures but I also like that you're in there too like all right I'll help out you seem to do the clan the cleaning and the standing often yeah yeah that's my role for now I do I can help with other things but when it comes to the car mechanics part are you learning about it though oh yeah oh yeah oh now she she's being very very humble but she she knows a lot at this point um I wouldn't say she could rebuild an engine completely but she can definitely take apart almost any component on that bus herself that that's amazing at least back together no they don't live on the bus they're just working on the bus they live in a home that they're also working on So Lisa is also going through some sort of phase where she's redoing everything all at once everything all at once right now happening fresh beginnings it totally is and it's just making me laugh because she's like can't come over contractors got this going on this is a problem can't like every day is a new routine Pro I can't live like that my husband's like loves it thrives in it like what's what that chaotic thing can I build a system for he's that guy me I'm like uh I kick it up I'm hyperventilating yeah no we're not living in the bus we don't plan to live in the bus at all we just really wanted to have something to travel with our family in and that's it it's an adventure though because I mean once that thing and do you have an end date do you have like an ETA you're like okay this is happening October really yeah I love that we're pretty much right on point or even Farther Along yep so like what what is your first Adventure that you plan on taking well we're gonna keep it very local um it's 69 years old yeah I don't want to go Nickerson it is I don't want to go all the way out west or all the way down South for our first trip so we'll probably go to Nickerson for the first one yeah maybe Normandy Farms for the second oh nice in New England I mean if I do break down I can call Buckler's towing service yeah I can call them my own dad with our own rig and he can come get us yeah um but for at least the first year we're gonna stay local and then after that once it's tried and true we're gonna probably go down south out west we're gonna try to take a trip uh to Michigan to Canada Etc oh yeah Cliff will definitely enjoy if you ever need an extra hand not that we don't have a shortage of projects over here but like that definitely maybe it might give him like that fire or that bug to get something else done around here that would be amazing um yes hey Susan hey Sarah thank you guys so much for checking in yeah she said make a mess keep it moving yeah thanks to Dad over at Don's Auto cosmetics and Brewster also I think he does a fair amount of the heavy lifting as well all right Mark Anthony we're going we'll talk to you guys later have a happy Friday bye