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About Us
I love to travel with my husband Nathan (Fat Papa) and daughter Elizabeth (Itsy Bitsy). For us, travel and vacations are a great opportunity to experience something new together. But that is way easier said than done!
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Being a Fat Mama isn’t about the number on the scale or even your gender identity. It’s a state of mind. It’s recognizing the voice that says, “I’m not enough,” and making a conscious effort to ignore it for a while. It’s learning to squeeze my fat ass into a toboggin clearly made for a 5-year-old or enjoying a pool day in a tankini with the family and not letting my particular insecurities get in the way of a great time!
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Now, I don’t have all the answers to shutting up that horrible voice in your head. Believe me, mine is still there. But I am willing to open my mind to visitors and share mine and my family’s experiences as I learn how to express self love, embrace family time, and enjoy traveling the world.
Fat Mama Fun Facts
I'm not fluffy I'm fat ... and that's okay
Fat Papa and I are very comfortable in the skin we're in and, yes, we recognize we have too much skin. We have embraced our fatness and prefer to laugh at all those tan skinny people making duck faces at their selfie-stick, personal ring light, cameras. Rather than living our life for likes, we are living our life for us and now we are sharing our life with you. We are comfortable with being fat, we make regular visits to our doctors to make sure we stay healthy while being fat, and we promote a healthy lifestyle for Elizabeth so she stays her wonderful Itsy Bitsy self. So, body shame us all you want. But, if you have time to troll us, then our fat life is far better than your troll one.
I am VERY puny and use FOWL language
From dad jokes, to mom jokes, to the most terrible puns you can imagine, Fat Papa and I love to quack ourselves up and are not above using fowl language. (These puns will make more sense as you read on.)
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Mostly we like to laugh at ourselves, laugh with each other, and of course make other people laugh, too. Life is always better when you're laughing. (And we have such amazing laughs. Fat Mama snorts, Fat Papa's whole body convulses, and Itsy Bitsy's laugh is loud and clear ... like you can hear it from across a noisy playground.)
I don't know if there is an animal I relate to more than the rubber duck!
Rubber Ducky, you're the one! You make life so much fun!
I do not believe that rubber ducks should be confined to the imprisonment of the bath tub. With their cute yellowy goodness, adorably annoying squeak, and generally rotund body, I have yet to find another iconic animal from this world, or any other, that so perfectly imbodies me. So, you will hear a TON of duck puns, fowl language, and quack-up jokes from me and see little yellow rubber ducks show up in many of my photos. After all, we are such lucky duckies getting to live this life!
Life became more travelful in 2016
Itsy Bitsy was born in 2016 and by the time she was 1-year old, she had already crisscrossed the country a few times. We have some crazy fun stories about traveling with an infant/toddler, and now that she is growing up, we look forward to sharing more about family travel with a totally awesome kid! But, please remember ... Itsy Bitsy is a kid, she is our kid, we might be sharing her experiences with you but that doesn't mean she isn't still a real live living breathing kid. And she has a protective as hell Fat Mama backing her up.
Playlists make driving better
Right now, "DJ Fat Mama In The Car" gets the most requests from her number one fan Itsy Bitsy for anything Perry Grip, the Trolls and Trolls World Tour soundtracks, Frozen I and II soundtracks, along with "that girl who sings really good" also known as Joan Jett. Occasionally Itsy Bitsy will mix it up and ask for the Moana soundtrack in Hawaiian (it's AMAZING and Jemaine Clement is the only original cast member to SING IN HAWAIIAN).
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If we are going to be driving the distance (4+ hours), we stick a screen in front of Itsy Bitsy, turn on her super cute light up headphones, and let her binge TV and movies while we stream a book through Audible. Right now, Fat Papa and I are working our way through Ken Follet's Kingsbridge novels. These books are fantastic and all together make for almost 150 hours of listening. We also LOVE anything by Brandon Sanderson (he is a great author to get into if you like highly addictive book series with 40-60+ hours of listening per book). Also in our reading/listening que is Edward W. Robertson's Cycle of Arawn plus all the subsequent books (we have already read them multiple times but every time he comes out with a new book I like to reread the whole series).
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Really ... what I'm try to say is that music, books, or good conversation make road trips better. For some reason, that world swooshing by your window is WAY more interesting when the volume is up and your ears are engaged!
Tis' the Fillhardt way
Like our waistlines, we go big when it comes to ... well, everything. We all know the phrase "go big or go home;" Fat Papa and I use that as a benchmark for life. It doesn't matter if we are firing up the pizza oven with friends, going snorkeling in Hawaii, or staying in a vacation rental for a few day ... we go BIG.
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What do I mean by this?
We love to live life to the fullest and that has led us to a life well traveled. If there is a way to upgrade our experience, go behind the scenes, add on an activity, walk away with a souvenir, experience something new, or do something not everyone gets to do, we want to sign up for it! Oh, you charge extra because we are fat? That sucks, take my money and lead on!
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We are a tourist trap's wet dream. Disney stock goes up when we arrive. Hope you already had tickets, 'cause we just bought out the show. We cuddle ALL the animals at the petting zoo. I know you said you only needed one, but I bought you a dozen.