Bermuda - Here we Come!

T- 24 hours until Dave and I fly to New Jersey.  We were awarded a 5- day cruise from Hunter Douglas and we can't wait to get to the beach!

Bermuda here we come!

Hunter Douglas was going to fly us on a red-eye flight Friday night to arrive Saturday monring, but we opted to pay in some money to go a day early.  Dave and I depart tomorrow morning and will arrive in New Jersey tomorrow night.  The great thing about NJ is that my niece and her family live there (Matthew and Angie Alberti).  So Dave and I are going to experience UBER together and Uber to their house.  Even greater my other niece, Leah and her two girls are there visiting.

We will board the ship on Saturday morning.  The ship has all kinds of cool features to it and we have signed up for the ship tour that will take us to different parts of the ship.  

iFly on Anthem of the Seas (free for all passengers)

Jessica is going to come home to stay with her brothers.  I have access to my kids e-mails and I don't check them often, but I have been checking on Joe since he starts college this fall.  Just want to make sure we are not missing anything.  So I was checking his e-mail two days ago and I come across an e-mail from Jessica to Joe that is titled, "Parents Away: Kids Will Play."  Hmmmmmm.  

Well I know my kids well enough to know that did not mean a party!  But let me tell you they have jam packed some adventure into the next five or six days.  I'll write about it as I have time.  But they are going to have some fun.

Have fun you three!

Those who follow my fitness journey, my trainer, Ryan has given me some guidance.  Don't overdo the stairs (like I did last year in Alaska).  Don't log your food!  Try to hit the elliptical for 30 min in the morning and then go have fun!  I am always being told to RELAX.  So I plan to do just that.

Day Three - Galapagos Islands (Baltra/Isabela Island) March 20, 2017

Day Three for Joe and Ben was spent basically traveling.  They had a three hour delay on their flight from Quito to Baltra.  Once in Baltra, they took a boat to Isabela Island.  They arrived in the evening.
Ben says they had fun on the boat ride and they sang.  (They sent me video clips of them singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall.)

Joe's food

Isabela Island is the largest of the Galapagos Islands.  In 1959, the archipelago was declared a national park in order to protect the flora and fauna that Charles Darwin observed while formulating his theory of evolution.  Critical to his studies were the islands' iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorants and 13 species of finches, whose beak sizes and shapes provided invaluable insights into the process he called natural selection.  At the Charles Darwin Research Station, see the breeding center for the giant tortoises from which the islands took their name.  Discover the unique wildlif of neighboring islands on boat excursions.  Photo opportunities will be endless, but please remember that the islands' ecosystems are fragile.  Park regulations are designed to protect the area for future generations.

NASCAR RACE - PHOENIX March 18, 2017

Dave and I arrived in Phoenix on Friday night and we went to Dave's cousin's house for dinner.  Mike and Jamie served us steak and veggies and Jamie and I had margaritas.  It was great to be together as Jamie and I along with my sister-in-law Kathy are in a support group via Facebook to encourage one another on our weight loss journeys.

Saturday morning we got up early (but not early enough for breakfast at the hotel.)  Dave wanted to drive through McDonalds and get going.  I said, Okay, but my mind was literally freaking out.  One of the best parts of this trip was how I was able to get my mind under control.  I texted a friend and said, "Tell me that one breakfast at McDonalds will not UNDO 15 months of work."  She reassured me that it would not.  I kept repeating that to myself and went with the egg white delight and an oatmeal.  (I took the top english muffin piece off.)  This may not seem like much to you all, but I literally have NOT allowed myself to cheat for 15 months - so McDonalds kind of flipped me out for a minute.

We proceeded on to pick up the Marcolini children.  Bill and Melody were very sick with the flu and could not join us so Anthony and Katie came with us to the race.  They hold a special place in my heart as their mama, Cheryl was a great friend of mine.  We then headed to Mike and Jamie's.  Jamie had bought me one of those water bottle fans and she had loaned me a nice floppy hat.  I had sunscreen on and I was ready to go.

Me with Katie and Anthony Marcolini

We had a great parking spot at the Phoenix International Raceway and we proceeded into the racetrack area.  There were merchandise and food booths everywhere.  I loved the atmosphere.  We decided to check out our seats first.  We were in row 29 of the bleacher seats.  I climbed up to row 29 (without stopping) and I said to myself - WOW, I couldn't do that a year ago.  Nor would I have wanted to do that a year ago.  I would have just said, No.  I don't want to go to NASCAR.

Katie and I waiting for the rented seatback cushions 

I started to realize how much stamina I had and I began to realize how much my life had changed in one year and how bright my future looked.  Basically for 15-18 years I had turned down any camping trip, hiking trip, outdoor trip, European vacation, etc.  I did not have the stamina or the desire to do any of those things.  I ""WISHED" I could, but I knew I didn't want to.  But today I began to actually believe that my whole life had changed.  I weathered that 95 degrees in the bleachers watching the race without a hitch.  I went up and down those bleachers and felt great.  I walked to our car at the end and could have run a mile or two in addition.  It's hard to explain except to say a "shift" in attitude was happening.

The race was great.  My husband loves NASCAR so to be able to be there with him and watch him enjoy the heck out of his day was so worth it.  Unfortunately I do not know the drivers and their numbers and I was just catching on to the new rules.  But I can say, I would 100% do it again and look forward to doing it again.  I think maybe we would rent a headset so we could hear the commentator while we watched.  

Kind of a fun panoramic

Super smart Marketing idea.  Free photos and they e-mail them to
you immediately.  Then they encourage you to post it on Facebook or other social media.
Gets them lots of exposure.  Smart idea!!  This is me and Dave and Anthony and
Kaite Marcolini.

Got me a Joey Lagano shirt (I liked the colors.)
Had ourselves a beer.

It was a wild finish from what I was told.  I know there was a caution at the end and some cars pitted and some didn't.  The ones who did not ended up winning - so there is a definite strategy involved.  Hope I said that all correctly.

That evening we went out to eat with Mike and Jamie (Dave's cousins).  Again I was in so much better control of my mind than I ever had been.  I didn't eat perfectly, but I didn't eat horribly.  But even greater than that, I didn't stress about it.  That was the huge victory for me.

Dave and I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon so we decided that we were going to do that.  We got up early on Monday and headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon -- just because we could.

Day Two - Quito - Sunday, March 19, 2017

Day 2 for Joe and Ben

QUITO -- Take a tour of Quito: Independence Plaza: Government Palace
Visit the Santo Domingo Monastery
Take an excursion to the equatorial line
Visit the Intinan Museum

I told Joe no tap water and no street fruit.
So he sends me this text Day One.  Such a funny guy.

Sorry I don't know what to caption all the photos, but they look like they had a great day!

Quito and Phoenix

We dropped Joe and Ben off at the Grand Junction Airport at 6:30 a.m. And by 7:00 we were on our way to Phoenix.  Basically Day 1 for Joe and Ben was travel.  They flew from Grand Junction to Phoenix to Dallas to Quito.

Day 1 for Dave and I was drive to Phoenix.  I'll caption the pictures so you can follow along Day One.

Getting ready to say goodbye to the boys.

I'd like to believe they are telling us thanks!

The group!

Some of the scenery Dave and I saw on our way to Phoenix.  It was a beautiful drive.

Great book Patty is reading.

Hot air baloon in Moab.

Tried to get the picture while we were driving by.

Upgrade - so nice!

Went to dinner at Mike and Jamie's and Jamie let me borrow a cool
hat for the NASCAR Race tomorrow.

T Minus 24 Hours - Gallapagos Islands

Way back in the fall of 2015, we signed Joe and Ben up for a science-based trip to the Gallapagos Islands with Central High School.  Well here it is 1 1/2 years later and they are one day away from take off.  I'm forcing them to send me a couple of pictures a day and a sentence or two of what they did that day.  If they comply with my demands, I will be blogging on this blog about their adventures.
This is just a great way to remember their travels, so that's the plan, Stan.

Where has the time gone?  Blink and you miss it.

Let me tell you, it is so nice that they are experienced travelers and that they are 17 and 15.  It has lessened my work load by a LOT.  Their biggest challenge, in my opinion, is to pack for 10 days with just a carry on and a backpack.  But their boys, it should be easy, right?  Just make sure you have 10 pairs of underwear and you're good to go.

There are 14 kids and 2 adult chaperones.  We parents were told way back in the beginning that we were NOT invited.  But we absolutely love Mrs. Deuel and Ms. Janssen.  So they are in great hands.  Mrs. Deuel's son is Ben's friend from elementary school.

Tomorrow is their travel day -- Grand Junction to Phoenix, Phoenix to Dallas, Dallas to Quito.  They leave Grand Junction at 8:21 a.m. and arrive Quito at 10:15 p.m.

Dave and I drop them off at the airport at 6 am and then we drive to Phoenix for NASCAR.  I can't even remember the last time Dave and I did something alone together.  I think it was around 2007 when we won a trip to Cabo.   I'll post updates of their journeys and our experience at NASCAR on my Facebook page via this blog.   Bon Voyage!

End of August 2016

Nowadays you blink and a month has gone by.  This past week has been full of highs and lows.

We started the week with Joe enduring an awful head cold.  Most likely he got it from going back to school.  Even so, he went ahead with his MRI that was scheduled for his brain on Tuesday.  Joe has been having headaches for a few years now and we just wanted to rule out anything serious.  Thankfully we have a great doctor who is fully invested in helping Joe figure this out.  His office called us on Wednesday to tell us the MRI was clear - no bleeds, no tumors.  We still need to figure out the headaches, but at least we know it's not something serious.

Survived the MRI

I (Patty) was looking forward to Thursday morning when I would participate in the Western Colorado Senior Games swimming the 500 meter freestyle.  This is something I wanted to do (get back in the water and compete) for the past 14 years, but I have always felt too heavy.  With encouragement from a lot of people, I signed up for the event even though I was not at the weight I wanted to be at in order to "don" a swim suit.  It felt great to swim again; albeit it was very difficult, but rewarding.  The two women my age who I was to compete against did not swim, so I was moved up to swim with the 60 year olds.  I did win my age group - because I was the only siwmmer in my age group.  I met a lot of new friends.  And I was so thankful for the friends that came to the pool that morning to watch me swim.

Go Patty!

Jessica had a big week as she applied to Grad school and was accepted.  She started her Senior year at Colorado School of Mines this week.  They offer a 5 year Masters, so she applied for that and was accepted.  She can begin taking grad classes this year.  She worked up a whole budget for a year from now so she would know how she can pay for that 5th year.  Needless to say, we are very proud of her.  Her undergrad is in Applied Mathematics and her Masters will be in Statistics.

I guess we will see her in December.  :)  

    

After the swim on Thursday, I came home and saw that our dog was in pain.  We knew that it was time to put him down.  They could take him on Thursday or Friday.  If I did Thursday, the boys wouldn't be able to say good bye, so I scheduled it for Friday.  Ben took real good care of Buddy on Thursday night and Friday (Ben doesn't have school on Fridays.)  Then I took Buddy to the vet on Friday afternoon and said goodbye.

Buddy

I had caught Joe's cold on Wednesday night and spent most of Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday in bed.  Sunday I worked all day to get caught up on all the work I didn't do last week.  

Dave and his worker had a great week getting a lot accomplished with our business and bidding new jobs.  We can hardly believe it is almost September already.  That about sums up our week.  I will try to keep this blog updated weekly as well.