Merry Christmas, 2019

Merry Christmas, 2019

**double click pictures to see them better.  Click on links for fun information.**

December, 2018 ~ After just re-reading our Christmas Blog from 2018, I have to say that life did not go as hoped this year.  Continuing on with our saga of last year, we spent two weeks in Kanab, Utah, waiting for the motor home transmission to be fixed.  Considering we were travelling down south to be in the warm climate, this wasn't working out so well (it was very cold in Kanab).  Finally we arrived in Tucson to be with our friends, Mark and Cyndi in a motor home park near brother Dick and Cindy.  However, I felt the need to go to the Tucson Emergency Room on Christmas Eve...after several hours, the ER doctor whispered to me that I probably had cancer and should see a doctor within two days. 

The day after Christmas (spent at Dick and Cindy's with Mark and Cyndi and niece and nephew, Kelly and Mike), Tony and I set out early in the morning to find a doctor that would see me without an appointment (only had to wait five hours!!).  After having chemo six times in three different states, losing my hair and learning about how to wear wigs, and at least 40 different appointments, I can now say I am "cancer free" and my hair is almost back to normal!!  Mark and Cyndi were with us at the beginning of it all and stayed with us until Bill and Janet arrived.  Thank you, Mark and Cyndi.  I have to profusely thank brother Bill and Janet who changed their travel plans to be with us in Tucson during this ordeal and went with us to the Yuma hospital, to the San Diego hospital and made sure we got back to Seattle.  However, when we arrived in Seattle, they passed the responsibility of my care to sister-in-law Judi and hurried home (I'm not saying that they wanted to get away from us, but.....).  At this time my ability to see and walk was hampered immensely.  Judi transported me to over 30 appointments in the Seattle area in our five week stay there (in the motor home outside their home).  Thank you all!!

And now, on to more positive things....while in Tucson my niece Kelly made sure I got more cinnamon popcorn balls than brother Dick.  Dick cooked some BBQ ribs on his grill that were "to die for".  We went to the Winterhaven Festival of Lights, the Franklin Museum, the Biosphere 2, and twice to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.  Pictures of what we saw in the desert museum can be seen here.

January, 2019 ~

We did a lot of touring with Mark and Cyndi before they left for Yuma and continued "playing tourist" with Bill and Janet (Tubac, Garden of Gethsemane, Poncho Villa statute, El Tiradito, The Wishing Shrine (Sharon making a wish picture and shoving it in the wall).  Our tour guide was Roadside America.  If you haven't used this web site, you should give it a try.  Brother Jim and Kathie visited Tucson which put four of six siblings together (Dick, Bill, Jim, and I).

Cute and different signs and objects we saw in our travels.

Found this at my sister-in-law's
home in Tucson.

Loved that the painter wasn't
quite done with the painting.

Had to snap this picture in UK
airport since Tony and I are
such fans of Jason Bourne movies.

From Tucson, we went to Quartzsite and Yuma with Bill and Janet.  We all went to Mexico for a fun-filled day with our RV friends...however the next day I landed in the Yuma hospital (brother Dick drove over and back from Tucson in one day to see me) I was then moved to a San Diego hospital by way of a medvac plane.  Mark and Cyndi helped Tony get our motor home to San Diego and Bill and Janet again followed us there.  I was very lucky to have friends, Rich and Luci from Los Angeles, visit for a day armed with lots of chocolate.

February ~  After being released from the San Diego hospital, we started home with Bill and Janet following us.  We ran into a snow storm crossing the mountains and Tony did not believe the "road closed" signs.  He just kept driving until a patrolman made us turn around.  By this time, Bill and Janet were ahead of us when the road opened.  We eventually arrived safely at brother Ray and Judi's.  Thank you all for visiting during our five weeks there (Seattle relatives ~ Cally, Karla, Toshi, Mae, Kenny, Kierra, Phillip, Dani, Jack, and Jackie)  Sue came over from Moscow to see me and visited with her daughter, Kelli.  Dennis drove over and back in one day to "look at me" and see that I was OK.

March ~ This month was filled with doctor appointments, surgery to insert a port for chemo, and eye surgery (which put a gas bubble in my eye so we couldn't go home because we couldn't go over the pass ~ too high of elevation for my eye).  However, my driver through all of this, sister-in-law Judi, made sure we kept up our touring by seeing Ballard Locks, Fremont Troll under bridge,  and the Microsoft Visitor Center.  This is how I spent my 76th birthday with lots of attention from Judi.  Thank you to everyone for your concerns during all of this.  I have to mention my friend Suzy who sent me a joke via text nearly every day as well as a purple troll and Karol who sent me a purple picture of something via text almost every week.

April ~ We returned home after four months.  This is my great grandson, Landon, age two.....









....and all U.S. grandchildren (not included are Abby from Manila, Abe and Lily from Spain and grand dog, Ted, from UK).   Pictured in top row (Cally, Kierra, Caily); bottom row (Cody, Phillip and Casey).




In April my youngest brother, Paul, died...All my brothers, sons, and four cousins (Judy, Roberta, Janice, and Mary) from South Dakota, Nebraska, Arizona, Washington, Wyoming, and Idaho came to Boise, Idaho for the funeral.

May ~ We took a short week-end trip to be with friends for their Mother's funeral in Montana, and attended another funeral for a camping buddy, Butch.

We continue to support Friendly Neighbors Senior Center with our friends Win, Sue, Bill and Sally as well as weekly lunches together at D.Willy's and Pizza Perfection.  Since Dennis sold D.Willy's in October of this year, the six of us now take turns picking a different restaurant to go to every week.

June ~ We took our small motor home for our yearly rendezvous with our "snow bird" friends...

...and spent a lot of time watching grandson Cody play baseball with Dennis coaching.  In the fall I loved going to Caily's volleyball games and Cody's football and basketball games.

Casey and Lindsay's wedding was in June.  I officiated the wedding!!  The photographer snapped this four generation picture... ...Landon, Casey, Dennis and I (with the wig I wore for six months!)








I have to include this beautiful picture of my granddaughter, Cally, who took part in the wedding.










Still in June we had more fun? when rain poured down in Moscow and caused floods everywhere in town including our backyard (pictured).







We had relatives visit from UK, Rosie and Rob.  It was amusing seeing three British people eating pizza with a knife and fork.  😊

July ~ We were invited to go to Florida to see the launch of a space craft (Orion Ascent Abort 2) and have a tour of the Kennedy Space Center with friends (pictured ~ Win, Sue, Kelli, Sharon, Tony, Becky, Cary, and Susan).   Cary was the Flight Test Integrator-Chief Engineer for this project built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.  The fun we had included a champagne celebration to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic ocean before the blast off...followed by fun in the ocean...so much fun that one wave caused me to lose my wig (never to be found again).

August ~ We kept busy with company ~ long time friend, Suzy and her family brought her granddaughter over to move in to the dorm at Washington State University.  A visit from the Seattle crew (Ken and Kierra) was next.  Then later Cally came for a long week-end.  Picture shows a fun time with my friends (Sharon, Sue, Sally).






September ~ We took a motor home trip to South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming with Bill following in his motor home.  We met Cyndi and Mark near Rapid City and spent five days there waiting for a water pump to be repaired...but this gave us more time with cousins Roberta, Mary, Don and Verlene.  Next stop was Nebraska to see more cousins (Judy and Larry, Janice and Archie).

Next we drove to brother Jim's in Wyoming.  His grandson, Maddux, is learning to use tools very early in life.  We took a road trip with Jim and Kathie to see the Oregon Trail Ruts and Register Cliffs.  We also enjoyed Maddux's parents, Brittany and Mark.








Next stop was in Riverton, Wyoming.  Brother Dick and Cindy took us to the Bronze Foundry, where the Wall Street bull and bear are made.  Picture is of their biggest project.







We made a quick stop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (picture shows a walkway made entirely of antlers) before continuing on to Boise, Idaho to see Paul's daughter (Hayley) and family in their new home.  They are very proud to be able to accommodate our two motor homes (Bill's and ours) in their driveway.

And then....from mid-America to UK...



October ~ Most of the month was spent in UK.  The first few days were at Neil and Becky's where Tony's grand dog lives (Ted).

Jonathan

Lily

Jonathan came from Spain the same day with Tony's grand kids (Abe and Lily).

Abe

We went to see Sir Winston Churchill's home with Neil and Becky.  My favorite was this painting.  Look close to find Churchill's profile in the mug in the center.






We then moved on to Tony's brother's home (Terry and Jacqueline). We were entertained by so many it is hard to thank everyone enough for their hospitality (Terry's daughter and family ~ Tara, Nathan, Milla and Connor...

...Jacqueline's twin sister (June and Bill)...

...her brother (Steve and Ann)...




...her son and grand children (Mike and Becky, Harry, and Ollie)





...Grantham (Susan, Courtney and Liz, Geoff and Carol) (pictured ~ Terry, Tony and Courtney)...



...Nottingham to visit cousin Pam and extended family (Wendy, Steve, and Alex; Richola, Andy and Colby)...

...to Bristol to see Jean and Bob...




...to Bournemouth to see Ken and Janice and Terry's daughter Dawn.

Our last stop was Tetbury with Becky and Neil before returning home.  This town is famous for its close proximity to Prince Charles' home (although we didn't see Prince Charles, I bought a Christmas ornament from his local shop that looked like a crown!).  We toured the oldest police station in UK and saw many of the sites shown in the Tetbury link while staying in a great cottage.

And now back to the USA...

November ~ A trip to Seattle for two last cancer and eye checkups and visits with all the family and friends there...son Kenny with his kids, Phillip and Kierra (pictured)...
...niece Karla, Toshi, and Mae...
...Dara, a friend I hadn't seen for many, many years...
...brother Ray and Judi, and their Seattle family, Dani, Jack, and Jacki...
...and a trip to Mill Creek to get my very short hair dyed purple...

I flew down to Tucson to see brother Dick and Cindy, niece Kelly, and camping friends Mark and Cyndi, Tammy and Steve, and Gene and Holly.   All this time Tony stayed home to work on an elevator for our home...he's building it before it is needed, but as we slow down more and more, he better hurry.  Picture is of Tony's drawing on solidworks of the elevator.

Now I am finishing this travel blog early on Christmas morning before the Christmas festivities begin with ten of us spending the day together.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


~~Tony and Sharon

In Memory ~ I need to reflect and remember all those who won't be with us in 2020 ~

Paul Phillip ~ my youngest brother from Boise, Idaho, Paul's memorial page is here.
Bernadine Wolfe ~ my aunt (my mother's youngest sister) from Green Valley, Arizona
Rose Wilson ~ my grandchildren's mother (Phillip and Abby) from Seattle, Washington
John Edwards ~ Tony's cousin from UK
Dennis Edwards ~ Tony's cousin from UK
Butch Ellsworth ~ our camping friend from Potlatch, Idaho
Phyllis Roberts ~ our camping friend from Harvard, Idaho
Jerri Greaves ~ Jim Powers' sister from Nampa, Idaho
Jan Wilson ~ my boy's stepmother

These friends and relatives will all be missed.