[pics incl] 01/15/22 For Ashley’s & Heather’s birthdays this year… we left. REALLY LEFT. You’ll have to bear with me for posting slowly, as I haven’t had service in a while 😉 I’m just gonna start at the beginning
Jeff managed to get me out of the country for 😉 two weeks. We MADE all 3 kids take us to the airport at 3am on the 14th so we could “sing Ashley Happy Bday” on the way… she was thrilled (ha!). We made it to Tortola, BVI the 15th after staying a night in St. Thomas
This is one of my favorite photos! We took it at the resort we stayed. There’s more of course!
I’m still recovering from travel (& laundry) but I thought I’d make sure to get one post in before it auto-sends.
Stay tuned as I will try to let you see what we enjoyed!
This post will be about our plane rides (x2) and ferry, from Denver to St. Thomas, VI.
I previously posted regarding arriving at Sugar Mill in Tortola, BVI. However, we obviously had to get there first😛 but I wasn’t very organized yet.
First we had to have negative COVID tests. We had to have one for the plane into St. Thomas, VI and one for the ferry into Tortola, BVI. Fortunately, or should I say miraculously, there was one day that we could take the test in Denver and have it count for BOTH entrances. [This was even more amazing when you consider 4/5 of us tested positive for Christmas & New Years!]
I didn’t know beforehand that Jeff had booked us first class. I mentioned before that we made the kids take us to the airport at 3am. We were served breakfast on the first flight. Mimosas on the second.
Were teasing the kids (I didn’t drink mimosas).
I took several photos & a short video clip as we were approaching St Thomas
We stayed in a hotel directly across from the ferry overlooking this bay. (There’s a cruise ship leaving out there)
We quickly realized there are chickens… EVERYWHERE? There really wasn’t anyone around to ask if this is… wild animals, free food or if the area is a huge ranch 🤷♀️
I took a few pics of buildings/names because Neil was born in VI.
By the time I was on the ferry…. I was feeling a little green but Jeff thought it be funny to update the kids.
I did manage to snap a few pix.
… and you’ve already met our wonderful driver from airport to Sugar Mill.
I had a thyroid ultrasound in July 2020 which showed a small nodule but the plan was to just monitor bloodwork and scans. Then…. my endocrinologist decided to retire. She had been talking about it for a couple of years and with COVID… she decided it was time. Sigh, she was one of the last doctors I have that KNOW me… from before clot… so I knew her. I don’t know any of the “new doctors”
It actually took a while to find a new endocrinologist that was taking new patients (during covid) and could also manage a history of thyroid cancer. After reviewing my scan she adjusted my meds.
I had another ultrasound in July 2021 which showed a second module. New doc decided to adjust my meds again and schedule another ultrasound in six months.
It was a funny when I had my last two ultrasound because the same radiologist has been performing and/or reading my scans since the beginning. (I know her) However, a few years ago she stopped performing scans and has only been reading scans from another location. At my appointment in July, she just happened to be in the building to eat lunch with a colleague, so she stopped in when she saw my name…. and YAY! I knew her. My appointment in December had to be rescheduled and she still insisted on being the one to read my scans. Apparently, for the best in thyroid care in Denver metro… it’s a small world and her name is all over it! I’m grateful
The ultrasound on 12/07/21 showed the same two modules with no new growth. My meds have been tweaked just a little bit more at my 12/29/21 appointment and I have a follow up in June 2022.
During this time, my bloodwork has had undetectable Tg levels. That’s all good! (thyroglobulin) is the thyroid cancer indicator they look for.
I cannot believe our sweet baby boy has turned 21! I’m honored to have watched you grow into an amazing young man. So proud of you and love ya lots! Cannot wait to see what your future holds.
Wow, the Scott’s “News of the Week” aka Scott’s on the Rocks Blog has been running for 25 years! It actually started as email when only a few people had consumer email, most people who HAD email, only had it at a large work that was .gov, .edu
I was pregnant with Ashley and had a few family members and a couple of friends, scattered around the globe, that worked for .gov or universities. I had ALWAYS been good about keeping touch via snail-mail. Having email allowed us to have a little more “instant gratification” in our communications. Fortunately for me, my aunts/uncles/cousins that had email were located in areas around other family whom did not have email. They all shared questions/comments/news/pics
We moved to CO when Ashley was a newborn and at the same time consumer email became available to more people. My list of communication grew.
Didn’t take long when I decided we needed or own domain… boulder became rocks and VIOLA! Scotts On The Rocks
I used to MANUALLY update my website with “news of the week” and accompanying photos… then I scripted it… then we moved it to Wordoress in 2009-2010 (not positive) and called it BLOG. [The old website is still around but not accessible to public]. http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2011/01/13/news-of-the-week-reincarnated/
Many of you have been on the newslist from the very beginning… or shortly thereafter, some of you are newcomers. I appreciate all of you and your e-mails & posts!
I’ve jad some of ya’ll call/txt/email so I figured if more than one of you is asking…. I’ll just assume more of you might be curious…. 😂!
1) Yes, you need a password to login to make a comment. (but not to just read) You can just select the “forgot password” from the login screen and it’ll help you. It might take a little time, if you don’t see anything in an hour… CHECK OUT SPAM FOLDER and/or try again. AND YES, I do have the lockout set pretty short… like 2-3 wrong attempts. You’ll have to email me if you get locked out more than a day. I DO get your e-mails when you reply to the weekly blog.
2) Yes, I can txt you photos but you have to txt me first 😉 & tell me who you are) cuz I lost a bunch of contacts.
3) NO, the post title I made is NOT just “a bluebird”. That also might be what kind of bird it is in the picture HAHAHA but that doesn’t completely answer the reference “what’s the bluebird of happiness” in the title. I guess I was kinda vague thought cuz I was looking more for where the reference comes from?
4) I have no idea how to do “a degree symbol” on my iphone… that’s why I put * SOOOO, when I say it’s 32* that’s 32 degrees in “TAZ speak”
5) The blanket Ashley “drew” is like a large throw… cover most of a twin? I’ll take a better photo [and no, she didn’t sign it…. grrrr 😉] Yes, she still makes awesome art but has asked that I do not post online.
…And on a personal note… I still struggle w/ spelling so please bear w/ me on typos and … maybe I didn’t think the correct word and the sentence is a little wonky 😉 Holler ifI every completely lose ya!
[pics incl] Jeff & I were kinda on a mission to find some places we could go camping year round. We decided to try out John Martin Reservoir in southeastern Colorado. I dunno if it fills up in the summer but it turned out to be a great place. I’m working on editing & captioning the pictures. I took a bunch but figured we could all enjoy them together (these are “my memory cuz I’ll probably forget this too 😢)and I’ll upload them as I do… keep checking back (I’ll let you know when I’ve reached the last one). I’m really slow though! 😉😂.
We stayed in the loop where all the sites have electricity. (none have water or septic but there are plenty of water spickets around & a nice dump setup off the main road. We arrived after dark… and if you’ve ever gotten camping advice from me…. what do I say??? Don’t get there after dark if you’ve never been and don’t know what to expect 😉 We found a water near out campsite but is the kind you have to manually hold…. it’s 40* out…. Took about 15min but We figured out all out haha
The second night, Jeff fixed steaks for dinner and at dusk A LOT of turkeys suddenly landed in a nearby field. They made their way over to the tree near our camper. There’s a snow storm headed this way and they roosted here overnight! [Random funny: my auto-correct kept changing that to roasted & I had to stop and laugh a while… turkeys roasting overnight 🤣!]
This made me think of my dad and “Uncle” Paul. They have some turkey stories 😉 Today’s my dad’s birthday so it’s fitting that turkeys showed up!
It was 28* when I got up on 10/15/21! Fortunately, our camper is rated for all-season. We decided to go into the little town of Hasty, CO a couple miles away.. There’s literally a post office and a cafe/store. Good food, GREAT people!
Afterwards we drove into Lamar just to check it out and then drove over the John Martin Reservoir dam & river to the southeast dispersed camping & hunting areas.
You can’t really see in photo but the reservoir name is etched on the tower.
There are protected water fowl areas on the SW side of dam. Its all dispersed camping (well marked) that they rope off depending on mating/nesting seasons. Even the campsite we are in becomes eagle sanctuary in a few weeks. (those tree where the turkeys perched become eagles habitat).
Just for reference, our campsite is located up in the right hand corner, kinda literally under the “Legend” logo.
Then we completed the loop over to the SE side of the dam and found an “Ultimate Frisbee Golf” course and the swim beach (closed).
I’m not a foodie so don’t always think of food presentation… but I’m trying to remember meals & what worked or was easy …. and what wasn’t 😉 The chicken & rice w/ brown rice worked fine. Took us a while to figure out how to use the oven for the first time!
It’s still REALLY chilly 😉 out
When it warmed up a bit, we decided to walk to the fishing pavilion. [NOTE: I hurt my leg a few weeks ago and its still tender, so I wasn’t sure I could walk that far & back].
Yes… Pelicans. Remember, I said this is kinda a water fowel area? I didn’t realize CO had pelicans…. but we do! Here’s a couple links for more interest in CO birds & SE CO birds:
THIS view is looking back towards the camping area (kinda looking at the place I took the photo above of the fishing pavilions).
I made it back to the camper… well… I had to stop a couple campsites away & wait a bit for my leg to let me…. but THEN I made it back. Jeff has been doing all the cooking so I can stay off my leg. We thought it’d be handy to know if “ready to assemble” meal kits would be useful….
THIS one was something neither of us liked… it smelled good 😉 but I guess I’m picky.
This one was fine… Jeff doesn’t like sweet potatoes & I didn’t want all double portions on mine so it worked. Not sure we’ll do again but I think the concept is still a good idea…. having “ready to assemble ” meals. Just make up our own.
I know this may seem long and boring but I’m using it as reference. I alos have many people on this list who do not camp or CANNOT. I also hope that I’ve been thorough enough for anyone to “follow the story”. Feel free to lemme know if I’m missing something!
[pics incl] I appreciate all the calls, txts, emails, FB & LinkedIn posts wishing me a happy birthday!
The kids & Jeff, came up with some very unique gifts! & Emily showed up in the morning with yellow roses and a bundle of very thoughtful gifts and worded card! Thank you!
I put her roses with the sunflowers from kids and viola… I decorated the counter for a photo😂
Ashley and I had a funny txt conversation going super early in the morning and my mom happened to txt me in the middle of Ashley claiming she is a child… which made me reply “along the lines of … me too!” We blindly sent all those texts (including this one) to my mom… very funny!
There are all the Francis Bacon bound books!
My parents asked… “Where… did they find those books?!” Courtney replied “you might be too old to realize… that you can buy anything on Ebay!”
AND… They got me a giant aero-garden… some assembly required!
I’ll have to follow up with that! William opened the box that’s bigger than me but I don’t know what to do with all the pieces. He’ll have to help me.
and Ashley drew a unicorn… had it printed on…. a blanket?! She also gave me the video of her drawing it.
I put it in the camper… it’s my new travel blankie 😂
…. and randomly … for those of you w/ a Keurig. Ya know that drip plate thingy? She 3D printed a Halloween one for ours.
RANDOM–Funny comments made: I was teasing the kids that they used to pool all their money to buy Polly Pockets and now they’ve graduated to Sir Francis Bacon and 3D printer filaments! This prompted stories of how they refused to spend money on stupid Polly Pocket clothes. As a result, their primary Polly Pocket antagonist was Bobo Fett. Jeff said “Hey I used to play with Bobo Fett when I was a kid!” Courtney & Ashley: “Bobo Fett, full circle.”
I said this in the last post… but THIS “…is the rest of the story…” 😉 We were sitting around discussing action figures. It’s an important topic….
I was teasing the kids that they used to pool all their money to buy Polly Pockets and now they’ve graduated to Sir Francis Bacon and 3D printer filaments!
When I was little, I actually never really had any, liked, nor played with, Barbie BUUUUT… I was “about 10” when Star Wars came out and I went into my standard spiel (you gotta hear it in person😂).
…but ALL our kids (and some neighbors too) used to play SOOOO well with Polly Pockets….
This had Jeff and me helping them compare their “action figure play.”
HUGE CAN OF WORMS! HAHAHA!
….<snip into conversation that’s been going on for quite a while, all the kids are on the floor emphatically sketching imaginary storylines into the carpet with their fingers, Jeff has given up and is paying attention… but really watching something on his phone😉…. I really wish I had taken pictures while I was just mostly listening and laughing>….
Courtney and Ashley are now explaining how detailed their “play” became: This prompted stories of how they refused to spend money on the STUPID clothes. [pause here for a 10-15 min tirade on just how STUPID the clothes were] [Hence, my comment above re: books & 3D filament]. As a result, they had to be creative with their characters.
Ashley: William you had that one because the Polly Pocket primary antagonist was Bobo Fett.
Out of the blue and without looking up (you know, just imagine your dad reading the paper or watching football while you tell him about the bear eating his car 🤣), Jeff chimes in: …. HEY… I used to played w/ Bobo Fett when I was a kid!…
[pics incl] Often, when I’m sitting out on the front porch, this bluebird (no idea what kind), comes almost right up to me. I’ve never been able to get a photo as it only briefly stays. This morning, my little bluebird buddy actually came and hang out for several minutes and posed for several pics 😉 Enjoy!
… feel free to lemme know what kind of bird this is!
[pics incl] In all fairness, even between the two of us, we couldn’t manage a meal and Jeff rescued us😉 We have all been taking turns cooking. William and Emily cooked a Russian meal last weekend (dunno if pic but it was FABULOUS!) Courtney cooked alone and it was FABULOUS and looks great!
Ashley and I were attempting to recreate a meal from a local restaurant. She still can’t really use her wrists and it was a bit more chopping than I could manage. When Jeff smelled it getting started, he came to our rescue.
We have a little competition going to see who can use the most farm fresh ingredients we have on hand.
I think Courtney has the most “farm fresh” ingredients because technically Ashley and I did not do our day(s) alone. Actually, I “not” helped Ashley on her day and we went out to eat on mine so… I think I have negative points .
Wish us all luck! (and I don’t really mean for the points, I mean please hope we don’t poison ourselves!)
[NOTE UPDATE: Courtney winning so far w/ most meals cooked and most items used. William and Emily have been cooking from scratch too! I really think that means “Emily is cooking from scratch while William hands her stuff” And I think, after a couple of attempts, we’ve all decided to leave eggplant to the professionals!]
[pics incl] Darci txt’d last night and asked if we could send a group photo so she could create a birthday book for her mom (my sister, Stacy). Leave it to a teenager to wait till the last minute! My family has plans to clean out the garage all day… so NO, I wasn’t even gonna ask them. I did ask Ashley to take a picture of ME so I could at least send something and I figured I’d attempt to wrangle my crew at a later date. But they saw her taking pics and got involved. Even all grungy and yucky they said “this is what we are today…!” gathered around and sat down. 😂 Then Courtney said, hey, I can at least make out ANIMATED. So we had to paste on smiles, sit super still and very slowly wave our hands. VIOLA!
[NOTE… sigh, the animated version won’t upload correctly so I’ve modified it to a .mov … but that isn’t working for everyone so txt me if you want & I can reply to you w/ the “cute one” 😉 ]
[pics incl] For Scotty’s 85th birthday, we all SURPRISED him with a short cruise out of Galveston . He had to be told of the cruise because they changed things up and began requiring negative covid tests. He and Jacque arrived at Sheri’s & Jody’s a couple days prior, where they had planned to have “just a birthday dinner to see them off.” 😉 Up until then we had all been kinda avoiding each other as best as possible, until we all tested negative.
Sheri & Patti planned it all out 😁😁 First, everyone arrived, but Jeff & I stayed outside. They told him they had a surprise for him… in walks Jeff. Scotty was definitely surprised! BUT THEN, they handed him his gift which was a t-shirt & card. The shirt is a cruise shirt and says “Oh Ship! It’s a Birthday Trip!” On the card was written how everyone has pitched in to give him the birthday cruise BUT THAT’S NOT ALL, turn page and it says”WE ARE ALL GOING WITH YOU” listing those who could go. Ten in total, including Scotty & Jacque!
Jeff and I flew down the weekend before but mostly avoided everyone (except my immediate family) and including anyone going on the cruise, hoping that, in the end if anyone tested positive, the others would not have been exposed and could still go with Scotty & Jacque 😉😉
Jeff and I spent some quality time on/off at my parents’ house. Jeff had to work those few days prior to cruise but was able to do so a little from their home. I helped rearrange a cabinet 😉 or two… which brings up “just how many people does it take…?” Three… it takes three people to rearrange. One to take the hinges off said cabinet and two to gather all the items from another room to also store in the cabinet😂😂 Actually, they were having some painting done, dad took the hinges off so we could walk thru easier & mom and I moved all the dishes from her china cabinet into the kitchen cabinets 😉 Considering we didn’t break any dishes and no one fell off a ladder, I’d say between the three of us it was a comedy it succeeded! We managed to squeeze in a dinner with Andrea, Mark & Hayley (& TaffyToo her little puppy)
It was a first cruise for both Jeff and me because I usually say “I get seasick talking about boats!” However, since clot, either something has changed in my brain or my brain meds have changed whether I get motion sick. Soooo… this was a test for me. Regardless, I figured I could manage for such a worthy cause! 😉
Justin brought his chessboard and Grandpa was a willing partner. Many people paused to check out their progress.
Front Row: John, Jacque, Scotty, Jeff Middle Row: Sheri, Jessica, Patti, Justin, Theresa Back Row: Jody
Obviously, we all felt we needed to squat down so you could see Jody better 😂
Look close at the sun near the horizon (right above water)
Formal night led into changing clothes and finding min-golf & fooseball. The ship rocking might have contributed … or hindered play, depending on your perspective of course 😂😂 There were some par 22 (or is that quadruple eagle?!) and hole-in-one!
Oh wait… did I mention the hurricane no one told me about until just before we were leaving?!
Lunch in Cozumel. Jeff and I took a horse buggy into town.
The desserts were awesome! Everyone on the ship helped us celebrate our wonderful Scotty… THE reason we are all here… literally! I couldn’t have selected a better father-in-law… grandfather for our kids, my mentor, friend… family! Love You!
This is unedited! that’s the color of the water:bright blue/deep black… with the storm on the horizon.
Playing Three-Thirteen was a fun way to spend quality family time & share stories. Jeff also remembered to bring our pinochle decks and we squeezed in a few games while listening to trivia night too. Jessica & Justin watched us & Justin won a trivia challenge! GOOD TIMES
Moonlight on the ocean. it is not visible in the photo really, but you can see where the sky is clear and where the storm front is way out there as we approach.
Yah know…. I should get brownie points for cruise + Hurricane Ida + the other whatever visible from the other side of the ship! Seas got a bit rough for ….just ….a …little …while. Enough to make EVERYONE aboard appear as drunken sailors! 😂 Scotty & I were very glad there were handrails everywhere… & benches. We even decided that if we ever do this again…. we should definitely opt for getting the scooter! I would go on a cruise with him again if only to see him driving a scooter 😂😂 Where to next?
I highly recommend the ear patch thing to those of you that are hesitant. I also recommend avoiding hurricanes😉 [Personal Note: I did TEST whether or not I needed the ear patch and went about 24+ hours before the motion began to start making me notice… not awful, just… noticeable. As we were having formal night & formal group photos, I opted to “better safe than sorry” …but I probably would have needed it within <8 hr window of that as we skirted the hurricane edges.]
Overall, it was a good experience! [Well, there was my brief detainment with Customs … You should try to avoid that 😂😂 ]
[HEY THERE… I know this is a novel but if you’ve stuck around long enough to read the whole thing…. do me a favor and hit reply so I know you got it! or txt me. I’m attempting… again… to update my contacts (a bunch got deleted recently) If I ask who you are, it could mean your contact info is missing… OR … I’ve completely forgotten who you are but I’m gonna pretend like your contact info got deleted. He he he]
[pics incl] Neil is now a grandpa! We had to sneak over and hold the little guy, of course! Since I didn’t ask permission, I’m not posting baby pics, I’ll just refer you to Neil for specifics. However, we did remember to take a group pic!
