Monday, January 9, 2017

A Year End Review

2016 has been definitely blog worthy.  Sadly, I'm a poor blogger.  So, I'm going to take an easy route to do a quick catch up post.  There is going to be more to our story that I'd like to document, so hopefully I can get back in the habit of regular blog posts.

Retirement:  In May, Dennis retired from his V.P. position he has held for the past 15 years.  Mostly, this has been a good thing.  Stress has taken it's toll, it is time to move on, even if it means a change in finances and spending habits.

Alaska RV Trip:  There is no way I could possibly write anything at this point that would describe our adventure.  We covered over 13,000 miles in our little motorhome from May through August.  We truly enjoyed ourselves and this was the perfect way to start this next phase of our lives.  At some time, I hope I can do a proper recap here of our trip.  This was truly the highlight of 2016!


Health: The summer passed with no more than a couple sniffles and a few sore muscles from hiking. But shortly after returning home, D started experiencing dizziness and strange head aches.  Even after several doctor visits, a cat scan and other tests, no diagnosis.  Finally, at a loss, the doc tested for mono.  So at 62 years old, he has a disease most often associated with college age and young adults.  Unfortunately, a 62 year old with mono, can expect to feel the effects for several months or even a year.  Then, around Thanksgiving, I came down with a "popular" respiratory virus and have been battling the sluggishness and bone rattling coughing.  Here it is almost the middle of January of the new year and we are still not 100%.   

Family and Christmas:  The downside of traveling all summer and several thousand miles away, was missing our family.  Especially, the grandkids.  We missed some birthday parties and family outings, but they all remembered us (well, the one year old sort of did!) and we got lots of hugs when we got home.

I was able to get back to some sewing projects just in time for Christmas.  There was no room in the little motorhome for a sewing machine, but then we were too busy being tourists to miss it!  Here are the grandkids in this years Christmas jammies.  I think they looked pretty cute!


The Big News: We are going to sell our home, and go full time in our RV! This plan has been in our thoughts for quite some time.  But after enjoying our trip last summer and facing the fact that we aren't getting any younger, we decided to go for it.  We've ordered a new, bigger and more livable motorhome and are in full downsizing mode.  There is so much more to say about all of this, I will have to continue here with the details!  We are getting excited, but nervous too.  More to this story for sure!

2 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Oh WOW! What a fun new adventure you have in front of you -- you'll be living my dream! There's no way I'd ever be able to talk hubby into doing that -- he's a homebody -- so I'll live vicariously through you. LOVE the family jammies -- the kids all look adorable. And I'm sure your kids have teased you two about the mono??? Maybe??? You guys must've been making out a lot on that Alaska trip LOLOL!!!

joeks said...

You've certainly had a big year, and that is some BIG news! We have a couple of friends that have gone the full time RV route. Hope it works out for you. Will there be room for your sewing machine? Praying you'll both feel better soon, too.