My dear
friends, if you think we forgot about keeping up our blog, you’re absolutely
right. We haven’t done much in the way
of excitement in the past 6 months, so I just sort of forgot.
 |
| View from our balcony |
We continued
our usual winter tradition of renting a condo in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic
for Jan, Feb & Mar.
 |
| Sunset from our balcony |
 |
| Our Tues night Happy Hour |
Most of our
usual winter friends were there.
A couple we'd met in Punta Cana, Steve & Brenda Horan, decided to check out Juan Dolio this year. It was nice to see them
 |
| Dinner with Marlene & Nelson |
We also made new friends.
 |
| Snuggles finally decided Sue was ok |
And of course, my friend, Sue Hollingsworth
came for a couple weeks.
It was much
rainier this year. We had more rain this
year than we’ve had in all the years we’ve been going there. Luckily, we have our great balcony looking
out over the beach & the water, so we spent a lot of time there.
They started this building the winter of 2016. It's been interesting watching them build it. The building & safety codes are nothing like they are in the US. I wonder how much will be done when we return.
Unfortunately,
Collins felt horrible almost the whole time we were there. Almost every muscle in his body hurt all the
time & some days he could hardly hold his cup of coffee. He went to a rheumatologist as soon as we
returned to IL. Come to find out, he has
polymyalgia rheumaticia. It’s a form of
arthritis that attacks the muscles. The
Dr put him on prednisone & he literally felt better the next day. We aren’t sure how long he’ll have to take
it, but they are lowering the dosage each month. I can’t tell you how thankful we were to find
out what was wrong & to have a medication to make it better.
I had a knee
replacement done the beginning of April.
There’s no place in IL to park an RV anywhere near where we needed to be
until the beginning of May, so we left it in storage. My brother Rob, & his wife, Lisa, were
gracious enough to let us stay with them for about 2 weeks. They have mostly one floor living, which
helped immensely. It’s been about 4
months since the surgery & I would say, I’m moving really well. Still a little swelling, but other than that,
I have no complaints.
We left the
RV in storage in KY this past year, so we made a trip there the end of April to
pick it up. While we were there, we had a chance to visit with my mom.
After that, we went to an RV
Rally in Indiana, where we met up with the Canadian friends we met on our
European Tour last summer. It was so
great to see Shelagh & Ron. We just
fell back in step & shared a lot of laughs for a week. We were sorry to say good bye, but hope to
cross paths again in the future.
At that
point, we returned to IL. We had decided
to sell 2 of our townhouses, so we had some rehabbing to do. For almost 2 months we cleaned, painted &
did all sorts of repairs, getting the properties ready for sale. I was so happy the day we finally put them on
the market. One is under contract, which
makes us even happier.
We also had two high school graduations during this time. Our granddaughter, Lexi, lives in FL so we made a trip for her graduation & party.
 |
| Granddaughter Brittany, Granddaughter Lexi, Daughter Collina |
 |
| Karen, Lexi & Collins |
Our son, Doug, decided to make a surprise visit for Lexi's graduation.
And we had a chance to visit with our great grandson, Blake. Hard to believe he's 8.
We weren't there when it happened, but our daughter, Collina, got engaged the night of the graduation party.
 |
Granddaughter Brittany & Great Grandson Blake
|
And we had a chance to visit with our great grandson, Blake. Hard to believe he's 8.
 |
| Mike proposes to Collina |
We weren't there when it happened, but our daughter, Collina, got engaged the night of the graduation party.
We also had a chance to visit Collins' good friend from high school, Pete & his wife Linda
The following weekend, we had our grandson, Ryan's, graduation back in IL.
 |
| Karen, Ryan & Collins |
My mom came to IL before we went to my neice, Kelly's wedding. She spent a week at Paula's house.
 |
| Paula & Mom snuggle on the couch |
 |
| Granddaughter Becca & Collins showed up in the same shirts |
 |
| Tim & Kelly |
We made a trip to Iowa for our neice, Kelly's wedding. It was nice seeing all the family again.
 |
| Karen & Kelly |
 |
| Granddaughter Becca, Daughter Paula & Karen |
 |
| My Mom |
 |
| All my brothers & sisters were at the wedding |
Also during
this time, Collins had cataract surgery on one eye, so that kept around awhile longer.
On July 13th,
Collins had his last eye appointment & we finally left IL. We were off to an RV Rally in Gillette, WY
for a week then about 6 weeks in the Yellowstone & Teton areas. Unfortunately, we have to be back in IL by
mid Sept. Poor Collins has to have a lot
of dental work, so I guess we’ll be stuck in IL again for awhile.
I’ll keep
you posted on our Yellowstone & Teton trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment