November 14, 2019 through November 18, 2019
Matt just sent me this text; it’s Monday, October 28, 2019 at about 10 PM.
Looks like our newest member of the family will be here soon!
11:18 PM Pacific (a little after midnight, Mountain)
They arrived at the hospital and are settling in. No contractions yet.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 7:44 AM (Pacific time)
Text from Matt:
Their doctor is in Hawaii so she is being cared for by the attending physician. Matt said she seems to be doing fine and sent this pic:
It’s a good thing they went to the hospital when they did because now there’s lots of snow too. Text from Matt at about 8 AM:
And this one is from the roof of their hospital room – lots of snow. I’m so glad they went to the hospital when they did. All things are always in sync with exactly as the Universe intends.
Here’s Matt in the hospital room:
And here’s the hospital room:
Ashley is doing well:
Babies come when they are ready. Matt is doing his editing work from the hospital room:
October 29, 2019 – 11:10 AM Pacific Time
Text from Matt:
Text from Matt at 4:22 PM Pacific Time
Should be about five to six more hours and our Baby Girl will be here! She’s coming on a very snowy Denver day!
Isabella Lynne Hickney – Born at 11:08 PM on October 29, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. She weighs 8 lbs 14 oz and was 21 inches long.
Isabella’s First Bath – October 30, 2019
Ashley had to have emergency surgery to remove the placenta late yesterday so she’s getting her strength back slowly.
These are photos of Isabella after her first bath. She’s not very happy with being taken out of the nice warm, womb-like bath!
Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at about 9:30 PM, Mountain Time
Daddy posted these on Instagram and I cried. I so wish I could be there to hold you my little one!
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Ashley had to have another transfusion today. They had hoped to be coming home but they will be there another night. Fingers crossed they can come home tomorrow. I asked Matt if he was ready to take care of Isabella full time while Ashley recuperates when they come home and this was his response:
I recently took my online journal offline due to being stalked by someone I knew when I was very young.
The stalker’s name is Earl Robert Sitman Jr (his alias is “JR Sitman”) and he works for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in So. California.
He is/was married to Linda Sitman who probably knows nothing of his sick behavior.
This isn’t the first time either. He’s been doing this periodically for decades.
Recently, he actually pretended to be Wayne Blandin, a person we both knew in high school.
I’ve captured all of his emails and contacts and will keep them in a file. If it continues, I will take legal action.
Thursday night, August 29, 2019
Motorhome is all packed and ready to go. First real road trip in my little Winnebago Warrior, and Ryan and our pups are going to. I’m exhausted and looking forward to unwinding and seeing Matt and Ashley.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Back home now. Motorhome started acting up in Boise. We took it to a Toyota dealer who was unable (or unwilling) to properly diagnose what was causing the problem. It was intermittent which makes it difficult on a 1992 vehicle. I’m sad and depressed because I planned this trip for a long, long time. But I’m grateful to the battalion of guardian angels who obviously kept us safe and got us home without too much damage.
This is the pic of her parked at the Toyota dealership.
I’m grateful we made it home safely. I’m very, very disappointed at not being able to spent time with Matt and Ashley before the baby comes though.
I do believe everything happens for a reason so that’s how I’m looking at this.
Blessed to be home.
September 2, 2019
After a day of rest, I decided to drive to Colorado and see my son and Ashley before my granddaughter arrives. My new RAV4 Hybrid got over 40 mpg and was wonderful to drive.
I decided to take the scenic route which was amazing.
We enjoyed a lovely visit and I feel so good to have salvaged my planned trip. They have a lovely home with a wonderful front porch. I sat out there and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the birds. (my car is parked in front of their house)
Matt and I went to Garden of the Gods – it was incredible.
While there, my wonderful mechanic (Blake Walker – Central Avenue Automotive) called and said he thinks he knows what’s going on with the motorhome. He’s picking it up for me, and I know he’ll get it right. Thank goodness!
Matt, Ashley and I went out to dinner – they are such a lovely couple! Their daughter (my first and likely only grandchild) is due November 9th.
I left Colorado on Saturday, September 7, 2019. My goal was to make it to Boise and stay there for the night. It was a very nice drive but I was sure glad to arrive at my hotel and get a nice dinner.
Arrived home at 3 PM on Sunday, September 8, 2019. Very good to be home and see Ryan and Mickey and Ava.
I’m 65 years old.
I had a very close relationship with my grandma (on my mother’s side), and I was very close to my mother-in-law who just recently passed away after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.
Neither of my sons had a close relationship with their grandparents.
My granddaughter is due in November and I want to be close to her.
Today was my first water aerobics class and
I LOVE IT!!
My goal is to get in real good physical shape in the next 12 months so I can live to be 100 and see my granddaughter graduate high school and maybe have children of her own.
I always do better when I have a tangible goal.
Pat was my mother-in-law, but that doesn’t really communicate how much she meant to me.
She was more of a mother to me than anyone.
She helped me learn how to love vegetables (I was an adult dating her son).
She helped me see the real value of family.
She helped me with my sons, when I had no one else.
She got Alzheimer’s and was bed-ridden for a few years so I only have memories of earlier times we were together.
I love her very, very much.
May God welcome her with a very warm embrace. She passed away early this morning.
After my 2006 motorcycle cycle, I haven’t attempted to ride again.
I’m now ready – 13 years later.
I bought this cute Vespa so I can tool around campgrounds and see sights when I’m on the road.
I’ve signed up for the Motorcycle Safety Training course (again) and am confident I’ll overcome my fear.
Her name is Barbie.
I follow Nina on Twitter. She knows history inside and out and I trust her to tell the truth. She posted this on Twitter recently and I wanted to preserve it here.
Someday, our children and grandchildren will look back and wonder what happened. Understanding history helps us understand us now.
This is my new-to-me motorhome! Her name is Minnie.
She’s getting on in years (like me), but has been very pampered!
She’s a wonderful 1992 Winnebago Micro-Mini Warrior that’s on the Toyota chassis. I was the first in line and bought her sight unseen because there were two people behind me who wanted her!
Put all new tires on and had the timing belt done because of her age and it had never been done. She has a little over 61000 miles on her.
She’s in beautiful shape as she is, but I do plan to refresh the interior to make her interior a little more modern looking. Ryan and I just installed a 32″ TV in her too!
When I found her on 9/15/2018, I paid to have both the truck, and the cabin inspected by two very reputable and highly recommended shops close to the dealer. I hadn’t even seen her yet, but I knew this is exactly what I wanted!
With a clear understanding of what I was getting, I made the final commitment and asked the dealer to help me get the work done before picking her up. I still hadn’t even seen her!
The dealer (John at Country Motorhomes in Mount Vernon, WA) was the best. He got her to the truck mechanic who had recommended the new timing belt and tune up. Motorworks Northwest also in Mount Vernon was great to work with.
They then took her back to the RV inspector (Action RV in Burlington, WA) who had recommended a new converter, LP detector, LP regulator with hose and roof seal after the inspection showed no leaks and overall in great condition. Les with Action RV was also great to work with. I still hadn’t even seen her yet.
Action RV took her to Discount Tire where all the tires were replaced.
All three shops commented about how wonderful a rig she was, and two of them had people who wanted to buy her from me; she had obviously been pampered. I still hadn’t even seen her yet.
I verified with Toyota that the head gasket recall had been taken care of (confirmed done in 1998).
I also verified that she was manufactured with the right (6 lug, dual axles on the rear) so there would be none of the 5-lug axle issues that caused problems for earlier models built on the Toyota chassis.
I just knew in my gut she was THE right rig for me.
With all the required maintenance work done, I took a train up from my home in the south Puget Sound area up to Mount Vernon to pick her up. I finally got to see her in person and go through the walk through with John at Country Motorhomes.
I was so impressed with her! It was truly a blessing to find her, and now call her my own!
I met the woman who owned her before me (she was sold on consignment) and we exchanged a little bit about ourselves. Getting to know her that day just confirmed that everything happens for a reason, and I was the obvious perfect ‘new’ owner of this little gem.
Why do I love this little Class C so much?
I owned an older Apollo 30′ Class A gas engine for one year back in 2000, and took it across country with my two sons and two of their friends. Two weeks after I bought it I had to replace the transmission. That done, we took off on our adventure. We enjoyed the trip, but the motorhome had lots of little issues that took away from the enjoyment; not to mention the A/C quit in the middle of Alabama’s hot and humid summer. I sold her at a $5,000 loss when we got home.
I also owned a Arctic Fox travel trailer (pulled with a Ford 350 diesel truck) and towed it solo one year for a few trips in 2011. It was a solid travel trailer, but hooking it up by myself was worthy of a Saturday Night Live sketch. I journaled about one trip here
My trusted mechanic (who I’ve known and used for over 20 years) told me after my Class A and Travel Trailer adventures that what I really needed to get was a good little Toyota motorhome. I stuck that piece of advice back in my head for a few years.
What I paid for this little Class C is exactly what I will be able to sell her for 5 years from now; maybe even a little more. (unless the whole economy implodes again) In other words, her depreciation is done. And everything I do to her now will hold her value IF I ever decide to sell her.
Also, I’m a huge Toyota fan – I have an FJ Cruiser and my youngest son has a Prius he inherited from me. All have been incredibly dependable, and also as important, very easy to maintain.
I’ve already promised my youngest son he will inherit her when I’m gone – and she will be in loving hands when that happens.
Here’s what she looks like right now (before the TV was installed). I’ll update this next year when I start working on refreshing the interior.
