Day 2--Grand Canyon

Once we arrived at the Grand Canyon late on day one. We headed off to bed and got up the next day to conquer the Grand Canyon. It was Father's Day and we had a little time crunch because we had reservations at the El Tovar Lodge for Father's Day dinner!

We took the shuttle bus along the south rim of the Grand Canyon and what we saw was amazing! At times it almost didn't look real! It seemed hard to believe that people just "stumbled" upon this marvel!




We finished eating just in time for sunset! It was breathtaking!

Day 1-Serleykin family vacation

We landed in Vegas, it was 110 degrees! We got our rental vans (2007 Chrylser Town and country) with only 262 miles on them and headed to the Grand Canyon but first stopped at Hoover Dam!



The kids are in 2 places at once! One foot in Arizona and one foot in Nevada!





The men!

Since this is the 2nd vacation (the Disney Cruise was our 1st) our 3 families have taken together, we proudly blended our names/families and called ourselves the Serleykins! (Sergio,Bosley, Watkins)That is how we addressed each other on our walkie talkies and when we were on public transportation, we called the kids "little Serleykins" to make sure they got off when need be!

We arrived later that night in the Grand Canyon and it was 55 degrees! That is a drop of 55degrees!!! We found on this trip a part of God's world that we had never seen before AND satellite radio!!! We thanked God for his handiwork AND satellite radio. Let me tell you now, we were in some REMOTE areas! Like nothing for hours from where we were!

Tomorrow--Grand Canyon

We're baaack

The vacay was EXCELLENT! Everything about the 10 days was perfection!!!! The new picture you see now at the top of the screen is a family photo taken at the Awahnee Hotel in Yosemite. If anyone knows how to maek the picture smaller....I would appreciate the heads up. Right now you get to see us up close and personal, until I figure out how to change it!

Pictures to come soon! I am jet lagged by spending 10 days on California time! We got back home at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.

We are busy getting Chelsea ready for her mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

And we get the G's for the weekend so that James and Ramona can take one last trip before baby R comes on July 16th!

Got Alex new shoes for the trip....he was wearing an 11.5 and now he has 13!!!! He stands at about 5'11. He wears a 30 inch waist pant with a 31 inseam.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have pictures.

p.s.--the insurance caved and paid for the appropriate meds for Jay! Patience IS a virtue!

update

jay has no markers of cancer in either the colon or esophagus! he needs to be on the heavy duty meds to repair his esophagus and then be scoped again in 8 weeks. alex will need to be scoped by the age of 20 because their is such a strong hereditary gene and occurance of cancer on the sergio side...hint, hint Chris---go to the drs!


the insurance still doesn't want to pay for the appropriate meds! So we will see who will win the fight! i love love love the drs. treating jay! they are all about keeping him healthy with the right kind of meds! i hate hate hate the blue cross/blue sheild....they are cheap skates!

I didn't know how to title this one....

Jay has an appointment tomorrow with his gastroenterologist about course of treatments and next steps!

Alex made 1st chair trombone in the highest middle school band for next year!!!! We are so proud of him! He has worked so hard for it and his private tutor is just beaming with joy for him!

Chelsea is cruising along and aceing her finals!As of Wed. at 8:30 p.m. now has her own vehicle! Dont' be hatin'--it is almost 10 yrs. old with 180k miles on it!

We leave Sat. for 10 days...we fly to Vegas, then drive to Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite National Park, San Fran, Sequoia National Park and then back to Vegas!

See ya when we get back!

A pair of bad genes

The Sergio Family has had a little reality hit them in the face over the past week. As some of you may know, Jay's dad passed away in 2004 at the age of 58. Jay's grandfather on his father's side had passed away at the age of 60. They both died of cancer. So since Jay's dad died, I have been trying to get him to go to the dr. and get some tests run because, well, the cancer gene in the male Sergio's seems to be a strong one. Now mind you, Jay has NOT been feeling bad at all but nonetheless, I want him to go and get these tests run--a baseline if you will for the future tests. Several years ago Jay had precancerous skin removed and he goes back often to continue to check out that nothing is growing that shouldn't be.

We got the name of a GREAT gastrointerologist (sp?) and set up the appointments and Jay finally went! He was well..."roto-rooted" from both ends and samples and tests were run. When Jay had the upper endoscopy done and he woke up from his wonderful oblivion, the dr. looked at him and said "Have you been feeling ok?" "No heartburn?" "No acid reflux?"--Jay answered "No". The dr then informed Jay that his esophagus looks like someone has taken razor blades to it.....it is just waiting for the cancer to form.

He's 38!!!! No symptoms! It's all in the genes. So now we are fighting with our insurance to pay for the level 4 medication that he needs to repair his esophagus, so that cancer does not form. Jay got very angry the other day with them and said...which is cheaper? Paying for the meds I need to repair my esophagus or curing my cancer?

Can you believe that they are fighting to have to pay for it? They wnat him to be on a med that is not so strong....um, they are not drs. they pay for the diagnosis!

So we were just cruising along in life, thinking everything is great and hunky dory. Not a care in the world! Then WHAM! Reality hits.

So people...I strongly encourage you to go get those tests done. I am going in July for all the womanly stuff...I know--TMI!! But this has convinced me! Man! being almost 40 is rough!

Jay is now trying to convince his brother to do the same. I have told my kids that they will get the same tests done when they are in their 20's before they are off our insurance. You just can't be too careful.