2016 in Review

 Merry Christmas from the Texas Scotkas! This year has been full of fun adventures, accomplishments and change.

We started 2016 off with an amazing trip to Big Bend National and State Parks with friends Lauren, Josiah, Veda and Bear. Saw some amazing sights, hiked, camped more remotely than ever (Ask me about the poop bucket we shared for 3 days. We are REALLY good friends now.)

AJ and I celebrated our  27th anniversary in a "staycation" in nearby Georgetown where we hiked and saw fossils, ate some great meals, danced, and biked around the red poppies.

We said goodbye to Kelsey's kitty Milo in a tragic accident. His mellow, laid back self  with occasional demands (feed me NOW, pet me NOW) has been greatly missed. Our home feels lonely, and a lot less hairy with just one furr-ball now, Shadow, our 10.5 year old black lab. He's slow now but keeps us laughing.

One major highlight of the year was our trip to Sequoia National Park in June! What a beautiful place. We did lots of hiking, sightseeing, picnicking, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the huge trees. We even brought one home! (A tiny sapling which will take 2,000 years to reach maturity. I hope someone waters her after I'm gone).

We rounded out 2016 with one last trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico to meet up with my family to celebrate Thanksgiving! Lots of great food, fun, laughs... we created some wonderful memories together. We even took a day trip to White Sands National Monument, which was incredibly beautiful, awe-inspiring, and quite fun (we did slide down the sand dunes and made "sand angels")

Nathan has been living at home since the beginning of 2016 taking a break from school- he's been working full time and has learned a lot from being out in the "working world". He's headed back to school in Jan 2017.

Kelsey graduated from St Edwards in May and enjoyed a few months of travel to celebrate. She's moved in back with us to save some money and enjoy some well deserved time with her brother. Those two are the best of friends. The good news is, they are also awesome "day laborers" and work well together getting things done around the house. Here you can see them helping clear the cedar from the greenbelt behind us.

 AJ made a job change in July and left the state after 15 years to join Shoretel as their "Security Dude". He's loving the drive down 620 towards the lake instead of I35 to downtown. He's been enjoying the change, the new challenges, and the new team, including a very cool boss.

I'm doing the same old thing-- teaching lots of classes, helping families bring babies into the world and survive the first few weeks postpartum. This year I attended one of the most wonderful births of all- a homebirth after cesearan for one of my closest friends. I'm reminded each and every time what a beautiful and sacred event it is to share with a family and I am honored every time I'm invited.

Blessings to all of you for 2017. I hope the new year brings peace, happiness, fulfillment and joy in whatever path you take! And if that path brings you in our direction, our doors are always open!

Raising Successful Children

What does it mean to raise successful children in this day and age? How does it compare to expectations we had 50, 100 years ago? What should we be spending our time doing in order to raise "successful" children?

This topic has become more important to me now that I have two adult children. As Kelsey graduated from college, most people congratulated us, then asked "What is she going to do now, does she have a job lined up?" Or as people have heard that Nathan is choosing to take a break from college, "Are you worried he isn't going back?"

It's made me think of how we currently measure success:
Graduating from a good school with a "useful" degree (ie not the liberal arts)
Getting a job quickly, making as much money as possible early on.
Get settled, buy a big house, nice car, fancy clothes.
Later... make a couple of kids, and get financially secure enough to pay for college for your own children and repeat this cycle.

How did we used to measure success?
I imagine 50 years ago (1966- a year before I was born) I think the measurements of "raising successful children" was about the same minus the college degree. Parents hoped their children would finish high school, stay off drugs, get married, make babies, live in a nice house and live the "American dream."

What about 100 years ago- 1916?  Ultimately we hoped for healthy children who would live without "wanting" for physical things like a roof over their head and plenty of food to eat. Survival was still not 100% guaranteed. Just making it was considered a success.

So how do I measure success? Of course I hope for the basics for them-- a safe place to live, a roof over their head and good food to eat. But after that, what becomes more important than that degree from an important school or the high salary is something a lot less tangible:

Scotka Measurements for Success
Honesty and integrity
A loving soul who cares about others regardless of race, religion or species...
Curiosity and a desire to learn and grow
An ability to work with others, communicate well, listen respectfully
The ability to love and accept oneself

This is what I hope for my children. These are the things we spent time on when they were little. These are the things we try to demonstrate to them in our own lives. Because I know if they are able to do all those things, no matter where they live, no matter what they do, that they will be a success.

California Summer Trip June 2016

We visited the Sequoia park a few years back for a quick day trip on the way to California and everyone fell in love with the majestic Sequoia Trees and we promised we'd come back. So June of 2016 we packed up the truck and headed west. We left Texas in a torrential downpour but as we traveled the skies cleared and our drive was smooth. With 4 drivers, it feels "easy" to make the 1400 mile trek in 2 days.

We spent a few nights with friends Kelly and Mark and their girls in Huntington Beach, walking the beach area. We even rented cruisers and spent a couple hours up and down the beach! We also got to see Grampa Dave and ride around in his fun cars (Nate got to drive the Caddy this time!)

Then off to Sequoia National Park Monday morning. We arrived late afternoon after a full morning of packing and grocery shopping for the week (3 stores!) We settled into our "cabin" which was essentially a hotel room on the inside set in a "campground" setting with a picnic table and wood burning stove on the outside. We enjoyed multiple hikes in and around the area, seeing some famous sights like the Grant Tree, the Sherman Tree, etc. We even hiked up to the top of Moro Rock for a fabulous 360 view of the area. Still snow on the mountains!

Every day we hit a new spot of the park, every day we came home tired and dirty, but enjoyed the beauty of those beautiful Sequoia trees. We saw plenty of wildlife too, including a black bear in a meadow on our drive out!

Kelsey's Graduation!

After 4 years of hard work, Kelsey walked across the stage at the Frank Erwin Center on May 7, 2016 to accept her Bachelors Degree in Kinesiology from St Edwards University. When she left high school, she didn't even know what she wanted to major in. As time went on, she discovered her love for the human body, how it works, exercise and fitness, yoga, nutrition, and healing. Who knows where the wind will take her from here. All we know is we are SUPER proud of her for her accomplishments, her commitment, her sense of adventure and loving heart.

In 4 years, there were times for travel and introspection, and of course, yoga! 

Four years on the St Eds Rowing team... practice started at 5:30am! That's commitment!

 International travels to India 2014!

 Good times with friends.

Being silly-- sometimes for a good cause. Kelsey worked as a camp counselor for MS Champ Camp and did an Alternative Spring Break in Arizona working with the homeless.

Wherever you go from here Kelsey, we know you will succeed!

Family Pictures Spring 2016

27 years together

Tones and I celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary next week. We took a "24 hour staycation" to Georgetown since I needed to stay close for potential clients. Hard to believe we only had 27 hours away-- it felt like a real getaway! We left at noon and drove up to Leander to hike along the San Gabriel River trail and saw the little known dinosaur tracks!





After a great hike and a picnic, we headed to check in at our cabin at Angel Springs in Georgetown. We enjoyed the sitting porch, view of the bluebonnets, read and relaxed. After a quick shower we headed out to eat at El Monumento ($4 happy hour margaritas were delightful) and enjoyed a beautiful evening view of the San Gabriel River. After dinner we walked to the square and hung out at Roots for some live blues. We even got in a few dances!

The next morning after a delicious breakfast at the Monument Cafe we headed out on our bikes... we explored the Blue Hole, the San Gabriel river area, downtown Georgetown and found the famous RED POPPIES in bloom everywhere! We bought pizza and salad at 600 Degrees and took our picnic back to the Blue Hole to enjoy the rest of our afternoon lazily sunning. By the time we got home at 3pm, I felt like I had been away for a whole weekend, not just a day.

Tones, thanks for 27 great years together (we've known each other for almost 29 years). We've built a wonderful life, had two kids who have turned into amazing adults. Who knew when we ran off to Vegas all those years ago this is what we'd be doing now!!! I love you!

Big Bend January 2016

We've always talked about taking a trip to Big Bend but never got "around" to it. Maybe because it's 8 hours away even though it's here in Texas? Well, friends of ours LOVE Big Bend area so we decided to take a combined family vacation our there with the Hagens. Josiah had spent a lot of time out there, so was literally our tour guide, which made my job so much easier. He did all the itinerary work, figured out where we'd stay when, and what we would do/see. All I had to do was show up.

We drove out to Big Bend on a cold day- it had been in the 30's overnight and we expected pretty chilly temps on our first night camping out. However as we drove into the park it also started to rain... and we decided camping out wasn't such a great idea. So we called the Chisos Mountain Lodge and they had room! We headed there for the night and made "taco soup" in our motel room before we all crashed from a long day of travel.

The next day was warmer (40's, still chilly) but the big boys went on a bike ride while Lauren and I took the kids (big and small) to see some dinosaur fossils and eat lunch. We eventually made it to our "meet up spot" at Ernst Tinaja and the dads literally pulled in 5 minutes after our arrival! We took a beautiful walk to see the tinaja (waterhole). Dinner was back at the lodge, delicious!

The next day was still cool and very foggy so we decided to skip the "view" hikes and instead headed to the Santa Elena Canyon. Beautiful walk and scenery. We packed up and moved to the small town of Terlingua in an old rustic home just outside the Big Bend National Park. We enjoyed a day of sight seeing and hiking-then dinner at the famous Starlight Theater where Nathan ate a whole DIEGO burger (1 lb of meat, 3 eggs, bacon, etc) it was HUGE. Josiah said he couldn't even finish one!

After Terlingua we took a road trip to the Big Bend State Park (quite a drive, we stopped at Closed Canyon on the way where we saw some mountain lion tracks!) and then over 20 miles on a dirt road to our primitive camping spot. Not another person in sight, other than our party of 8. We set up tents and Josiah cooked us a wonderful camp dinner. Day came and we headed our on yet another hike.



By afternoon, the little ones (Bear and Veda) were tired so mom and dad took them back to camp for some quiet time while Tones and I took the big kids to Cinco Tinajas Trail (the 5 pools) and saw more beautiful scenery. It was our last day hiking around and we were sad to head back, but Josiah was working on salmon and steaks for dinner, so we couldn't miss that.

We headed out the next day-- quick breakfast and packed up, with a long day's drive ahead of us. Dirty and tired, but we had a really amazing time!