Day 31 - Dinner with friends

The end of the school week arrived and we were able to be done just after lunchtime. We had a bit of a breezy day today which cooled the pool off a bit. After a BBQ lunch out on the deck, the kids finished up and David took me to Michael’s to get the kids all the art supplies they would need for this year's Art Course. Looks like a fun year ahead of them!! (I knew I’d have a hard time finding the specifics in Fort McMurray). Once we got home we blended up some cold drinks & sat out by the pool - love those kinds of afternoons! The kids have made neighborhood friends, so they were across the street playing basketball for the afternoon. Megan & I played a game of Carcassonne again. Great game! We were all excited to get together with our “American Friends” for a dinner tonight. It’s been so great getting to know Mike & Leslie and now their new little baby girl, Isabella. Such kind, generous people. We had a fantastic time and the kids loved the baby and also their two little dogs!! As we enjoyed a yummy dinner and a patio fire, the time ticked away and before we realized it, it was 11PM! Sarah was fast asleep snuggled up to Megan who was reading and Joshua was tucked in on her other side dozing off. Too cute! We packed up for the evening, bellies full and time well spent with friends & headed home. We look forward to getting together with them again before we leave. Kids crawled into bed, Sarah still fully clothed! We have a field trip tomorrow so it’ll be a short night for them..... perhaps we’ll head out a bit later than planned :)

By the end of the night Sarah fell fast asleep, Joshua tried to open his eyes for the photo :)

awe.

Day 30 - A Little Drizzle

David got up & went for his morning bike ride ☺. It was a cloudy day today and we wondered if we’d even see a little rain. After school the kids played outside while David was waxing the truck. We began to feel a little sprinkle of rain so Sarah ran and grabbed her umbrella, and yes, she LIVES in that bathing suit!! It didn’t turn out to be much rain, just a few minutes of sprinkles. It was a quiet day at home, pizza for supper & "Survivor night" in the evening with the kids.

I'm thinking this is quite a talent... on a scooter, Megan's size 10 hole-shoes while holding an umbrella! :)

Day 29 - Family Breakfast

This morning we decided to get up and have a big family breakfast out on the deck. It was a gorgeous morning! We sliced strawberries, whipped cream (by hand!! no mixer) and cooked up some Belgian chocolate chip waffles - delicious!! We got going on school a bit later which ran into the afternoon a little bit. David & Joshua went for a quick quad ride together then is was POOL time!! David did lap after lap after lap after lap!! I think I got stronger just watching him! :) Once the kids jumped in they spent the afternoon, diving, playing their “dart game” and enjoying time together. Everyone finally got out and we had to move quickly to get the kids to youth group. They decided to try out the youth group at the Baptist Church we have been attending. Sarah was even allowed to go which gave David & I an opportunity to head out for a date night! So once the kids were settled in we went out for a nice dinner date. We picked the kids up and they all had a good time. After bedtime snacks they were tucked in. Joshua got up not feeling so well, so we made a bed for him in our room and went to bed early ourselves. It’s amazing how the heat can tire you out! :)

It was a very bright morning... Sarah needed her sunglasses, but chose squinting instead ☺

Day 28 - School & Quad Time

Kids are doing great with their school work. Megan will be done her Math in the next week or two, and Joshua was thrilled to have completed his novel study unit and have one less thing to do each day! I’m hoping to start the new year with them July 1st as we’re going to run school this year as 3 weeks on and 1 week off for the whole year. This gives us mini breaks all year long and we’ll also take some extra time off once baby arrives. It also will coordinate well with David’s schedule; I love the flexibility we can have. Once school was finished David, Joshua & Megan left for some quadding time. We ate dinner while watching one of the kids’ favorite shows, 18 kids & Counting, and then the kids were back outside playing with friends until the sun went down :).

☀

Day 27 - a morning ride on a smokin' hot day.

This morning David took Megan & Joshua out quadding early. It was due to be a hot day (we did hit 39C!) and they wanted to not only beat the heat, but also try out a new spot down towards Parker. It didn't end up being the greatest spot (a bit too rocky) so they headed home, unloaded and just drove from the house to their "usual" spot near the house. Joshua cannot get enough of it! Sarah and I worked on school, baked muffins and watched A Baby Story (her favorite show nowadays!)

The afternoon proved the weatherman correct and we hit smokin' hot temperatures in the high 30s and even hit 39C, didn't quite see 40C. The pavement on the deck was burning hot and the pool was perfect. Sarah and I swam for quite awhile & then the hot, sweaty ATVers arrived! That pool sure felt good to them and they wasted no time getting in to cool off! The rest of the afternoon was spent in the pool. The afternoon rolled into evening and David made a BBQ dinner before we went out for our evening stroll. There are no street lights in Havasu (there's actually a 10PM curfew! If the police see kids out past that hour, they will pick them up and take them home) and so once that sun sets it's very dark outside. With that curfew though, the streets and city is very quiet! The kids and Daddy suited up again and enjoyed an evening swim. The hot tub was on and they would sit in there and then dive into the cool pool. It was a great day, fun evening and another late night. The kids fall asleep in no time with all the outdoor activities these days. We sure are having a fantastic time!

All geared up & ready to ride!

You'll have to excuse the video quality, it's just taken off our camera and it's not good at all, but at least it's something :)

We found orange nail polish at Claire's awhile back and it looked awesome against Sarah's tan (although the color of her skin is a bit off here & I was too lazy to edit ☺)

Matching hands AND toes ☺

Beautiful moon-lit walk tonight!

Day 26 - Sunday Service & Amazing Boats!!

It is so nice to be able to walk to church in the sunshine. We have been attending the baptist church that is down the street from us. After the service this morning and a quick lunch, we made our way down to the lake as this weekend there was a boat show and race. It was ending today so boats were heading out, but we still managed to see some absolutely amazing boats! Some of the race boats do approx. 200 miles per hour and they are too big to travel down the highway on their hulls so they have customized trailers that tilt them up sideways. We were told some of the boats were worth about $1.2 million dollars and the custom trailers about $500,000 (I'm not sure if that includes the trucks they tow them with)! All told, that's close to $2 million per boat; and I thought a Mastercraft XStar was expensive at $80K. We went down to the lake for a walk and it was packed crazy with boats and people. We were thinking it must be insane in the summer, as this is still technically SPRING?! We hit 35C today and with those few days in the high 20s it felt quite hot. We didn't stay too long down at the lake, snapped a few photos of the frenzy and then came home to our pool and all went in for a dip. We enjoyed a vanilla bean frapp while we relaxed by the pool. Joshua met a couple boys in the neighborhood and played basketball in between riding his bike. :) After dinner at the palapa we went for a walk and the kids played outside until it grew too dark.

Note the side by side. This is the preferred second vehicle in Lake Havasu. In Arizona you can license basically anything, even homemade stuff! It's awesome.

Did someone forget to tell these guys there was a recession?

A Spring Sunday afternoon in Havasu. This is in beachcomber channel, not far from the London Bridge.

Where the channel enters the lake.

"The Terminator"

Check out the matching paint job on the semi.

Note the sportbike in front of the boat, I guess if you can do 190 mph on the water you don't want to be left standing still on land! Oh yeah, the sleeper is a small workshop.

Who needs a haircut?

Daddy getting his face free!

"Ta-da!"

Princess Megan enjoying her vanilla bean after a swim.

Cheers to another great day!

☀

Day 25 - Saturday School

We got up and had school today as we took the day off for our trip to Vegas. Kids worked hard and we were done by lunch time. David & I took a trip to the Walmart Superstore to pick up a few groceries and a movie for a family movie night. They have new release movies for $1 - can't beat that!

The grill was fired up for lunch and we enjoyed burgers out on the deck. After lunch David & Joshua spend a couple hours shopping. MALE shopping: dirtbike and boat stores! The girls stayed home and enjoyed an afternoon of lounging by the pool, reading & relaxing. We also enjoyed the first homemade vanilla bean frapps of the season :) Mmmmm.

The grill was fired up again and we enjoyed jumbo shrimp and veggies for dinner. They were so good! David has become the KING of the grill! We've gotten into the routine of going for a family walk after dinner to enjoy the sunset - it's so beautiful.

We rented the movie Blindside and enjoyed popcorn and time together.

Cheers on a yummy drink!

Sarah's new bathing suit from Vegas :)

Day 24 - school & biking

School went well today and that in part I'm sure was because the kids knew after school they were off quadding! Funny how that works!

It was a pretty quiet day after our full day in Henderson, but I got some school planning done for "next" year and we enjoyed a quiet family night together.

☀

Day 23 - Vegas trip

David was up early this morning and took the truck in to Ford to get our oil changed before our trip to Vegas. It took him longer than expected, so we got out a bit later than we hoped, but we still managed to get on the road by 10am. It was due to be a rainy day in Havasu, so we figured this would be a good day for a field trip to Las Vegas. Actually we never actually made it into the city, but went to Henderson (which is where Costco is) and enjoyed the day there. David drove us girls to some stores we were wanting to shop at, we went to visit an outdoor Catcus Garden, took a tour in a chocolate factory and ended with a trip to Costco. We had a great day.

We saw this sign the our first visit to Arizona, but never had the camera out in time to take a shot. We just thought it was hilarious with the slogan "TRY ONE" :)

Ethel Chocolate Factor Tour & Cactus garden. The sun was out so we wandered through the Cactus garden first.

We strolled along and saw so many different varieties of cacti, many of which were blooming.

Some of them were enormous!

It felt like spring with all the pretty flowers.

I thought this was so interesting as the "plant" was basically sticks, but it had these unusual flowers.

The garden was a mixture of cacti and desert plants & trees.

Our best guess was the "rocks" that lined the gardens were lava. They were interesting to look at as well.

This is Megan's favorite cactus, and now we know its name: The Pancake Cactus! ☺

This cactus was called "Rabbit Ears" and it was one cactus you could actually touch, it was soft!

These "twisted" trees were neat, and they blossomed with little yellow buds that almost looked like pom-poms.

You can see that a cactus is actually woody - this is a dead one to show those "stems" of wood inside.

Teddy Bear cactus (but this one didn't look soft at all!)

Missing those flowering cherry trees, it was wonderful so see all the blooms in the garden.

Desert Willow.

The dead cactus isn't very pretty, but is neat to see.

We saw some of these as bushes at the San Diego Zoo. The kids thought it looked like toilet bowl brush! :)

Megan always makes sure to take a picture of us :) It was a cool day in Las Vegas.

The chocolate factory!

Crazy to think delicious chocolate comes from this!

They had a few sculptures that were completely made out of chocolate.

☺