Friday - Friday, December 20 - 27, 2013 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

Friday

We woke up to wind again today, so after breakfast we decided it was a good day to tackle some projects inside the 5er.  I spent time doing some cleaning while Rich did some research on inflatable kayaks.  We are toying with the idea of an inflatable kayak because of the ease of packing it along with us, we could just fold it up and stow it away instead of trying to figure out a way to haul it on the truck and/or 5er.  We didn't come up with anything specific at this point.  We may just decide to rent a hard sided kayak in the next couple of weeks and see if we even like kayaking.  It would be nice to have some sort of boat to get out on the water on the nice days, I guess we'll just have to be patient and do a little more research....

I spent the rest of the afternoon updating the blog for last week and other than a walk through the park, that was pretty much our day.  In the evenings when we are watching tv or a movie I sometimes knit and my projects lately have been these cotton washcloths, the pattern is called Fan & Feather.

Saturday
Today we didn't have the wind, yahoo.  It really makes it much nicer to enjoy the outdoors when the wind is not blowing.  I hear though that when the temps get higher, it is nice to have the breeze, but now with the temps hovering around 68 - 70, the wind can be a little cool. 

We both spent a large majority of the day reading, I sat outside in my lounge chair with my book.  Later in the afternoon we decided that we should get some exercise so we jumped on our bikes and took a bike ride around our part of town.  We enjoy riding through the different neighborhoods and checking out the houses and landscaping.  When we first arrived in Nevada/Arizona, seeing all the colored gravel people used in their landscaping seemed rather odd and not all that attractive.  Now it seems rather normal. 

Sunday
Today we attended another local church called Lakeview Community Church.  The congregation was certainly very friendly which made it seem very welcoming.  After chuch we did our grocery shopping for Christmas dinner and then headed home.  We didn't do much other than spend more time in the sunshine reading and taking a walk through the park.  To walk the whole park, it adds up to about a mile, so it's a nice little workout, especially for Gracie. 

Monday
Today was our normal weekday routine, I went to line dancing class and Rich worked out.  Our instructor had taken some of the line dances she's taught us and found Christmas music that would work, so we got to line dance to Christmas music.  That was a lot of fun and put us in the Christmas spirit.

After our dancing/workout, we went with a realtor and checked out three different houses in town, one in the south, one centrally located and one in the north.  It was interesting to see these different houses and the landscaping.  One of them even had a pool but a very small house.  Rich and I both like to check out houses, it was something that we even did when we lived in Bend.

Once we got back home we decided that we needed to get Gracie out so we decided to go back to the bike trail that is located near the London Bridge on the island.  We rode the trail when we first arrived in Lake Havasu City but it was getting dark out.  So we put our bikes in the back of the truck and off we went.  One thing that Lake Havasu is known for is their reproduction of lighthouses.  On our bike ride, we rode past three of them, I believe they have around 30 in different areas.  Some of the lighthouses can only be reached by boat. 

just a pretty view of the mountains and lake

Wind Point, original lighthouse on Lake Michigan

Split Rock, original lighthouse on Lake Superior

a view of the city, it goes right up to the base of the mountains

Vermillion, original lighthouse on Lake Erie (unfortunately this lighthouse had graffiti which we don't see very much of here, which has been a refreshing change)

Tuesday

Today was baking day.  Our Christmas tradition is to have cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast.  Last year I burnt them pretty badly because I wasn't used to our propane oven, so this year I was determined to do better.  I was also going to bake a pumpkin pie and a boysenberry pie, so I had my work cut out for me.

I'm glad to report, that the cinnamon rolls turned out much better this year.  They are never as good as the ones I remember my mom making when we were kids but at least they weren't burnt.  My pies turned out pretty good also, I think I'm finally getting the hang of this oven.

We had decided to attend Christmas Eve service at Calvary Baptist Church.  We had attended a Christmas concert there, as well as a Sunday service earlier in the month.  When we attended Westside church in Bend, we always heard that this was one time of the year that people would attend church who didn't the rest of the year.  Well it's true, we sat next to a couple and I started up a conversation with them and sure enough, they said they just lived 3 blocks away and only attended church once a year on Christmas Eve.  The service was good and the music again was great.  The worship team  played one song that was amazing, the couple next to me said it gave them goose bumps, it really was very good.  It was a wonderful hour spent remembering Jesus birthday.

Wednesday

Merry Christmas

We woke up to another pretty day.  After our breakfast of cinnamon rolls and some fresh fruit cocktail we opened our gifts.

Gracie in her Christmas dress

 
My nephew Taylor was coming to spend the day with us and enjoy Christmas dinner together.  He arrived around noon and shortly afterwards the prime rib roast was ready to come out of the oven.  We had a wonderful dinner, Rich does a really nice job cooking the prime rib, it is always so yummy.  I got to talk to my daughter Amber and wish her Merry Christmas.  We got to Skype and Facetime with our grandkids and kids in Washington at different points during the day and it was sure good to get to see everyone.....isn't technology amazing.   

We had a very pleasant and relaxing day.  Thanks Taylor for coming to share our day with us and making that long drive again.

Thursday

Rich and I started the day out with a nice workout in the fitness center, gotta try and burn off some of those calories from yesterdays meal.

After our breakfast we decided to go shopping.  We had two items to exchange and I was looking for a pair of "bling" jeans if I could find them.  We are going to attend the New Year dinner/dance here at the resort and the theme is Diamonds to Denim.

Well eight stores later for me and ten stores later for Rich (he went in a couple more while I was trying on jeans) we got our two items exchanged but came home with no "bling" jeans.  I just couldn't find a pair that I liked well enough to spend the money that they wanted for them.  Also, the selection was pretty slim pickings after Christmas.  I guess I'll just go through my closet and see what I can put together, maybe I'll just buy some "bling" accessories.

Friday

Every Friday, the resort puts together a hike for anyone interested, so I decided to check it out.  Rich decided to stay home and work on his "to do" list.  He missed out on a pretty hike.  There was a total of 8 hikers today.  We were going to hike to an abandoned turqoise mine and then have lunch at Black Meadow which is an rv park/restaurant/golf course along Lake Havasu on the California side near Parker dam.

Lake Havasu near Parker Dam - Lake Havasu provides water for nearly 15 million people in California & Arizona

Coots - they have white beaks

Wild Burro's - the small one was just a baby

Small cave - you could see a few small veins of turqoise in the roof

The first part of our hike was pretty steep, you can see our cars toward the left center of the picture

3 headed barrell cactus

If you look closely at the base of this cactus, it is black which means it is going to die

Cactus ash from a barrell cactus that died

Jo, our hiking leader holding a spine of a dead Saguaro cactus



Cholla cactus

This was a huge Saguaro cactus with a total of 8 arms tho you can't see all 8 in this picture

We had a great day hiking and I'll definitely go again, it was a great way to see some new country.

Saturday, Dec 14 - Thursday, Dec 19, 2013 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)





Saturday

The plan today was to attend the boat parade tonight down by London Bridge but boy it was sure windy out.  We called just to make sure that the parade was still scheduled, yes it was, but they admitted that there would be fewer boats than last week.  One of the reasons besides the wind was because they have let up to 4 feet of water out of the lake because of some work they are doing on Parker dam which is located downstream.  Apparently the channel by the London Bridge is now too shallow for some of the larger boats.

We were meeting our friends from the resort, Marie and Everett at the Barley Brothers brew pub which has a nice view of the channel.  We thought if we got there early we should get a good seat.  Well a lot of people had the same idea only they went a step further and actually made reservations, so when we got there even though the restaurant/bar area wasn't full yet, all the window tables were reserved, the only seating was at the bar.  Hmmm, guess we didn't think that through to well but all ended well.  I went up and asked the hostess if they had any tables in the restaurant even if they weren't at the window.  She informed me she was just going to start calling the reservations to make sure they were coming and if she had a cancellation she'd let us know.  It wasn't five minutes later than here she came with the good news that there was a window table available due to a cancellation.  Sweet.....

We had a great time visiting with Marie and Everett and partaking of some holiday cheer and appetizers while we were waiting for the parade to start.  Finally the first boat appeared and it was beautiful, unfortunately the pictures we took from the restaurant window didn't turn out that well, but after the parade we walked down to the docks and took some close ups which I've attached here.  The parade was pretty small, only a handful of boats braved the winds, but we still had a good time.

Shops at London Bridge

Marie and Me

On our drive home, one of the local churches was putting on a drive thru live nativity scene and since it was on our way home, we decided to stop.  We did have to wait in a bit of a line but it was worth it.  I wish we could have spent a little more time at each stop but we felt a little guilty stopping too long since we knew what it was like to sit in the line.  We didn't get pictures of each scene, but these were the ones that were on my side of the truck.  It was very cool.

Sunday

After checking out a different church today, we headed down to the swap meet.  I didn't know what to expect, though I didn't expect it to be as big as it was.  It was pretty busy, but we didn't really see anything we just had to have, so after a couple hours of wandering around, we headed back to the 5er for lunch.  We didn't do too much the rest of the day, it was just a lazy kick back day.

Monday

The morning started out with Rich heading off to work out in the fitness room and I headed to my line dancing class.  It sure is a good workout and I'm enjoying it a lot. 

The projects today were, Rich was working on fixing our keyless entry, we had received the new part in the mail, so it just needed installed.  My project was to bake up 3 dozen cookies for the cookie exchange tomorrow.  I decided to make Melt in your mouth cookies - they are a chocolate cookie with a peanut butter filling and they are pretty yummy. 

So after I had the cookies baked, I joined my friend Marie and we went on a little shopping excursion to the mall just down the street.  It was a lot of fun, and even though I hadn't intended on buying anything, I ended up with a new pair of short boots, they will be good for my line dancing.  I've been dancing in tennis shoes, and they work OK, but the boots will be easier to maneuver in, at least that was my justification, besides I had a coupon and they were on sale. 

After shopping, when Marie dropped me off at the 5er, I realized I had left without my key and I noticed that Rich was gone with Gracie on the bike.  Sure hope that door works.....yep it does, yahoo, Rich got it fixed.  It sure is handy having the keyless entry and we have both gotten very used to it and having to use and remember to take a key with you when you leave has been a pain. 

Pretty soon Rich and Gracie got back from their bike ride and we spent another relaxing evening here in the 5er.

Tuesday

We decided that since the last several Tuesday's we'd gone out to breakfast, why stop now?  We had heard about this local's cafe that serves a good and inexpensive breakfast so we decided to  check it out.  We both enjoyed our breakfast and the atmosphere was nice, you could even see the lake from the table where we were seated.  We definitely will come back again.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring some of the neighborhoods.  I think I mentioned that Rich and I both like checking out houses for sale and at the swap meet there was a realtor handing out her business cards and she gave us a list of foreclosures in the area.  We decided to check out a few just for fun.  Boy, a couple of them were in pretty rough shape, they would definitely be a project.  It was just fun to get out and check out more of the town.

After we got back to the 5er and had a quick lunch, it was time to head off to the cookie exchange.  Since we are staying in a resort, we are trying to take part in some of the activities that are offered.  There was a nice gathering of ladies, maybe around 12.  I have never been part of a cookie exchange so wasn't really sure what to expect.  So after setting out the cookies on trays, we all went around and got 3 of each variety of cookie.  There were plenty left over, so then you sit around and chat for awhile and eat cookies and drink coffee.  We were entertained by several ladies sharing stories about rattlesnakes, spiders and bats....sounds more like a Halloween gathering than a Christmas one.  =)  I had a nice time, but ate way too many cookies.  I do have to say, that I did get several nice positive comments about my cookies.  I must have improved in my cooking baking skills over the years because when I was growing up my brothers used to tease me about my cookies and call them "chokies", must have been because that one time I burned a batch.  You know how brothers can be....

That was pretty much our day, after dinner we watched another Christmas movie from our collection of movies we have with us.  We don't have cable TV here and we haven't signed up for satelite tv, so we watch lots of movies and so far we haven't missed tv.  We do get the local tv from our antenna, but don't watch alot of it because we don't like all the commercials.

Wednesday

Just like Monday, Rich heads off to work out in the fitness room and I attend my line dancing class.  After another good workout, I headed home to the 5er. 

The project today was to bake a cake for the dessert potluck tomorrow night here in the resort.  My brother's significant other has made this yummy cake on several family get togethers, so I thought I'd try that recipe.  The cake is called "Better than Sex", it is pretty yummy and you'll have to try the cake and see for yourself if it is appropriately named.....

Nothing else much news worthy happened, did some reading, some walking, just another day in sunny Arizona.

Thursday

Today we were going to go for a ride in the desert with our neighbors behind us, Gene and Iris.  They have a four seater  RZR (pronounced razor) and had offered to take us out on it.  The wind had started again this morning but the sun was shining. 

We headed out around 9:30 a.m.  Gene had put the RZR on the trailer and instead of heading out from the resort, we were going to drive down the highway a bit.  We got parked at a truck stop and got the RZR unloaded and hopped in.  This RZR is pretty nice and it even had seatbelts.  We got buckled in, I almost felt like I was getting ready for the "Big Shot" ride that we did in Las Vegas last month.  And we are off, we just drove to the edge of the parking lot and took off across the desert.  We were headed to Golden Shores and a biker restaurant/bar called Hooch's. 

We drove through washes, we drove through sand, we drove through rocks, we drove up hills and down hills, it was fun.  It was nice to see the desert from a different perspective other than whizzing by on the highway.  We didn't see any wildlife though, just lots of sand and creosote bushes with a few Palo Verde trees here and there.  Here we are on top of "Fred's Mountain"  apparently it got it name from a fellow in the rv resort who was riding on this mountain (it's really just a big hill) and tipped over his vehicle and had to be life flighted off the mountain, I'm glad to report he survived his ordeal and still lives to tell about it.  Apparently he lives in our resort and that's why folks from our resort call it "Fred's Mountain".  Here's a picture of us on top of Fred's Mountain, like I said it's really just a big hill and from the picture you can't even really tell that we are on a hill, but we are.

Me, Iris & Gene

Rich and me - did I mention it was windy out?  I got sand and grit in my ears standing here on this hill........

At one point we went under a train tressle and boy it was a tight fit, apparently with the recent rains, the dirt had piled up some since they had last been through here.  Gene got out and checked to see if we'd fit under, and he thought we would and we almost did, but at the very end, the top of the RZR rubbed and boy he ended up with a nice big old scratch on his top.  After about riding for a hour or so we arrived at our lunch destination.  Apparently we were the first ones here today because according to Gene, usually you will find a bunch of RZR's and bikes parked out front, must be the wind that's keeping people away.

We decided to eat outside, we were protected just enough from the wind so that it wasn't too cold.  Rich and I were glad we brought along our heavy jackets.  We had a nice relaxing lunch, Rich and I shared a plate of nacho's, we were glad we were advised to share because it was a BIG plate of nacho's.  While we were eating another group on RZR's pulled up and by the time we left there were about 4-5 RZR's sitting in the parking lot.  It's a popular destination for RZR folk because on our way back to the truck, we passed someone in a RZR and he asked how far it was to Hooch's.  On the way back, we had another tight squeeze, we had to go through this culvert type thing that was just wide enough for the RZR to fit, boy talk about clausterphobia, luckily it was a short distance.  We went back a different route and this route had a lot more rolling type hills that we went up and down.  It was a lot of fun.  Rich was impressed on how smooth the ride was, you would think we would be bounced to pieces, but we weren't.  The suspension on these RZR's are pretty good.  I can see why there are so many down here, they are a good way to get out in the desert and do some sightseeing.  Hopefully we'll get out again sometime in the future.

After our RZR ride the other event on our agenda was to attend the dessert potluck tonight at the resort.  They were having entertainment this year, a local bell choir was going to perform.  Wow, I'm glad we didn't eat dinner, our nacho's were both lunch/dinner, because there was tons of yummy looking desert. 

We sat at a table with a gentleman that we've met in the fitness room named Parker and his wife Margaret.  We met their friends from Nebraska names Shirley and Pat.  They all seemed like a nice group of people, everyone here is pretty friendly which makes it nice when you are the "new kids on the block".  We enjoyed our dessert and then were entertained by the bell choir for about 20 minutes or so.  I don't ever remember hearing a bell choir in person and I was impressed, they did a very nice job and seemed to have a lot of fun performing. 

After the choir was done performing, there was a gift exchange but we didn't stay for that part of the evening activities.  It looked like it would be a lot of fun and when I was at the cookie exchange the women were talking about previous years gift exchanges.  If we are here next year, we'll have to participate.  

I picked up our cake pan and there still was a lot of cake left, like I said there was tons of desserts, I am too embarressed to say how many of them I tried, and there was no way that we wanted that much cake in the 5er.  Rich suggested that we stop at Marie & Everett's & Gene & Iris' and leave them some cake.  So we knocked on each of their doors and had a quick visit and unloaded some cake on them.  We ended up coming home with a few pieces left and I can tell you I'm not going to like getting on the bathroom scale tomorrow morning.  I see a diet on the horizon.

Saturday - Friday, December 7 - 13, 2013 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

Saturday

We started out our day with a fast food breakfast at McDonalds.  We had a coupon for their McGriddle sandwiches that we thought we'd try.  Well we are not fans of those, they were too sweet for our tastes.  We'll stick with our standard egg/sausage mcmuffin next time.

We did some more running around town.  Rich was going to make me a couple of planter boxes.  I read that this is the time of year that gardens are planted down here, so I thought I'd give growing a few things a try.  I showed him the planter boxes I liked and then we got the wood at Home Depot.  I'm excited to see how things grow.

After lunch we took a nice long walk around the park.  If you walk the whole park it's a little over a mile we were told.  During our walk there was an open house for a park model that we stopped and checked out as we'd never seen inside of one before.  I like our 5er much better, but I can see how they would be very nice for people who didn't want to pull or drive a big rv around.

The rest of the day I worked on updating our blog.  A pretty low key day.

Sunday

We decided to try Calvary Baptist church this week.  This was the same church that we went to the Christmas concert on Friday.  I talked to a couple of really nice folks, one couple lived here year round and the other couple was just here for the winter.  The message was good and we liked the church though we still may check out a few other ones in the weeks to come.

As we were driving home from church the long way we drove past a garage sale and they had tons of outdoor pots sitting out.  I asked Rich to make a U turn and went and checked them out.  The lady had used the pots to garden in and quite a few of them with organic soil still inside, wow this is right up my alley.  I contained myself and only walked away with three matching pots.  The lady was selling them because they were getting ready to start full time rving.  I asked her if she had any garden seed, which she did, but in looking through the seed it was pretty old so I decided to pass on the seed and just buy some fresh. 

Today was cold and windy so for the afternoon we just sat around and read all afternoon and then watched a movie in the evening.  We've been keeping an eye on the temps up in Oregon and I guess we shouldn't complain about our temps since they are well above freezing.

Monday

I started the day out with my line dancing class, it's a very good workout and I'm enjoying myself though I feel like I have two left feet most of the time.  Oh well, it's all for fun. 

It was another cold and windy day, sounds like a baking/cooking day.  I decided to make a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and some broccoli/cheese soup.  Rich worked on our keyless entry on the 5er.  That was one of the items that was suppose to be taken care of during our warranty work at Guarantee this fall but it is still failing.  Rich is dealing directly with the company that makes the keyless entry and found out that there is a part that is bad, no surprise there.  The nice surprise is that they are sending us a new part free of charge - Wow didn't expect that. 

Tuesday

We met Marie and Everett for breakfast at the local IHOP.  We had a very nice breakfast getting to know them better.  They are from Medford.  Everett is an avid fisherman and has worked as a fishing guide.  We look forward to spending more time with them over the next couple of months.

After breakfast we took Gracie for her daily walk.  She loves meeting all the people and dogs we encounter on our walks.  She thinks every person needs to give her a pet or two and she is getting more playful with the smaller dogs.  Since Gracie was raised with our St. Bernard, Samson, she was more comfortable around bigger dogs than the smaller dogs.  I think the time she has spent with my mom's two Yorkies and then all these little dogs down here has helped her become more social.  She's funny to watch. 

After our walk, we took Gracie to get a haircut, her hair has become quite long and shaggy.  We always forget to take a before and after picture, she looks like two different dogs.  When I was talking to the groomer, I was explaining I wanted a shorter cut for Gracie since we were in warmer summer type weather and the groomer laughed and said, no it's still winter.  It is quite interesting when you go shopping, you can pretty much tell the locals from the tourists, the locals are all bundled up in heavy jackets and boots and the tourists are running around in shorts and tee shirts.  =)  Well maybe not the last couple of days because it has been colder than usual down here, but I think that's the case pretty much across the U.S.A.

While Gracie was getting her haircut, we did some grocery shopping and window shopping and then it was back to pick Gracie up.  She's definitely ready for the warmer weather now.

After we were back at the 5er, one of our neighbors came by and visted for awhile.  He and his wife are going to Las Vegas tomorrow and asked if we wanted to ride along, we declined this time around because we had some other things planned for tomorrow and I'd have to miss my line dancing class...

Wednesday

Today was a little warmer, yahoo.  Again my day started with line dancing class.  Today was a rough day, I had three left feet instead of my normal two...and instead of 1.5 hours the instructor went for 2 - she must have thought we needed the extra practice, I know I did. 

After lunch, Rich started work on my planter boxes and I planted a couple tomatoes and one pepper into the pots that I found at the garage sale on Sunday.  It's still a little cool, but I'm sure once it warms up that they will start to grow.  In our walks, I've spotted several lots that have pots of tomatoes and they look pretty healthy and have green tomatoes.

Thursday

Rich and I started our day with a workout at the fitness center.  The day was looking pretty cloudy so we spent the morning reading and doing some laundry. 

In the afternoon, the clouds started looking darker and it rained and hailed.  I knew I shouldn't have washed our windows yesterday.  The last two times I've washed the windows down here, the next day it has rained and then it leaves water spots on the windows.  We have a window hummingbird feeder and we actually have hummingbirds that come to the feeder.  I want to take pictures of them to put on the blog, but the windows have been too spotty.  

Because we've been doing so much reading, Rich was running low on books, so we made a trip to the used book store and got stocked up again.  

Friday

After our morning routine of workout/breakfast we headed outdoors.  It was a lovely sunny morning though still on the cool side but warm enough to be out and about.  Rich started working on finishing up the two planters he's building for me.

 Rich did an wonderful job on them using only a hand saw and his hammer and nails. 

While we were outside working, Marie and Everett stopped by to show off the BIG striped bass he just caught this morning in the lake.  The picture isn't that good, because the fish blends into the background but it was 14 lbs.  That got us excited to go fishing.  We might just have to get an out of state fishing license in January and give it a try. 

After Marie and Everett left to go clean their monster fish we went back to work.  I was planting lettuce in the first planter box that Rich finished.  We were just talking about going inside to make sandwiches for lunch when our neighbor stopped by and invited us to go to lunch with him and his wife.  They were going to the airport which is just next door to this very good BBQ place....hmmm airports, planes and lunch, sounds too good to pass up, so we took Gene and Iris up on their offer.

We had a very nice lunch and the BBQ was excellent as well as the company.  We enjoyed getting to know Gene and Iris better.  Gene has a Harley Davidson motorcycle down here as well as a four seated RZR and has offered to take us for a ride on the RZR in the desert when the weather gets a little warmer.  We are looking forward to that.  Gene and Iris are from Florida but grew up in Georgia so they have cool southern accents.  We forgot to take the camera so didn't get a picture of them.  People are all so friendly here in this park, we are really enjoying getting to know more and more of them.

After lunch we came back and finished up on our planter box project.  In the second box I planted some swiss chard and spinach.  I planted some radish seed in the pepper pot.  Now we just wait for some nice warm sunshine and see if things will grow.  I'm excited.

While we were working on the planter boxes, our other neighbors directly behind us, Toni & Bob and their dog Baele (I think I spelled it right), came out for a visit.  They are from Grants Pass.  They have the same last name as one of my brothers best friends, but apparently are no relation.  Bob was a pilot in the Air Force and Toni is very involved in Kiwani's both here in Lake Havasu and Grants Pass.  They seem like very social and fun people and I'm sure we'll get to know them better over the next couple of months.

Finished project - my little garden

They have a Friday night social here at the resort and we were contemplating attending, but I think after all our socializing today, we'll save it for another Friday. 

Friday to Friday, November 30 - December 6, 2013 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

Friday

So this is the day that we move the 5er from one spot to another spot in the Havasu RV Resort Park where we are staying.  This for sure will be the shortest move we've made yet.  We got everything packed up inside and got hitched up.  We followed the same routine we do for longer trips just so we wouldn't forget something major.  We've both had a few oops in forgetting something in our packing/hitching routines over the last year.  I'm happy to report that the move was uneventful and we made it to our new spot with no issues.  Because we will be here for several months, we took a little more time in placing the 5er on our spot. 

It is a little bit tighter here in our new spot because we are in the first addition (there are three additions) built in the park and all the lots have owners.  Where we were in the 3rd addition we were surrounded by lots for sale, so it had a more open feel.  We've met our neighbors on each side of us and they are very nice and friendly.  They are both from the midwest and are glad to be out of the cold temps.  

The day was pretty much just spent in getting set up in our new spot.

Saturday 

Today we spent some more time exploring the actual town of Lake Havasu.  We also checked out Sunshine RV which is one of the biggest dealers of  DRV Mobile Suites.  We actually were looking for some roof sealer for the 5er.  We met the owner and he talked our ear off, but was very nice.  We also checked out two 2014 Mobile Suites.  Like everything they have made some nice changes with the new models, but nothing that we can't live without.  We are very happy with our floorplan.

One of our favorite past times is checking out homes for sale and in the course of our conversation with the owner of the RV store, he mentioned that a house next to him was for sale and it wasn't too far away.  So curiousity got the best of us and we drove by the house.  Rich called the realtor to see if we could walk around the backyard and she sent her partner right over so we could see inside the house.  Sweet....it was interesting to see a southwestern house.  They are almost all made of stucco instead of wood and of course the landscaping is very different.  It was fun to actually see inside one.  The drinking water here is terrible and there are a lot of water softeners and reverse osmosis water setups which is something new for us. 

The sunsets here are amazing and tonight was no exception.

Sunday

Today the church we are visiting is called Hilltop Community Church.  Like it's name implies, it is on a hilltop with a beautiful view of the lake.  The pastor's message on marriage was very good.  We enjoyed the church and would definitely attend again.

After church and lunch, I went off exploring the local Home Depot and Lowe's for some plants to dress up our site.  Since we are just renting our lot, we can only have plants in a pot/planter.  If you want to put something in the ground, it has to be approved by the landscaping committee.  I was in my element, just taking my time at each store checking out all these different desert plants.  I contained myself with just two plants....for now.

Bougainvillea & various cactus in a pot

Here is a picture of our current site, the new plants are at the very end, behind the other RV.

Monday

After our morning workout at the fitness center, I decided to try the free beginning line dancing classes that are offered here at the park.  I tried to talk Rich into coming with me, but he declined.  Lucky for me, I was not the only brand new student today, there was one other lady that was just starting.  It was a lot of fun, but boy I sure had to concentrate on the steps.  The minute I thought I might be getting it down and let my mind wander, I'd flub up.  It was a good workout for body and mind.

The afternoons project was to wash the RV including the roof.  It was a perfect day for washing as the weather was nice and warm.  The water here is so weird, the whole time we were washing the RV the water in the hose stayed lukewarm.  When we were talking to the Sunshine RV owner he suggested using comet to clean the roof, so we tried it.  Rich did the scrubbing and I did the rinsing.  I don't like heights and being on the top of the 5er, while we had a nice view, was a little scary.  I pretty much just scooted around on my knees.  Once the roof was done, we started on the body of the RV.  Because of the water here, we had to make sure that we dried the RV as we went so we wouldn't get water spots. 

While we were washing the RV, one of the neighbors behind us stopped over for a visit.  Gene and Iris are from Florida and have spent several years traveling.  They travel in a toy hauler and haul a Harley Davidson motorcycle with them.  They also have a RZR (pronounced razor) that they ride out in the desert.  It seems that instead of 4wheelers, everyone in this area has gone to the RZR's.  There are tons of them around.  Gene has offered to take us on a ride some day. 

This street of the park is called RZR row by us because almost every site has a RZR

Tuesday

The project today was to get the 5er waxed, but we had to get the wax.  We had a buy one get one free breakfast coupon at IHOP so we decided to use it for breakfast and then go get our wax.  After another yummy breakfast, we went on the search for our wax.  After several stores, we finally found the brand we were looking for, whew.

We got started waxing on the 5er around 11:00 a.m.  It was another fine day for an outside project, not quite as warm as yesterday because there was a breeze, but a perfect day for waxing the 5er.  You never realize how much surface area there is to an RV until you have to wax it.  Rich did the top half using the ladder and I did the lower half.  We worked steady until around 4:00 ish and we got it all done.  Boy it sure looks good.  Rich also got the roof sealant applied and I went back and washed the windows again with a vinegar solution and they were looking nice and shiny.  We were both happy with our results today.

Wednesday

What.....is that rain I hear this morning.....wouldn't you know it, even though the chance of rain today was low, it sprinkled just enough this morning to leave ugly water spots on the windows...sigh.  It's suppose to rain on Saturday, so I guess I'll just wait until after that to wash them up again. 

Today was another line dancing lesson and there was another new student today so we got to go over all the same steps again.  It was a tad bit easier this go around, though I still had to really concentrate.  It's a lot of fun and I'm really enjoying it.  

Other than doing some laundry, the day was pretty low key.  

Thursday

After our normal morning routine, we ran some errands and picked up a toy for the golf cart parade and toy drive in the resort tonight.   The weather has definitely cooled down, way below the normal temps for this time of year, wonder how much that will affect the parade tonight?

Apparently the cooler temps did have an impact on the amount of golf carts that participated.  Our neighbors said that usually they sit outside in their shorts and flip flops and watch the parade, but this year we were bundled up in our jackets.  We thought the golf carts were very pretty, unfortunately the pictures we took mostly came out blurry, but here were a couple that you can get an idea of how people decorated their carts.    

this was our favorite - Mr & Mrs Santa's sleigh

the back of Santa's sleigh

A decorated RZR pulling a trailer with all the gifts being collected throughout the resort

I must admit, it is rather different to be in the southwest and getting ready to celebrate Christmas.  It is just rather odd to see palm trees with Christmas lights, but they are still very pretty.  Here are some pictures of different decorations in the park. 

Friday

Brrrr....it has definitely been getting cold at night, so far it hasn't gotten down to freezing, but pretty close.  I know we are a lot warmer than our friends and family in Oregon so we are not complaining.

This morning we did our annual trek to the post office to mail off our Christmas gifts to our kids.  The line was pretty long, but it actually went pretty fast.  Almost everyone standing in line looked to be grandparents mailing off gifts to their kids/grandkids.  =)

We checked out a couple of garage sales, I'm looking for cheap pots I can plant more plants and maybe a few garden items, like tomato/peppers in.  Unfortunately I came away empty handed.  We did run across a model home that was open so stopped by to check it out.  Oh my.....it was pretty spectacular.  It had a 70' RV garage attached to a two car garage.  The house was amazing, the decor was very sparkly and glitzy but in a good way.  Of course, all this could be yours for $350K.  I did get a couple good decorating ideas though.  The house was done in black/grey/white tones and in one of the guest bedrooms, for a headboard they had taken two multi-paneled doors and stained them a whitewash grey color and then attached decorative gromets in the corners of each panel, it was very unique.

Last Sunday when we attended church, they announced a Christmas concert with two other churches so we decided to check it out.  We are so glad we did, they had some amazing talented singers.  It was held at a different church than we attended last week and we may decide to attend their Sunday worship this week.  They had a couple songs that included the little kids which is always adorable.  They had one little boy that did a solo and he was amazing, I can definitely envision him with a singing career in the future.  Some of the adult solo's were absolutely amazing.  One guy did a solo and had the most amazing voice, and the interesting thing was that you could tell he was chewing gum while singing.  It sounds kind of gross, but I tell you, his voice was amazing and made up for the distraction of the gum.  Then there was this lady and you just wondered how that amazing big voice could come out of her body.  God has definitely gifted some people with singing talent, unfortunately that is not one of my giftings.  But I can sure enjoy listening to good music.  The concert was definitely time well spent.