Rich & Kelly's Traveling Adventures: Friday - Friday, December 20

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.