A Visit From the Kids (03-30-15)

After the winter he has endured in Boston, Stephen was quite happy to bask in the heat and the sunshine of Arizona. We wasted no time in getting the boat out on the water, where we spent many hours scooting around the lake.












Back on land there were plenty of things to keep us occupied:

The car show showcased both new models and many classics:
































We just peeked through the fence to catch a glimpse of the World Off Road Championship races on the Island.

Seems like there’s always something to see or do around here, if  you are easily entertained. Yup, that’s a pig on the beach.

  

One of the perks to being here during spring break is Free Pancakes!

Every morning the local churches sponsor a free pancake breakfast- and if you are on the wrong side of the channel, don’t worry- the shuttle boat will bring you across to the island.

Once the weekend arrived, so did our daughter Jessica. She lives in L.A., about a 5 hour drive from here, so we hope to see her on a fairly frequent basis.

Once again, the first destination was the lake.  All four of us love boating, and being on the water puts a smile on our faces.

We took the kids to what is quickly becoming one of our favorite restaurants- the Javelina Cantina.

Of course, in the blink of an eye it seems, Stephen was on a plane, headed back to the snow and cold of Boston.

Our own visit to Lake Havasu is drawing to a close as well.  For now. The dinghy has been put back in it’s coffin, ready to be stored in the basement.  Today we leave Havasu and we won’t need to be back here until the end of April.

House Update

On Thursday, we met with the builder, and the draftsman, to go over the drawings for the house. There were a fair amount of things that needed to be changed, so he will adjust them and email them to us so we can check it out one last time. . The next step is to send them to the engineer, and then on to the city for approval. This is our last chance to make real structural changes, and the last input they will need from us until May.

Wes knew we were leaving town and wanted to watch the grading of the lot, so asked the grader to move his schedule around to accommodate us.  On Friday, we were happy to see the equipment arrive at the lot!

The first step was the de-brushing. Basically they scrape along the top of the soil, removing any plants.  A water truck will be on site for the duration, keeping the dust to a minimum. Apparently they do that to keep the neighbors happy.

This part went remarkably fast, but took long enough for our neighbors to get curious and come over to say hi.  It was nice to meet them!  One couple is building a house 3 lots down from ours, but they are further along.  They are also RVers and are building a winter home.

This roadrunner came running over to check out the commotion.  He was really funny.  Instead of running away from the noisy equipment he tried to get as close as he could, probably looking for lunch. (Hopefully we didn't disturb his nest- Its the first time we've seen him so I doubt it)

Once the brush was cleared, the leveling of the lot began.  Unfortunately, the dirt was more compacted than the grader thought, so he is going to have to bring in a bulldozer, and finish the job next week.  We won’t be here, but at least we got to see some of it!

Spring Has Sprung (03-24-15)

There are many signs of spring here in Havasu, but probably my favorite is the flowers on the Prickly Pear.  I am always amazed at how gorgeous this cactus is when it is in bloom.










There are garage sales and home shows.  We learned a ton of stuff at the home show, some of which caused us to make some minor changes in the house plans.  We still don’t buy much at garage sales, but we did score a ladder that Paul has wanted for a long time, and got it at a great price.






The lake is more crowded, and the channel is crammed with boats, all blasting their own music.  Everyone seems to be having an awesome time.














And, of course, for us, Spring has sprung when the snowman no longer decorates the front of the truck:



The last few weeks have been very busy with house stuff, but we’ll be taking a break from all the running around because our son is flying in from Boston today!

House Update

We have arranged for the grading of our lot, which hopefully should happen soon.  Paul has placed his sign announcing our intentions to 

our neighbors.

We have been “pre-shopping”-making decisions on kitchen appliances and such, which needed to be done because the electrical and plumbing had to be decided.  We chose to go with an induction cook top.  Neither of us have ever used one, but we’ve heard they are pretty awesome.

All the major decisions regarding the house have been made.  The RV garage will be bumped to 18 ft by 65 ft, the back patio will be deleted (the pool people will put in Travertine tile) and the front patio will be expanded.  The laundry room will be bigger than the plans call for, but the guest rooms will remain the same size.  I would have liked them to be 2 feet bigger but couldn’t justify the expense.

Once we had put together our 3 page list of customizations, and gotten prices on them, we sat down with the builder and signed the contract!  We’ll still make tons of running changes, but the big stuff had to be decided before the plans were submitted to the City. Once they are drawn up, we’ll look at them one more time before the go in for approval.

In the meantime we can take a breather and enjoy our visit with Stephen!

500 Posts! (03-24-15)

This is my 500th blog post.  Will I continue, now that we will be settling down a little bit?  Your guess is as good as mine.  I really started the blog only to highlight the new places we were exploring.  It was never meant to be a diary of my daily life. I am toying with putting it on hiatus while we are in Havasu, stopping altogether, or just trying to do a weekly update about the house etc while we are sitting still, and write more frequently when we are on the road. 
I guess time will tell.