Lake Havasu

Joe worked in Arizona over Father's Day weekend so we drove down on Friday night to meet him. Since we had spent the week of Spring Break there, we had done pretty much everything the small town had to offer so on Saturday morning after breakfast, we decided to drive to Lake Havasu City. We thought it was about 2 hours away but surprisingly it was only about one.

We parked right in the middle of the town where the London Bridge is located. It was brought over piece by piece from London, England and then put back together on land between Lake Havasu City and Pittsburgh Point, which was a peninsula jutting into Lake Havasu back in 1968. Once the bridge was completed, they dredged a channel underneath, separating the Point and the city, thus creating an island. It is now a popular tourist attraction and there are a lot of little restaurants and gift shops along the water. We walked all along the channel, stopped for a sandwich at the Jersey Grill, and headed through the town to the beach and grassy areas.

Standing in front of the London Bridge

The town was hosting a boat regatta so the channel was full of people and their docked boats. We kept going, hoping to find a place for the kids to play in the sand and water. It was quite the scene with people drinking, dancing to music, and playing in the water. Carlee kept asking me why people had stamps all over their bodies. Luckily, my kids are still innocent and naive enough not to notice the beer kegs and drunken actions. Past the "No Alcohol Beyond This Point" sign, we found a space for the kids to play. We took their swimsuits but left them back in the car so they just waded their feet in the water. Not too much later, they wanted to get completely wet and asked for Dad to go get the car and their swimsuits. Joe left for the long walk back and the kids just played while I took pics. About 20 minutes later, Joe arrived with the car and the kids quickly changed and jumped into the water. They had a great time splashing, looking for shells, throwing mudballs at each other, and building things in the sand. I had a great time taking pictures and watching my kids play. Joe had a great time telling me about some tattooed, drunken 20-year old that offered to flash him on his walk back to our car. (And they say "What happens in Vegas..."; I think Lake Havasu City needs a slogan)

After our drive back into Kingman and getting cleaned up, we went out for a Father's Day dinner to the Dambar Steakhouse. Clark and Katelyn split a ribs and steak platter, Jake and Carlee split macaroni and cheese, and Joe and I got steak too. The kids licked their plates clean and everything tasted great, except the steak! There was no flavor to it at all. It was cooked to our liking but it was just cooked meat, no spices, no rub, no flavor. I had to use a lot of steak sauce so I was a little disappointed. The best part of the dinner was when we walked out of the restaurant and Clark said with a smirk, "That was the best dam steak!" I looked at him in shock and then started laughing and told him it was only appropriate to use that word at the Dambar Steakhouse or at the Hoover Dam (Are we driving on the "dam road"? or Can I use the "dam restroom"? (You get the idea)).

On Father's Day, Joe had to work in the morning but when he got back, he opened his gifts--golf balls and tees, some chocolate and "stuff to make those cooked marshmallow things" (s'mores from Carlee), a Mexican Train game, and apparently the new i-Phone, which is on its way. I had other ideas for Joe but I guess his gift to himself trumps mine. We then were getting ready to go to church but while the kids were looking on the computer, Carlee threw up all over her dress and the bed. Nice! Then Jake started complaining that he didn't feel well and that his stomach hurt. Carlee was acting fine but every 2 minutes she kept running in to the toilet and choking/coughing into it, saying she threw up. I was thinking, "great! we caught something from the water yesterday". But then I remembered that while I was blow-drying my hair that morning, Carlee and Jake were spinning around and around on the office chair in the room. They did this for several minutes so they had probably made themselves sick. Jake looked pale so I made him lie down on the couch and Carlee kept "throwing up" so Joe took Clark and Kate to church while I stayed in the room with the younger two. Carlee eventually fell asleep for about 3 hours and Jake laid there watching a movie. After we ate a late lunch, the kids felt better and we played Mexican Train for a while. That evening we got "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" from pay-per-view and the kids thought it was pretty funny. We thought it fitting to get that movie since all of us finished that book over Spring Break when we were in Kingman the first time.

Monday, we had breakfast, went swimming, packed up and headed home with a few stops along the way--Panera Bread, the scout store, and a shopping trip to the outlets. It was a fun weekend and I'm so glad that we decided to drive down.