Family vacation

We recently went on our first family vacation. Of course we've been a lot of places as a family, although this was the first time we went somewhere together to just relax.... and oh did we relax! It was wonderful. Thanks to our great friend for inviting us to join her family & a few others on a houseboat at Lake Havasu Nevada. 

We headed out early one morning on our long drive...

 So early we were up before the sun & were able to watch it rise (at least those of us that were awake).

 I love seeing the sand dunes in our desert. Just wish more of it looked like this!

 This was the temperature when we got to the lake, although it did get hotter as the week went on.

 Once we found a nice private place to beach the boat, this was our view. It was heaven.

 Of course with 4 families the inside of the boat sometimes got a little crazy, but that was half the fun!

 This is pretty much what we did while we were there. Did I say relaxing?

 Some of the little boys fished almost the whole time we were there, I lost count how many fish they caught that week. Although they did catch a snapping turtle too - it was not happy about being caught either. Here is Elam trying to get the hook out of it's mouth... it took some time but they finally did get it out & back in the water.

 Chillin' on the top of the boat.

 This was what it looked like during an afternoon movie.

 We had some fun on some sea dews (or are they called jet ski's still?)

 This was the cliff that some of the crew jumped off of. Personally I stayed clear of this!

 Captain Noah came along to make sure we stayed on course! Ha ha

 Some inside madness - I think this was at breakfast time. The table got lots of use, between food & games it was a good time for all!!

 There was A LOT of goofing off going on. This was just one of the many pictures captured!

 Couldn't leave without a family photo!

Thanks again Laura for inviting us along! I think this just might become an annual vacation for all of us. Good times with good friends making great memories!! 

Tiki Time

We have looked for tiki items for years, but they were always more money than we wanted to spend.  The other day my new best friend, Josh :) called David.  He said that he knows the lady that owned Mainlanders, the only tiki store I ever knew of in town.  They have closed their business locations and she sells the items on Craigslist from her home.  She had a ton of items marked down super cheap.  That was all we needed to hear!!  After the 4th of July Breakfast, we followed Josh to her house.  We were in tiki heaven!!  This is what we ended up coming home with. 

And the Granddaddy of them all...

We named him Tonga:)

Josh bought a bunch of stuff, too.  It will be exciting to see what he does with his yard.  Before we even left, he kept saying he was probably going to go back and get more.  It was soooooo fun!!