Quote

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing."
- Michael Pritchard

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is one of those great days when we get to reflect on our childhood with the fun and silly things we did with our father. I always grin about my father's trade mark statements like, "50 DOLLARS!!!", "Get a jooob, nananananana" (to the tune of a Beach Boys song), "have a funny day", or "keep your chin up". There's never been a doubt in my mind that my Dad loves me.

As for my children, I don't think they've ever doubted the love of their father either. Kalvan is a fabulous Dad who's always ready for a little party anytime I have to go to a meeting. It's been regularly stated that Dad's the fun guy. Karter informed me today that I'm "not the best anymore, daddy is." To which I responded that if I had to be out done by anyone at least it's Daddy.

Our Father's Day included lasagna, salad, garlic bread, Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and chocolate, chocolate chip ice cream. It's a very predictable "Kalvan" meal. Believe it or not, he had strawberry lemonaide with that not chocolate milk. As I've said before, if there were such a thing as chocolate poisoning, Kalvan would be a prime candidate.

To all you Fathers out there Happy Father's Day! Thank you for all you do in raising happy, healthy, plate licking children.

Desert Princess

Miki and I are HEROES! Yep, we got vouchers to take a free cruise at Lake Mead on the Desert Princess in exchange for our blood. Thanks United Blood Services and Lake Mead Cruises! It was a nice sunny day at the lake with plenty of wind. We cruised from the Las Vegas Boat Harbor to Hoover Dam and back. Cruise time is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Desert Princess has a full bar and concessions aboard, which was a little too pricey for our budget. We found a quiet, shady spot on the first level at the bow of the boat for some quiet conversation and beautiful scenery.

The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is ready to add the keystone section to the arch in preparation for its end of 2010 opening. I would count on 2011 sometime with as many delays it has seen so far. Projected cost is $240 million. It will span just over a quarter mile section of Black Canyon when complete. As many times as we have experienced delays driving across the dam, we are looking forward to its completion.

Unfortunately, the gentle breeze we were hoping for turned downright gusty a majority of the cruise. Miki had slipped her flip-flops off for just a couple of minutes before I saw them go flying past me like two pidgeons dodging the front bumper of my truck. I dove, but was only able to catch one as it hit the railing and momentarily rested on the deck before continuing its slide toward the edge. The other one was long gone the way of the lake. Some lucky fish will be enjoying a free foam flip-flop this evening. We spent the rest of the cruise laughing together and trying to figure out how we were going to get Miki off the boat and back to the truck. Luckily the dock was not hot, so Miki bare footed it to the edge of the rocky parking area. I then gave her a piggyback the remaining hundred plus yards to the truck, only to find as we were pulling out of the parking area that my cell phone was then missing from my belt. Knowing that it went missing during the piggyback, we quickly turned the truck around and searched the piggyback path. Nothing. I ran into the pay desk and it was there, turned in by a good samaritan.
We then caught lunch at the A&W in Boulder City on the way back home. All-in-all we had a fun date. It made for a great story to tell the kids over dinner.
Follow the link below to follow along with our pictures and see the boat route as captured by the handy-dandy GPS watch:

Lake Mead - Desert Princess Cruise

Primary Water Fun

Yesterday afternoon was the water activity Miki planned for the Primary. The kids had a blast! Of course, after I got Miki with one itsy-bitsy water balloon, she had every kid there convinced that I was the enemy. I was surrounded on all sides. There was no escaping my soaking doom!

Friday Funday

I love my Fridays when the kids are out of school. It feels like I have two Saturdays in a week to get my errands and chores done. Even more so when we have an open-ended invitation to visit our friends swimming pool. Life is good!

Saturday Stroll

Last Saturday Miki helped work a roadshow booth at Costco, so the kids and I went on a little hike at Lake Mead NRA. Just below Lake Las Vegas where the wash runs into Lake Mead is the Wetlands Trail. It's one of the only hikes in Las Vegas where you can hike along running water, but since it is mostly urban runoff it carries an "urban" odor and color with it too.

Afterward, we picked up a Little Caesars pizza and headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, where we ate lunch and continued our walk around Pond 3 to see many kinds of birds. The "cooler" weather with partly cloudy skies was perfect for getting outdoors.

Of course we stopped by Costco on the way home to check in on Mommy. Click the link below to see the highlights.

Lake Mead Wetlands Trail & Henderson Bird Preserve

Long time comin'

Yes, it has been a long time coming! Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes with me over the last two years has probably at some time or another had to hear me ramble on about saving up to buy a truck someday. Well, as it turned out, the end of May was that time.

If you are like most people you probably dread the thought of dealing with car salesmen. Yes, it is very stressful! I have purchased the last three of my four cars from dealers and can guiltlessly report that so far every single person at every dealership I have spoken with is a LIAR! They lie through their teeth while staring you straight in the eye. Granted, they are sly and come across as the nicest liars you will meet, but they all have one agenda...getting as much money out of your pocket from you as humanly possible while using their Jedi mind tricks to force you into believing you are happy and are getting a good deal. If my personal experience is not representative, then I apologize right now to the 0.01% of honest dealers out there.

As for me, I like to get the best deal on my purchase as possible. That is why I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CarBuyingTips.com. Jeff Ostroff I'm sure makes decent money from advertising on this website since it is so popular and has such a high volume of web traffic, but the information he provides here is real and it is free. I have never met, spoken to, or even emailed the guy, but his website has saved me thousands of dollars on my car purchases, literally! DO NOT BUY A CAR WITHOUT READING THIS WEBSITE...ALL OF IT, unless you like giving away your money, in which case I will be glad to negotiate your car deal for you and split the difference with you on how much you will save.

Anyway, back to what I was saying...please just ignore the season pass sticker to the lake in the windshield, or the "I'd rather be waterskiing" license plate frame, or the fact that it looks really lonely without a ski boat in tow. One thing at a time. My new "Baby Truck" is lookin' pretty good tucked neatly and safely in my garage protected from the elements of the outdoors. Good thing I got 4WD! Someday I'll take it out and drive it, but not this week. I like how it looks in my garage for now. Afterall, I'm going to be driving it for the next 20 years. A few more days won't hurt.

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day Miki took the kids and some friends to the Clark County Heritage Museum. It was a bit of a surprise. It only cost $1.50 for adults and $1 for kids. It has an old train depot from Boulder City, an old print shop, a few houses redone to represent their era in Las Vegas and an old red barn that served as a land mark for early Las Vegas residents. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It left us feeling a bit of a connection to Las Vegas. It used to be just a town, not so much a tourist destination. It was surreal to see the city in that light.

After the museum, we were introduced to O'Callaghan Park near down town Henderson. I was amazed at how beautiful that park is. It's a beautiful green heaven in the middle of our desert city. We enjoyed lunch with our fabulous friends then headed to the movie theater to see Night at the Museum 2. My kids will tell you it was a perfect day. Too bad Kalvan was in Utah.

Kalvan drove to St. George to stay the night with Rob and his family and get an early start on climbing Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful day for a hike. Click on the link below to follow along and see the amazing scenery so difficult to capture with the camera.

Angel's Landing

My Garmin GPS watch did pretty well at maintaining satellite reception until further up when we went into Refrigerator Canyon.

Last day of school

Kaleb and Sage had their last day of school on May 22nd. The family was invited to take part in the class parties and awards ceremonies. Kaleb received a reading award and Sage received awards for handwriting and fantastic improvement. They both completed the Reading Across America program as well.

We are so very proud of our smart kids and their love for learning. We are still loving the new school and are looking forward to having the summer off.