March (4)

March 31, 2007

Jill and Dan & kids, Boe & Kamber, and Wesley, Ryan’s son, got at our campground at 4:00 a.m. We threw the kids and Jill on the floor and Dan on the couch and everyone slept in until 8:30. It was really good to see them. They just stayed until the afternoon. Dan slept because he had driven all night. The kids played and we took them swimming in the pool, although it was not very warm and the wind was blowing. They went on to Travis’s and we met them on Monday in Wikieup.









We went with Bob and Lolita to the casinos to eat a couple of times during the week and we took a boat ride where we learned all about the history of the Colorado River and about the casinos in Laughlin, which is on the Nevada side of the river from Bull Head City. Terry and Bob both lost their three quarters in the slot machines and that satisfied their gambling urges. We listened to the free entertainment in one of the casinos a couple of nights.


















Some other campers told us about some Indian petroglyphs just outside of Laughlin. It was a little bit of a walk to see them, but they were really good. There was a very knowledgeable lady there taking pictures and she told us all about them. She told us about some really good ones on the way to our campground in Flaming Gorge in Utah that we are planning on going to in May.

































We had a good time in Bullhead City. After going to Church on Sunday, we left the next morning to go back to Wikieup to spend the rest of the week there with Jill and Dan and the kids.

The boys spent a lot of time lizard hunting. They got to be pretty good at catching them. Jill decided that all lizards would be much happier staying in the desert rather than being in a cage in Idaho.

We spent time going for walks. One of the favorite pastimes on these walks was throwing rocks at the teddy bear cholla cactus. The balls on them fall off and in a year or two there is a forest of chollas. There is evidence from this concept proven by the Howard kids over the years all along the roads.

I was so excited to have Jill and Kamber there to help me finish my project of the Levi quilt. In fact, everyone got involved in the tying of the quilt before it was finished.

We spent some time riding Grandpa’s little red motorcycle. Everyone got a ride.

We had fun playing in the Big Sandy River. We found a place just down from where we turn onto our road. It wasn’t very deep, but it was a totally sandy bottom. There isn’t always water running in the Big Sandy, but we were luck that there was some this year. We had to wait until Friday, the last day the kids were there, for it to be warm enough to play in the water.

We did a lot of lying around and had a restful time with the kids. Dan did help Terry fix a broken wire on the fence around the house. It made a big enough space that a wild burro or a calf could have gotten in and maybe caused some damage. It was good to leave with it fixed.





















The kids learned about taking their shoes off before coming into the house. I really hurt to step on a cactus sticker in your bare feet. We had quite a collection of shoes on the doorstep. Everyone had a pair of walking shoes and a pair of “outhouse” shoes we wore if we were just visiting the outhouse and then coming back into the house.












Friends from home, Russ and Louise Manwaring surprised us and stopped and stayed a night with us. They were traveling during Spring Break (Louise teaches school). It was so good to see someone from home. Russ is a birder and it is always interesting to go on walks with him in the desert because he teaches us so much.



The kids helped us close up “The Little House in the Desert” and we left on Friday to go to a campground at Lake Havasu. We hope everything is okay until be get back after Thanksgiving this fall.

Lake Havasu is a beautiful lake. We got to go swimming with the kids a couple of times before they left Saturday night to go home.











They did help me celebrate my birthday that day. We had birthday cake with candles that I needed help from everyone to blow out!











Jill and I got our hair cut that day













and then Terry gave me a birthday gift of coloring my hair. He helped me pick out a nice light brown color on the hair swatch, but I turned out to be a red-head! Oh well, I guess it will grow out and I can cut it and try again.


Now comes the two months of harassment until Terry catches up with me in age!