Spring Break Trip- 1st half

Anna's spring break was last week, and we did our best to fill it with fun stuff! She did have to teach Monday evening... at Cal State San Bernardino! Yep, she's got a college teaching job right now. She's teaching an Earthquakes and Public Policies class. It's just this semester. She's hoping they'll want to use her regularly.

On Tuesday, Anna went out to lunch with an old friend from H.S. and Sara at Ernie's in Eagle Rock. She had a great time.

Wednesday morning, after breakfast, we loaded up the van and headed out to spend the next five days in Arizona! First stop- Bullhead City, AZ (and Laughlin, NV) for a couple days.

We stayed at the Colorado Belle in Laughlin. We went to visit Kristi and Jason, and help out with the building of their house. Kim, Luis, and Isaac drove out to Bullhead the same day to do the same.

We were there earlier in the day, and went by the house to see if there was anything to help with. As I helped, Anna entertained the kids (that was the plan). She gave them wheel barrel rides, took them on walks, picked up rocks, etc.

They taped down a hopscotch game. It was fun, but it didn't last long enough. After this, I think they went and watched a movie in the van. Here's Jennan getting some pretty good air in her hops.

That evening for dinner, we met up with Kim, Luis, and Isaac, with Jason and Kristi at the Buffalo Wild Wings. Our five days in AZ were somewhat planned around places to eat. BWW was on the list. I REALLY like the food there.

The next morning, Thursday, we got up early to go to breakfast. There's a place called "The Black Bear Diner" in Bullhead. I remember the food being pretty good, and the portions being rather generous. It had been a few years since then, and I wanted the whole family to try it. We all met there- party of 11! Here are the kids posing with some of the bears out front.

That breakfast was REALLY good. Anna ordered a breakfast called "the Bigfoot". A large Chicken fried steak, a mound of hash browns, 2 eggs, and 2 huge biscuits. She finished everything but one and a half biscuits. She can EAT breakfast!

After breakfast, Luis and I went with Kristi and Jason to work on their house, while Kim and Anna took the kids to play in a local park.

Bullhead City sits right next to the Colorado River, so there are lots of spot to "play" in the water. There's just something about rocks and water that keeps kids happy.

The park they went to is covered, so that makes it a really nice area to spend some time. This park is right next to the river in the same area as the picture above.

Tegan, with Isaac in the background.

Later that evening (5:30pm-ish) the moms and kids came by the house. It was a good stopping time. My energy tanks were running low. With that huge breakfast, we didn't even stop for lunch.

Kristi keeping an eye on the nieces as they play on the pile of dirt and rocks next to the house.

This picture looks hilarious! It looks like Duncan is hosing down Jason! Great shot by Anna.

Jason let Luis and I take a turn with the back hoe. Here I am with Duncan on my lap, as we "play" in the dirt.

That night after we all got cleaned up, we went to dinner at a restaurant called "The Mohave 'King of Steaks' Steakhouse". ( I think that's what it was called?) Here we are, leaving our hotel. Across the street is the Tropicana(?) lit with Green lights. Liam really liked it.

Friday morning was our last time in Bullhead. We all had cereal (Anna and I shared the left over biscuits from the day before), and loaded up the van. Here are the kids in our hotel room. Good sized rooms there at the Colorado Belle.

We had a great time in Bullhead. It was a lot of fun also having Kim, Luis, and Isaac there. Hopefully Luis and I helped to shorten the time the house takes to build. I hope to be able to go out there again and help out some more.

From Bullhead, we are now headed off to Queen Creek, AZ to visit Kevin and Dawn and family. Look for the pictures from that visit in a different post.

Good times!

Spring Break Trip- 2nd half

The second leg of our Arizona trip went from Bullhead City to Queen Creek. It was suppose to take about 5 hours, and it did. There isn't a straight shot there, so our path had quite a few lefts and rights. I think having it broken up like that actually helped the time to go by a lot faster.

Early on in the drive, we were on the 40 going east near Kingman and passed this nice cut-out.

Friday night, after getting to Kevin and Dawn's, we went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse steak house. The best steaks I've ever had, have come from there. This trip didn't disappoint either.

The next morning, we headed out to breakfast to The Black Bear Diner in Gilbert, AZ. Kevin said they ate at one before but didn't think it was "all that". It was just as good as the breakfast we had at the one in Bullhead. Kevin changed his tune when it was all said and done. One of these days we'll actually try and go there for lunch or dinner.

One of the things Anna and Dawn did was go yard sale-ing Saturday morning. The last place they went just gave them what they didn't sell. Here's Dawn going through one of the many bags.

For lunch on Saturday, we went to a place called, "Joe's Farm Grill" in Gilbert, AZ. All of the produce they use at the restaurant, they grow on their farm, right behind their restaurant. They were featured on a show called, "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives". That's how we found out about them. It was packed. Luckily it was such a nice day, and there are loads of picnic tables out around their place under huge citrus trees. The food was pretty good. I think I'd like to try it at least once more.

Behind the kids is the farm for the restaurant. The restaurant would be to the left of this picture.

Later that day we headed out to Chandler, AZ to visit and have dinner with Ken and Rachel and their girls. We had a really fun visit. The kids all played together so well.

Here's Liam and Hannah with their "pirate hats" on.

More pirate hats and posing for pictures. You can tell how much fun Tegan had all day by how dirty her shirt is! Tegan and Paige look like they could be sisters.

Here they all are. We might have to try and plan for a longer visit with them the next time we're out there.

The next morning, Sunday, we ate cereal for breakfast, packed up, and headed home. We had a great time. This wasn't a cruise, but we sure ate like we were on one! I put on ten pounds! But I enjoyed every bite!!

BTW- I forgot to mention, we ate at Culver's a total of four times! Twice on Friday, at two different locations, both before ever even getting to Kevin and Dawn's house. We tried going after breakfast on Saturday, but they weren't open yet. We did make it there in the middle of the day between lunch and dinner. Then the last time, we were bad and got some on the drive home on Sunday. The flavors we had were Butterfinger Pecan, Mini M&M swirl, Carmel Pecan, Nestle Crunch swirl(I think that's what it was called), chocolate and vanilla! Sooo, good!