Baby It's Cold Outside (Tuesday, December 15th, 2015)

Our son-in-law came home yesterday from his training in Georgia. It is SO good to see him, and we are so excited to have him home for Christmas and New Years!  He looks very happy and oh my does he look fit!!!  We can tell he has been working really hard on his physical training in addition to everything else.  And we're all super glad that he made it home before this storm came in last night! 

It's snowing today, and it's beautiful, but this is what we were hoping to get away from with our retirement traveling; summers in beautiful Colorado, winters anywhere beautiful and warm.  

I think that Steve would agree with me.  This is truly gorgeous, but I could enjoy the beauty of it just as much in pictures, and then I wouldn't have to drive in it or shovel it.



Steve blew the snow off the driveway this morning before he headed to jury duty because there was a lot! He was not happy to have to go out in the storm as one of the thing he has been looking very forward to is snuggling in while everyone else has to go out and fight the weather as they go to work.  He has been doing that for more than 30-years and is a bit obsessed with not letting the weather dictate his work plans.  This hasn't always worked out very well for him as we all know that mother Nature wins those battles every time!

Our son-in-law and I shoveled again at 9:00 because it's getting deep again.

I shoveled again at 11:00 because it's getting even deeper.

Oh, and now shoveling again at 2:00.  It's finally letting up, so maybe this is it.  

Where are those beautiful beaches I envisioned in my mind?  Is this really what we signed up for?

Yes, it is, because we have so many wonderful plans in the next two weeks and we're so excited to share them as they happen!

Business Minor Graduation (Friday, December 11th, 2015)

Our oldest daughter will be graduating in a week from the University of Colorado Boulder.  She has majored in Engineering, but during her sophomore year she added a Business Minor, that she thought would be a huge asset to her......we totally agreed! 

As the final class in the Business Minor, the students have to complete a capstone project, where they, in teams of 5, create a start-up company.  During the last few weeks of the term, the teams presented their companies for a grade, then the top company from each class was chosen to compete in front of a panel of judges.

Since the Business Minor is such a rigorous curriculum, they hold their own graduation, in conjunction with the capstone project competition.  Our daughter's team was one of the top three, and therefore was invited to compete in the capstone competition.  

Our daughter's team of five along with their professor (left) and coach (right)

The winner of the competition would be announced at graduation.

Our daughter has been an Ambassador for the Business Minor program since it's inception, and in her junior and senior years was the President of the Business Minor Ambassadors.  As part of the graduation ceremony, she was awarded a plaque for her time and dedication to this program.  As an added touch, it was signed by all of the Business Minor Ambassadors.

Then came the announcement of the winner of the capstone competition.  Our daughter's team came in second, with each team member receiving $200 cash price.  We were very proud of all of them.  They put a lot of extra time and energy into this project.  

We were so proud to watch our daughter walk across the stage and receive her Business Minor cord that she will wear with her cap and gown at the school wide graduation next week.

The post president and current president of the Business Minor Ambassadors

Wearing her cord that she will add to her graduation regalia

Lake Havasu City - Big Boats, New Ramps and Christmas Lights (Tuesday, December 8th, 2015)

As we were driving around town today, we noticed a boat in for maintenance at Barrett Marine.  It was one of those boats that makes you stop and take a closer look!

This is a 42' MTI Superboat!

This is a 42' MTI Superboat with a canopy cockpit, meaning the driver and throttle-man have a cover over them. This particulate boat has twin 750hp motors and Mercury #6 outdrives.  All amazing equipment.  Superboats can run down the lake at well in excess of 140 MPH! For those of you who have ever run fast on the water you know that even 75 MPH feels scary fast...I can only imagine what 140 feels like! 

These boats cost well in excess of $1 million dollars and require a significant amount of continuous maintenance to keep them running right. I think of them as the dragsters of the power boating world. Best part is that you see them running all the time on Lake Havasu!  

The hydraulic trailer required to tow this boat

These boats are approximately 12' wide so in order to legally trailer them on the road they are tipped on there side using hydraulics on the trailer.  Then, when they get to their destination, they move the boat from this vertical position to horizontal so it can be put in the water.  After oohing and awing for awhile, we headed down to Windsor Beach State Park.  

As we were coming by the state park yesterday on the boat, we noticed some things out in the water that raised our curiosity.  They were out near the camp ground, and it looked like there were divers and construction type workers working on it.  So today we wanted to find out what was going on.  

We went into the office at Windsor Beach, and asked them if they knew what it was.  They said that they are adding a new boat ramp and another very large parking lot.  The boat ramp will be 8 boats wide and allow for a lot more boats to load at once. This is really exciting news!  There are already two other 6 boat wide ramps in the state park plus a jet boat and jet ski ramp area.  With these improvements Windsor Beach State Park area will be able to unloaded/loaded 20 boats concurrently, which should really help on those busy summer weekends!  

Here is a picture of the plan.

The top area is the new parking lot, the lower are is the new boat ramp

Then we drove further down to see the construction from the land.

Right now they are building a large bladder to keep the water out so they can pour the concrete for the ramp

The road was closed so we couldn't get any closer, but this is the dirt work for the parking lot

The new ramp is scheduled to be fully functional by Memorial Day. We did some more exploring around the Windsor Beach area, and then went back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner.  We were once again treated to an incredible sunset!

So many sunsets, so little time!  Sorry it's blurry, I tried to zoom in a little too much

And as it got dark, we headed down to the English Village (by the London Bridge) to enjoy the Christmas lights before we headed home.

Walking under the London Bridge toward the English Village

We will leave Lake Havasu City with the spirit of Christmas in our hearts and return to Colorado to enjoy the graduation of our oldest daughter and a Christmas filled with friends and family.  See you there!

Lake Havasu City - Boating in December (Monday, December 7th, 2015)

We hit the gym first thing this morning, and then came home for a conference call for my work.  It only lasted about a half hour, so the rest of our day was free to play as nothing else needed to be done work wise.

The weather in Lake Havasu City this December has been perfect! We have had daytime highs in the high 70's and low 80's and very little wind, which you just can't beat this time of year. 

While we were at our friend Alan and Linda's house last night, he was telling us that he needed to take one of his boats out today to run some additive through the fuel system, so we decided that would be a really fun outing.  Even though the daytime temperatures are very warm, it still gets cold when you are out on the water with the wind in your face, so we got dressed in our nice warm clothes, packed a cooler, hooked up the boat and headed to the boat ramp to meet our friends.  

As we pulled up the to cross street where our paths come together, there they were right on time.  We don't usually time it that well, but we'll take it.  We both got our boats unloaded and headed out onto the lake for a day of fun!

We bundled up and drove quickly from the boat ramp to the channel, which is a no-wake zone.

Once we were in the channel, we slowed down and enjoyed the ride and the warmth of the day.

Alan and Linda pulling into the channel right in front of us

A paddle board and an outrigger canoe in the channel

Kayaks paddling through the channel

Steve's parents just enjoying the ride

The London Bridge

Once we got through the channel, we headed out into the lake.

Alan and Linda heading down the lake to Copper Canyon

Pulling in to Copper Canyon

You can see how it got it's name!

Alan and Linda surrounded by ducks!  See the smile on their faces?

We moved Steve's day to Alan's boat for a ride back to the channel

One the way back to the channel Captain Grandma took over driving!

OK, she might have had a little help

Then we enjoyed a little time in the warmth of the channel before loading the boats and heading home.

Boating in December....it doesn't get much better then that!!!!!