Road Trip Part 2: Lake Powell

The second phase of our Western adventure was to head down to Lake Powell.  It wasn't my Dad's week for the houseboat, so we ended up staying in a hotel and just heading out on the lake every day.  It wasn't the same,  but as it was our first time back to the lake since our accident two years ago, we were taking it slow, and we still had a great time.

I wanted to get everybody back on the horse (or the lake), so to speak, and make sure my kids (and I) could still enjoy Lake Powell with all its good memories - and make new ones! - and not just remember the bad ones.  But of course the accident was on everybody's mind and a topic of many conversations.  It started out when the kids got on the boat for the first time and immediately everybody sat in the exact spot they were in during the accident and said, "this is where we were sitting when we almost died."  Hmm . . . !?!

  So, it started out with everybody being a little nervous, but as we got going everybody loosened up and started having fun. (Phew!)

That first day was kind of windy and stormy.  So we headed up a canyon and found a place to swim, do some rock climbing, and make a lunch.

Then, what is the best thing to do when the water is all bumpy and choppy?  Go tubing, of course!!  Kylie became our little tubing maniac this trip.  Her face tells all - she would be out there waving to us and giggling, unless it got too bumpy and then her eyebrows would start looking very concerned.

All the  girls had a blast on the tube.  Aly wanted to go fast and crazy and was laughing/screaming hysterically the whole time in a "I'm-not-going-fast-enough-unless-it-kind-of-scares-me" sort of way.

The rain continued off and on, but as we were heading back to the dock it started to pour pretty hard.  We put the cover over the bow and the kiddos piled in underneath. They loved it and were laughing like crazy! So, even though we started out slow and a little shaky, by the end of the first day we were all having a great time - even with the rain!!! :)

The second day started out with the lake a little calmer so the girls decided they wanted to try some tricky stuff.  Kate tried water skiing and would pop out of the water almost while the boat was still idling because she's so tiny.  She just needs to get the feel of balancing a bit and then she'll be a champ.

Aly took a turn knee boarding and skiing, but her favorite is wake boarding by far.  This time she even tried crossing the wake - awesome!

That afternoon the wind picked up again so we went to a sand hill that was protected from the wind.  Mike (my awesome bro-in-law) hiked up to the top with the kids.  (Can you see the tiny people on that hill?  That's them. ;)> )

While playing in the sand, Kate caught this little frog.  He was so cute and she was so excited to have him as a pet . . . Of course later that night Kate's neck swole up with nasty, itchy, red hives so we think the frog may have been poisonous.  Leave it to Kater.  It's like she said, "Why does it always happen to me?"  (You can just see the redness starting on her neck in the picture).

Chillin' on the back of the boat at the end of another fun day at Lake Powell.

On the 3rd day Matt, Spence, Tiffany and Finlee joined us for another fun day on the lake.  This time we brought out the jet skis to play on and everybody wanted a turn.  (No picture of Aly on the jet skis - she was always going too fast for a picture!!)

Since there were so many of us we went and found a nice sandy spot to park the boat and set up camp.  Here we are eating lunch and chillin in the shade.

This day was also a great day to do some swimming, playing in the sand, and making sea shell trails.

Analise tried skiing behind a jet ski on this day and just about had it as well.  She popped up like a champ but then the skiis would slide out from under her.  Just another one of those "getting the feel for it" type of things.  The kiddos also decided to go hiking in up in the rocks for another fun adventure.

That night was game night in the hotel.  Boy were we tired but man was it fun!

For our last day Laura & Mike and their family had to head home and we were sad to see them go.  But we had one more day of adventure and we were going to make the most of it!

We decided to go exploring up a canyon that we knew had a little hike at the end.  The only thing is, since the water level fluctuates from year to year, you never know exactly what you're going to find until you get there!!

This year the water was a little lower  than in previous years so the boat couldn't go as far back into the canyon.  My Dad decided to stay with the boat while the rest of us swam to the end.  We quickly ran into some nasty wood chips - which usually signal that you are almost to the end.  So we trudged on thinking that the end was going to be just around the next curve, but it went on FOREVER.  Plus, it was seriously the nastiest stuff I have ever swam in (we found a partially decomposed pineapple top floating in with the wood gunk - nice!)  So anyway, we finally reached the end and decided that since we'd come this far we had to continue.

Matt's waterproof camera got a little moisture in it so the following pictures are a bit blurry, but the hike was well worth the effort.  It was gorgeous up the canyon and I love how it looks different every time you go.

After returning from our hike (and rinsing everybody out multiple times) we had another great lunch on the boat and then headed back to start our next part of our road trip.

So, all in all, I would say the trip was a smashing success.  We had fun on the lake and we had fun with family - everything I was hoping for.  Of course we missed my Mom and Jess horribly and it wasn't the same without them, but we would talk and share memories of them which made it better.  And I have to say,  that seeing my kids laughing and having fun - being resilient after going through such a traumatic experience - was the most therapeutic and healing thing I could have asked for.