Lake Powell Vacation
Hi Everyone! Happy Tuesday!
Wanted to share some of our Lake Powell vacation from a few weeks ago. Kids and I and my parents and my brother and his family, we went on the houseboat of an old family friend with his family, and a fifth family joined us as well. It was a great group. Unfortunately, at the last minute my husband couldn't be with us. We were soooooooo disappointed about that.
Kids and I drove from ABQ to Page, AZ on the 4th of July. It's desert and Indian reservations the whole way. We stopped and had a picnic at Petrified Forest National Park. Kids did great once again with the car ride:
Met my family in Page and got on the lake for the fireworks and some swimming for the cousins. Kids were so happy to see their Grammy and Papa!
We spent that first night on the houseboat in the Marina. I had a little cabin with a queen bed I shared with the kids. Everyone else slept on the upper deck of the houseboat, which was much cooler, but I felt safer with the kids in the room. Fun to wake up with them in the mornings! The first morning we woke up and saw some of the other kids outside our window on the dock and Luke said, "My friends are still here!" All the kids on the trip were older but so incredibly sweet to the twins. Luke and Zo loved hanging out with them. They were constantly saying, "Where are my friends?" (People were coming and going on the boats a lot to water ski, wakeboard, etc.) or, "I want to play with my friends!"
Here's Luke with his Uncle Ben driving the boat out to the side canyon where we spent the week:
And here we are where we set up camp. It was beautiful:
Miss Zo with Bailey, her cousin, and "Gugie," her stuffed pig. Bailey and some of the other girls did Zo's toenails (and Luke's too, and mine too) a tropical blue with white butterflies while we were on the boat. Kids loved having their toes painted.
Here's Luke with one of the boys, searching for shells:
There was a pinata for the kids one night...such fun!
And Luke with his cousin Bodie and one of the other boys...the boys were playing music for him...too cute...
We left the kids behind one day and went to Rainbow Bridge, my mom and dad and brother and his family. And had chocolate/vanilla twist ice cream at the marina after, which was such a treat!
Oh, and swimming...Luke and Zo had life preservers on and learned to maneuver just great in them. We must have gone swimming five times a day. I've never seen Luke so happy. He'd say, "Mommy! Mommy! I'm swimming like a jellyfish!" (I'm guessing the moving of his arms and legs reminded him of the tentacles of the jellyfish we have seen in the aquarium?) And Zo one day kicking around in the water yelled out, "I LOVE IT!" We'd go for a boat ride and swim off the back of the boat, or just as often off the back of the houseboat:
And there's so much I didn't get pictures of. Like the 10,000 games of Uno everyone played (Luke and Zo often on someone's team). The great breakfasts and dinners. The napping with the kids in the afternoons, which was Heaven. The kayak rides with my mom and dad, during which the kids searched for the perfect stick (Zo always found hers quickly, Luke had to examine stick after stick after stick before finding THE ONE). Glow sticks for all the kids one night. The cranes we saw boating and especially kayaking when we could get up close. The playing in the sand the kids did off the back of the boat. The late-night motor boat rides. The last night with a full moon when it was like someone shone a spotlight on the canyon. The long leisurely talks with people I love...
Oh, and Luke wanting to go off the very high slide...I (actually my dad) did get a picture of that:
(I was in the water to catch him. Such a brave boy!)
Such an amazing trip. Thank you to everyone who made it so special. :)
XOXO
