Lake Powell - Part 1

Location: Lake Powell

Date: Aug 30, 31

We had the best Labor Day weekend!!

Lake Powell

Enough said!

We had been invited to go to Lake Powell over a month ago by the Mortensens.

But we just didn't know if we could make it work with our schedules.

Luckily everything came together a week ago.

So we hurried and threw stuff together and hit the road to Powell!!

We left Anthem when it looked like this!

And we stayed in that same storm cell for the next 4.5 hr drive!

We kept texting Ash & Ty to see what the weather was there.

Cloudy but not a drop of rain.

We warned them that'll change when we arrive.

Because we are apparently bringing this beast with us.

And we were exactly right.

The rain stopped for the last 10 minutes of the drive.

As we pulled into the Marina to load the shuttle cart

it started pouring.

And pouring.

And sideways pouring.

Good thing I brought rain ponchos!

Ryan and the cart guy loaded everything up in the massive storm.

They were soaked.

I threw the kids' ponchos on and we jumped inside the UTV to shuttle us down.

There's a long steep bridge that takes you down to the dock from the parking lot.

Let's just say the wind/rain was so hard I thought we might get knocked into the water!

I just had to laugh as we were huddled together in the pelting rain.

They hadn't had a drop of rain all day until we arrived.

Safely inside the restaurant!

We hung out at the restaurant for an hour waiting out the storm.

We ordered pizza.

We fell asleep on the couches.

The poor men were outside loading our gear into the boat.

In the rain.

Ryan has never been to Lake Powell.

Definitely not a good first impression!

He strongly stated,

"This place better be worth it!!"

lol I assured him it would be.

(and to add to the drama there's a detour from Phoenix that added 45 miles to our drive!!)

Finally the rain turned into a sprinkle.

So we loaded up the kids into the boat

and set sail for the campsite.

In the pitch dark.

And rain.

Luckily the Mortensen's had a full rain cover on heir boat.

So it kept the wetness to a minimum.

Oh except Tyler.

Who sat out on the front of the boat with a huge spotlight

attempting to direct us which way to drive.

Definitely quite the adventure to say the least!!

But once the kids all passed out

and it was just the adults up front driving into the darkness and laughing,

I told Ash it was almost like Date Night!

I actually enjoyed it!

An hour later we found the campsite and unloaded onto the beach.

In the pitch dark.

They had already kindly set up our tent earlier that day.

So we just had to load everything off the boat and get situated.

Then off to bed we went.

At the first sign of light,

the kids were awake.

It was time to go see where we were!! lol

I stepped outside of the tent.

Ahhhh the magical beauty of Lake Powell

  

The kids were in heaven just running from the water to the sandstone mountains.

There were 8 kids 7 and younger.

Plenty of friends to play with!!

After forcing the kids to stop playing in order to eat breakfast,

we loaded up in the boats.

They voted to kneeboard.

First try and they're up.

I love how coordinated and courageous my kiddos are!!

Anden's Cheering Section!

Grace's Turn!

And now Taylee

with her little determined tongue hanging out!

Yeah!! So proud of little Taylee!

And clearly by the joy on her face she was too!

Now for some adult fun while the kids watch!

Tyler Wakeboarding

Even this old Momma dusted off my skills and gave it a whirl!

Ryan giving it a turn

Lake Powell is gorgeous!

While admiring the endless miles of water

you can also take in the red beauty of the mountains!

That is if you can manage to stay awake on the smooth rocking boat!

Then the adults decided to do some retro kneeboarding too!

The kids all took turns kneeboarding, jumping in and swimming

and playing in the cuddy!

We were all in heaven!!

Eventually we headed back into camp.

The sand and hills were calling the kids' names!

  

It wasn't long before we were back on the water.

The kids were begging to tube.

Luckily Ashley's sister has a tube massive enough for everyone! lol

The tube ride was like musical chairs!

Every time we turned around the kids were in different spots!

At one point Anden was on the wing holding on for dear life.

Eventually he got pulled off.

When we pulled around to get him he was just laughing in the water.

"Mommy my shorts fell off!!"

Me: "WHAT where are they??!"

He proudly holds them up for the whole boat to see.

Then swims away back to the tube

with a stark white little butt gleaming underneath the water! lol

Finally we headed back into camp and peeled the kids off the tube!

Time for sand play!

Ryan dug the kids a sand tunnel.

They were more than excited to fill 'er up!

Eventually we had dinner and played well into the dark!

Smores, glow sticks, sand and sparklers!

The night ended when my sweet kids came to me at 8:30pm

ASKING

if they could go to bed now!!

Nothing like all day in sun, sand and water to wear a little one out!

(or big one for that matter!  I wasn't far behind them!)