Lake Powell 2016

This Lake Powell trip almost got cancelled because Grandpa's funeral was right before this. I think it is a fitting tribute to him that right after his funeral some of his posterity went to one of his favorite vacation spots in the world. Over 70 trips there!

It was pretty difficult though because we went right from school fall break, to going to Utah for a funeral, to going to Lake Powell. We stopped at the same Maverick gas station at Page each drive. Whew. We drove back to Arizona and spent about 24 hours here, while John went to work, the kids went to school and I furiously tried to switch one trips gear for another's. Then back in the car again first thing in the morning.

This was still an awesome trip, but because our schedule had been so absent for so long, we definitely had some issues on this trip. Especially Miriam really struggled with behavior sometimes. Huge, HUGE, fits over small issues. Man, it was rough for a while. But we made it through, and our little firecracker is still loved and adored.

Photo referenced by Miriam!

Miriam wants to help me talk about our trip: We brought Holland with us. Holland is our little baby; she is our little toddler actually. This picture is about when me and Ellie were riding on the speed boat.

Mommy: The girls rode with a couple of their cousins on the boat to go to the campsite, which was great until Zuzu woke up and her mom wasn't there. She was really sad. But sweet Janey comforted her. All the girls helped drive the boat.

Miriam: One of our aunts is dipping Holland's feet into the lake.
Mommy: Ah! She doesn't want her feet in that cold water!

This campsite was one of our favorite's ever. It was directly across from Gunsight Butte. There was hardly anyone on the lake, and the view was phenomenal. That first day we got there, no one even wanted to go out on the lake, because the campsite was so fun. A huge sandbank with lots of hiking and climbing areas around.

 Uncle Marc orchestrated a huge sandcastle on the beach. Holly loved the soggy sand.

 Oh, the water is better now.

I was surprised that my girls didn't think the water was too cold for wading.

They had fun making a drip sandcastle.

 Baby feet in the sand. :)

 Getting braver in the water.

 Queens of the sandcastle. Isn't that view amazing?!

 A dream come true for the kiddos!

 Four kids in the blow up raft. Nothing could go wrong, right?

At one point John, Holland, and I hiked up the hill behind the campsite. At the top there was lots of names carved in the cliff. It was a good place to hear echoes of yourself yelling, as Holly found out. It was so cute!!

 Gorgeous view! Look how tiny the houseboat looks from here!

 Miriam: Holland and Daddy are in this picture. Oh sorry, that is actually John, my daddy.

Mommy: The whole crew. The other girls were having too much fun with their cousins to want to join Mommy and Daddy doing something.

Lovely!

We had a fireside meeting talking about memories of Grandpa. Gunsight Canyon is where Grandma and Grandpa drove down and launched the boat on their first trip to Lake Powell. They were still building the dam and apparently the lake was filling so quickly that when they got back to their cars after the trip, other people's cars were completely under water, just the tops showing. I can't even imagine--that would be such an awful surprise!

Fireside with memories of Grandpa.

Cuddling in bed with my girls.

The next day we went on the hike with just Eliza and Holland. Miriam refused to come with us--behavior issues were starting up. It was a really amazing hike though.

On our hike with Eliza and Holland.

Pot holes to sit in, rocks to scramble on and nearly get stuck on--perfect. :)

A little tunnel. The sandstone stripes are so cool!

We hiked back as far as we could in the canyon, and there was a dry waterfall. There was a steep rise right before the cliff where John was standing in this picture.

Back behind the rise at the very bottom of the waterfall was a tent that was upside down. Clearly we watch too many crime dramas because our first thought was that we were going to find a decomposing body in there.

Beautiful view hiking out.

Little Holland didn't get regular naps on this trip. The first day she didn't get a nap at all. The second day on this hike, she was super exhausted and started getting fussy in the ergo carrier. So we stopped in a shady spot and nursed her.

She quickly nursed to sleep.

She stayed asleep in Daddy's arms the entire hike back.

This meant that I had an empty ergo carrier and since the weight limit is 45 lbs, my 7 year old could still fit! She thought this was fun, and it was darling to have her chatting in my ear the entire hike back.
Eliza: It was really fun riding on Mommy's back because I never get to do it because Holland is always riding in there. It is kind of nice to not have to dodge the plants and stuff, and we were together the whole time and I could talk to Mommy.

Sleepy Holly woke up as soon as we got her in the tent, of course.

We had so much fun playing in the super soft sand. Here is a flower that Eliza created.

It was too cold to swim, but paddling around was fun. The only concerning part was one time Eliza decided to go out on the little blow up raft by herself. She quickly found out that paddling just with one person was hard. She actually ended up not using the paddle at all to get back to shore, but just stuck her hands in the water and used those to propel her forward kind of like paddles.

Lovebirds out on the raft.

Gorgeous view.

Miriam: Ellie actually jumped out of the raft while we were still by the shore, but got stuck. She was trying to get the raft to the shore. It was pretty funny.

Eliza: It was not funny. It was horrible. I was freezing. 

Miriam: So my Grandpa had to help Ellie get out of the lake. And Daddy.

Mommy: Each sibling ended up getting about a half day to take the speed boat out. David and Marc took their families to see Rainbow Bridge. Kayla and I decided to stay a little closer to camp and boat around the canyons near Padre Bay.

We really only went up one canyon. Face Canyon. It was amazing though. We found a perfect slot canyon.

Eliza: There was a teensy crack in the wall and I decided to walk up it. I found the end of it. Mommy and Daddy helped me get on the ledge where I found a dry waterfall.

Mommy: This slot canyon was narrow enough that Ellie had to turn her shoulders sideways for a bit. The adults were lucky to get through.

Narrow slot canyon!

It opened up at the end where we boosted Eliza on the ledge. The other little fork of a canyon started out pretty gross with a couple of dead fish and a dead snake. Blah. It turned into a beautiful windy little hike/rock scramble.

Eliza: There were little concave alcoves with little pathways in between that connected them until we found a big dry waterfall that we couldn't scramble up. I found a flip flop in there.

Miriam: It was really fun climbing up, but me and my sister and Holly had to be lifted up each spot, but Holly was actually a baby so she had to be carried until we found a spot that only had rocks and sand. And there was only a couple pokes.

Push stick time in Face Canyon.

Amazing reflections on the water!

We all really enjoyed Face Canyon. Up another fork there was the perfect boating with push sticks. And those reflections!

Eventually it got a little too narrow for the boat and too murky to hike. The canyon walls were gorgeous though. Grandma Lucas came with us. She didn't get out and hike but seemed to enjoy riding up the canyon.

The kids really wanted to get in on the push stick action, and fortunately no one ended up getting hit with one of them. 

The push stick people in the back.

Holly really enjoyed the time to be-bop around the boat. And eat food. Kids eating on the boat in huge life jackets is iconic to Lake Powell.

Poor Grandma though. She didn't feel well most of the trip and had a terrible sore throat. She couldn't hardly swallow. We all used our children's liquid pain reliever on her. I am glad that by the end she seemed to be feeling better.

Grandma loves holding the babies on the boat. 

The boat ride back gave Holly a little chance for a nap. Love her.

As part of our little meeting about Grandpa. We all shared a memory and placed a stone in memorial to him. I can't believe he is really gone, but I am so happy he isn't frustrated by his worn out body anymore. 

Stone memorial to Grandpa Lucas.

On our way back to Wahweep Marina we rode on the houseboat. Holly kept trying to kill herself by making a break for any edge or open door that would make her fall in the water.

Miriam rode with Kayla and Cortney's family in the speedboat. I think her dream would be to be part of that family--less strict rules about eating and much more time on electronic devices. Sorry kid, you ended up with who you think is the mean mom. I am sure this won't be the last time you feel this way.

These girls had fun on top on the ride back to the marina.

It was chilly that last day, but still fun. It was our first time on the houseboat while it was underway. It was fun! After a couple of weeks with a lot of driving we were really looking forward to only having to drive approximately four hours until home (yay Wahweep!), unfortunately there was a freeway closure that led to a painful detour through Payson. There was way too much traffic on that little mountain road, which led to a ton of stop and go traffic. This meant that it took us over seven hours to get home. Seven hours really isn't so bad unless you are expecting much less. Poor Holly was so. done. with the car. There was one gas station after this long trip through the mountains and the bathrooms (port-a-potties) were slammed. Someone apparently couldn't wait and unzipped and went right in front of our car. Gross. By the time the road opened up past Payson John flew down the windy mountain so much so that of course Ellie got car sick and threw up. Despite the rough road home, we really did have a fantastic trip. It was so beautiful! I love Lake Powell in October!