Lake Powell 2014

Here's a quick recap with a bunch of pictures from our trip to Lake Powell. We had a great time, and it was Bob's 2nd trip in our 5 years together. The last time he went it was on our old houseboat and Andrea and Brent were just dating. It was so fun to have him there, and to see him enjoy one of my favorite vacations. I also will say that I loved having another person there to help with Olivia.

We drove down on Monday morning and got on our houseboat at Bullfrog. We rode with my parents and we all stopped at Stan's for lunch. Bob and Olivia shared a milkshake.

Olivia waving "bye-bye" as we were about to leave. She had just woke up. 

The wind was blowing like crazy so we decided to stay on the slip for Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday morning we went out and found a beach to play on in the morning. It was fun for a little bit, but mostly windy. The sand was blowing everywhere, and we were glad we hadn't tried to move the houseboat. I tried to set up my little half tent for shade and protection from the wind, but it was a mess. I didn't pull my camera out because of the wind. There was a big sand castle contest going on by all of the cousins.

Wednesday morning we left for a little cove down at the end of Bullfrog. It was a great spot for the houseboat and had a beach. It was pretty steep though and had a lot of stickers and weeds. Ren and Brenda spent an hour or so making a cleared off area for the kids to play. Olivia and Jensen enjoyed playing in the sand, and by that I mean eating a lot of sand. They both weren't too happy once they had a mouthful though.

We spent a lot of time in the hot afternoons playing cards. We played Rook, Shanghi, Rook Rummy, Scum, and Nerts.

Olivia didn't love the water at Powell, and I am sure it is because it was so cold. While we were there the Lake was increasing about a foot of water a day. We filled up her baby pool and she enjoyed playing in there with Jensen.

 The boat and wave runners were always in use, but obviously not by me. I swear that just because I couldn't wakeboard or ski, I wanted to more than other summers. Bob tried out the kneeboard, double skis and the single ski. He also spent at least an hour a day tubing with Brent and my cousins Nathaniel and Jaxon. I enjoyed watching on the boat a couple times when Olivia would let me. We joined Bob on the tube on the way back to the boat one trip. We weren't planning on going fast at all, but when Ren would try to go at all past no wake, we couldn't balance the tube to not go under water so we were inched back slowly to the houseboat. Olivia loved the ride.

One of the main reasons I love any vacation is the chance to read. While I was there I read 4 books, it was so nice. You will always see books and people reading all over the houseboat. (No pictures of me reading, since I am usually behind the camera.)

Olivia was basically in heaven the whole time playing with her cousin Jensen, and my cousins who were there. Addi and Noelle were like little Mom's to her the whole time. She also loved being chased down the hall by Dillon. They taught her how to bow, and we would all clap for her each time. And she came home with her newest word - awesome.

Jacob, Addi, Bob, Livy, Nathaniel & Noelle

Bob and Brent put their fishing poles out a few days and caught a few fish. I would say they were only fishing 10% of the time. They would put their poles out and then come back inside to play games, checking on their poles every once in a while.

My best buy for the trip was a tent for Olivia to sleep in. All of the bedrooms on the houseboat have 3-4 steps to get into or onto the bed. There was no way that I could leave Olivia to take a nap during the day without her falling or getting into trouble. I also was worried about sleeping on the top and having her crawling around. We brought a pack n play last time, but they are just so big. Each night I would put her in the tent on the floor of my parents room and when everyone was done playing games, I'd pull her into the living room where she slept on the floor in her tent and I slept on the couch. We tried to sleep upstairs, but the kids would watch movies on the projector and it was too noisy for her to fall asleep. This tent was seriously worth every penny, and I love that it folds down so small. Hopefully baby girl isn't crawling next year on our trip so I don't have to buy 2 of them! Here is Olivia playing in it at home before we left.

On the way home from Powell we stopped in Price at a little drive in. Olivia got a corn dog, but what she really loved was her ice cream cone. She ate almost the whole thing by herself.

We had a great time and can't wait for our next trip in August.