Lake Powell Report

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Thursday, Sept. 21st was the day we left for Lake Powell. We had made arrangements with our friends to leave our respective towns around the same time so we could meet about the same time at Lake Powell. (They are in Arizona and we are in Utah.)

The day was a whirlwind of packing, preparing, loading, cleaning and hastily rushing out of town. Luckily the only things I forgot weren't a big deal. Liam did a great job handling the car seat for 6 hours. He always surprises me with how mild he can be when other babies would have lost their cool. We got to Paige at 9pm, and called our friends at a Chevron because we couldn't get service on the cell. They were still two hours out since they ran into some bad stand still traffic. We went to Wal-mart to pick up flats of water, firewood and some other food items we intentionally didn't buy ahead of time. It was a little after 10pm when we got back to Lone Rock Park to wait for our friends. We expected them around 11pm. We continued listening to our Patricia Cornwell book on CD while Liam slept.

Trent and Robin pulled in right when we expected them. We decided not to drive too far up the beach because another guy had gotten stuck in the sand and it was too dark to decide on a campsite. We set up the campers near the boat launch and said good night.

We had a mighty wind storm all night long. I was grateful for the tent trailor because I think our regular tent would have taken flight if we were sleeping in it. It was really cold that night too...

Friday, Sept. 22nd we woke up fairly early with the kids. I pulled Liam into bed with me and kept covered. It was freezing! Ian brought us some breakfast and then went with Trent and Robin to find a good camp site. When they got back, Ian took us to approve the site. It was perfect! It was a private cove over a hill and down in a bowl shaped area of the sand dunes. We camped just a few feet from the water line. And because of the shape of the site, the wind wasn't as bad and the sand didn't fly as high.

After we set up camp, I let Liam play in the sand... not two minutes later he was booking it for the water's edge. By the time I grabbed him, he was almost wet to his neck! When I pulled him from the water, he kicked and squealed! So three rounds later of water, sand, water, sand, I stripped him and cleaned him up. I played with him in the clean camper until we went on a boat ride to the marina.

Charlotte and Liam fussed when we put them in their life jackets. Whew the air was even chillier once Trent "hit it" into gear! Liam didn't seem to mind the cool windy air as he checked out the wake behind us. Charlotte fell fast asleep with the motion of the boat. Liam seemed to prefer Ian the entire weekend and especially on the boat cruises we took. As if riding in Dad's arms was the most secure place to be. And if he was in my arms, he kept a close eye on his dad.

Trent and Ian built a campfire when we got back so Ian and I could put our foil dinners on the coals. It took forever to cook, so we finally resorted to using the hibatchi grill after Trent and Robin were done grilling their dinner. Ah, a hot dinner after a chilly day... perfect! And what's even better, we were all asleep by 9pm. (Oh and before bed we had smores!!!!)

Saturday, Sept 23rd we woke to warmer tempuratures. We ate our cold cereal for breakfast and discussed packing a picnic and going on a boat cruise through Navajo Canyon (last year we went through Antelope Canyon). I made some turkey sandwiches with jalapenos, packed some chips and my yummy chocolate chip cookies. We left to go to the marina first, since the shop was closed the day before when we went. We got ice cream treats and Ian also bought a muffin to feed to the ducks and carp. Liam loved watching the fish. It startled him (and me) when they would fight over the big chunks of muffin... they would make a sucking sound as they rose out of the water to grab the food from each other. Eww.

Once we got back into the boat, the babies nursed to sleep and stayed asleep until we were midway into the canyon. We stopped in a cove of the canyon, watched lizards crawl up the rocks and ate our sandwiches. We gave the babies a break from their life jackets and let them crawl around the boat. Watching Liam try to walk in a rocking boat was funny, but sad too. He wouldn't give up. I am sure between the boat and the sandy beach, his balance improved.

When we got back we decided showering was a good idea. So we found another camp area up the road that had coin operated showers. That was interesting trying to juggle a 15 minute water time limit while playing pass-the-baby. We pulled it off though. We felt refreshed and made our way to the Dam Bar & Grill. Ian had a Dam big burger and I had a pasta dish. Liam and Charlotte did well in the high chairs though they made a HUGE mess.

We got back to camp, put the kiddies to bed and then got the camp fire going. We sat out at the camp fire with Trent and Robin goofing off and laughing with each other. It was a fun finally in being reunited with our dear friends for a few days. We probably went to bed a bit too late, but it was worth it. We laughed so much that night!

Sunday, Sept. 24th we woke to the perfect day to STAY ALL DAY! But no, the weather was finally just right, the water was like glass and we had to pack up and leave. I think I was pouting all morning because of this and the fact that I was dreading the final good-byes to our friends. Our camp went down pretty easily so we were drove out of the park by 10am. We stopped for gas and then for a bite eat... our last meal with our friends... We kissed, hugged and snuggled the kiddos good-bye. We had a prayer, then hit the road.

Liam did well the first couple hours... then it was all down hill from there. We had a very sad boy on our hands. We stopped a few more times than we wanted to, but we finally drove into our hometown at 6:30pm. Ah, so nice to be home!!! We cleaned out the car and Ian took it to get washed and vacuumed while I got Liam fed and ready for bed. That little guy fell asleep at 8pm on the nose. And I stayed up WAY too late creating that video montage you see above!