A Trip to Remember

Almost every year we make a pilgrimage to Lake Powell with Erik's family (and for Erik, at least, it is similar to a religious experience). I know I can always plan on gorgeous scenery, amazing boat food, sunburns, interrupted sleep, and a few moments of absolute peace and solitude.

Case in point: sunburned on the first day. In my defense, I was under the impression that we had sunscreen on the boat. I had pink socks for weeks.

This is how our nights went. After a night or two of sleeping with these two (and waking up hourly to find Kate staring at me), I told Erik it was his turn to suffer. 

I did get my peaceful time on a paddle board. I was afraid that my changing body shape would impact my balance, but it was great.

Lots of boating and heat and scenery and we even saw some wild goats - that was a first.

Hiking to Rainbow Bridge - it's different every time based on how high the water is. 

Morgan might not show aptitude for team sports, but she's fantastic at kayaking.

And Erik got some time water skiing.

The bow and arrows made a reappearance

 

Spending time with Erik for a whole week with no work or church interruptions is absolutely magical for all of us. 

One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching my kids form relationships with family. Our guy-shy Kate called Tanner her buddy...

and Morgan and Asher made unexpected weaponry out of Capri Sun straws...

Sam didn't let Andy forget him for a second-

and Kate and Audrey (born on the exact same day) got along a lot better than we could have hoped. They shared water bottles and binkies and tea parties, and by the end of the trip, they also shared the same cold.

 

Poor Grant - he came along to meet the family and got put to work digging anchors and tending children. We all approve of him now, but he may be wondering about us :)

Saying goodbye to part of the group. Two pregnant ladies, 5 little kids, and thankfully, 4 doctors. We had many impromptu surgical moments on the kitchen table with my tweezers. As crowded and crazy as that boat was, we sure miss them.

This scene looks pretty idyllic, but in actuality we struggled with bad weather the whole trip. On our way home from a boating excursion early in the week, a storm came up and we battled boat-soaking waves on our way back to the houseboat. Sam slept through most of it under a towel. At one point, I told Erik to drive slower and he said he didn't dare or we might swamp the boat. When we finally made it back, our houseboat was parallel to the shore and half of our anchors had given way. The waves were so fierce that they shot water up through the drains and into the houseboat. We beached and anchored our motorboat, and I huddled with the kids under towels and prayed while we waited for the storm to die down. And being pregnant, I may have been sick. The other motorboat finally made it to shore and we started trying to repair the damage. In the end, it took 10 people pushing and two motorboats pulling to get the houseboat off the beach, and then they discovered the rope wound around the propeller. They didn't tell me about Erik's dive under the houseboat to fix it until after the fact, for some reason. Amazingly, no one was hurt, the houseboat was fixed and re-anchored, and we were able to continue with our vacation. Although every time a new storm came through we all got pretty tense and missed some sleep.

The last afternoon of our vacation, Morgan climbed back on the boat just as a wave hit, and she split her chin open on the platform. We had a family practice doctor, a pediatrician, and an ER nurse practitioner who specializes in stitches all on board, but no sutures. I couldn't handle the irony. Of course, if we did have sutures, we would have had to pin her down with no anesthesia and traumatize her completely - maybe not the best end to a vacation. So we left Sam and Kate with family, boated in to Page, and spent a lovely couple of hours in the ER waiting for various cardiac and respiratory emergencies to be dealt with first. By the time Morgan's double layer of stitches was done, it was dark and stormy and we had to pull the boat out and find a hotel on the 4th of July weekend. I don't really recommend the Travelodge in Page. At 6AM we were back out on the boat, heading to pack up the houseboat and return to Page by noon. Morgan has nice memories of one-on-one time with her parents, treats, and an ER adventure - Erik and I have the bill.

Bright and early.

Finishing off the last of the popsicles while we load up for home. They didn't have the same trip that we did.

When we left, exhausted, sore, and injured, Kathy asked if we would ever return. I told her it's like child birth - give it a year or two for the memories to fade and we may be willing to try again. Farewell, Lake Powell - you won this year.