Lake Powell, Day 2 and 3

On our second day we headed out to the beach.  That means we ferry two groups out to the beach.  Then the kids can play on the beach and we take turns heading out in groups to play on the boat.  We got everyone there and starting playing on the boat with the adults.

Mike and Amber had a go on the tube.

Then Jeramie and I.  I do not like going on the tube.  It scares the crap out of me.

As in VERY painful if you get tipped off.

I was seeing my life flash before my eyes.

It was good times though.  After mine and Jeramie's turn we headed back in to the beach.  Mike pulled the prop up since we were getting close to the shore.

And then it happened....

It got stuck.  The prop that is.  As in wouldn't go down.  So there we were stuck on the beach with lots of people.  Two boats worth of people.  And we were located about halfway between the two closest marinas.  So we had to choose the best course of action.  We had no choice but to load EVERYONE onto the boat at the same time which makes me nervous to no end.  I think it makes me nervous because of that one time we were in a seriously UNSAFE position at Lake Powell.

It was a very very slow ride back to the marina.  With the prop stuck up you're not able to go fast.  It would have been ideal had someone stopped and offered to give us to tow.  We did have someone stop, however they were from another country, didn't speak much English and merely stopped to ask for directions.  We did eventually make it (maybe an hour and a half later, for what would have taken 20 minutes tops) and everyone was safe and sound.  That's always a good feeling.

The adults felt like the day was ruined since we couldn't play on the boat the rest of the day. The kids were fine since we hit the pool for the rest of the day and they LOVE going to the pool.  The good news was that after all was said and done my dad was able to fix the boat just fine.  We just needed to pull it out of the water in order to do it.  Not something you can do when you're on the beach.

Jackson learned to dive on his own.

PLUS was brave enough to jump in the pool and swim to the side without his life jacket.

The view from the pool isn't an ugly one.

Next thing we knew it was our last day and time to head home.  We walked to the pool for one last swim.

Yep we did.

Because sometimes little boys have to pee really bad.

Despite the boat issues we all had a really great time at Lake Powell.  Until next year friends.

Lake Powell 2014, Day 1

We didn't make it to Lake Powell last year due to scheduling conflicts and people dropping out.  Plus a busy summer.  So this year we were really looking forward to going.  I guess it isn't really a case of doing much different down there than we do up here at one of the closer lakes. But it's always a longer weekend and you just can't beat that Lake Powell scenery.  It's just such a beautiful place.  Plus the water is usually pretty calm and not to mention much warmer than Jordanelle!

On our first day we headed out onto the lake for the day.  Zarley had ridden down in the car with us and Mike and the rest of his family were coming later that day.  The water was perfect.  It's funny because when my dad first got his boat we were go go go all the time with the wakeboarding.  Now with the kids we spend a lot more time just kind of floating in the lake while they jump off the boat and swim.  Swimming in Lake Powell is a lot more pleasant and they want to do it for a long time since the water temperature is so nice.

We even got Baylee off the boat down the ladder this year!!  She hasn't done that in YEARS.  But thanks to the calm waters not making the boat rock too much she was willing to give it a go and really enjoyed herself.

This was also the first year that Wyland was willing to actually JUMP off the boat.

Jackson always willing to jump.

 And my little dare devil.

I don't think there's much Oliver won't copy his brothers in doing.

Which apparently included wake boarding with Dad this year.

He LOVED it.

Jackson and Zarley play REALLY well together.

Then Mike and the fam arrived and decided to teach Jackson the joy of rock jumping.  Now I don't have a issue with this all that much.  Kind of scary to watch a little bit.  But I'm so proud that Jackson wasn't afraid and was willing to be brave.  He watched Owen do it first and followed without any hesitation.

There he goes.

No fear on that face!

We ended our day at the pool like we normally do.  What a great start!

Don't fall out.

Saturday was our only full day in Jackson Hole.  We had split our large group into two groups since Baylee and Oliver wouldn't be going white water rafting.  We sent the big people off first thing in the morning.  This worked well since I knew we wouldn't have been able to get organized with the kids that early.  So we were able to get up, relax and enjoy the beautiful location.

There was a small playground down by the water that the boys played on for all of 5 minutes.

Before we knew it it was already time to leave and head over to the boat place.  Mad River Boat Trips is the organization we've done this before with.  They did a good job and so we were a repeat customer.  My parents, Evan and Rachel all had a great time on their trip.  At this point Wyland had agreed to come on the boat too.  He was a bit nervous but really not much.

You ride down to the drop in point on a bus, NOT like the cute one below.  Just a regular old school bus.  As we rode down the bus driver pointed out Osprey nests along the way.  Once they drop you in the river they take the bus a little further down and wait for you.

Goodbye hug as they head off to risk their lives.

Our boat captain was a guy in his 60's by the name of Fritz.  He was pretty nice.  I felt fine about Wyland being there with us until Fritz told us that occasionally they DO flip boats.  In fact, he'd done it once earlier this year.  WHAT??!!!  My kids are used to being in life jackets and the such.  However, should that boat have flipped over and they were being washed downriver in fast moving water I'm not certain they wouldn't have panicked and drowned!!  So while they were old enough, I would not have put Wyland on that boat had we talked through the whole flipping the boat before hand.

Thankfully we didn't flip the boat.  However, there was one point that could have been very scary.  We were actually headed through the Lunch Counter section and we just hit a wave funny.  The front of the boat flew up in the air and the back end dropped down VERY low in the water.  When I looked back Fritz had fallen back (still in the boat, however on his butt with feet in the air).  Even he said afterwards that he almost went in!  It was a bit scary!

Jeramie is in the very front passenger side.  Notice that Jeramie is not paddling.  He was NOT a good front of the boat person.  When things got crazy he just sat there yelling and NOT paddling.

Jackson is one row behind him in the middle (red life jacket on his back).  In this picture he's bent down holding on to the boat handles.

I'm in the fourth row back on the passenger side as well (green t-shirt).  With Wyland sat next to me in the middle.

Jeramie NOT paddling.  Kerry paddling.

Jeramie NOT paddling.  Kerry paddling while talking to Wyland.

We had a lot of fun!  But like I said I wouldn't have taken Wyland on had I really thought through the possibility of him falling out of the boat.  But he had a good time and we all arrived back safe and sound.

Jackson under the Jackson sign.

After river rafting we headed into town to meet up with the parentals.

Watched the down town shoot out show.

Did a little shopping. Got Jackson a Jackson Hole sweatshirt.

Little boys got hats.

Yelp directed us to a fun pizza place for dinner.

Beer and Pizza .. does it get much better?

It was a very quick trip. But we all had a ton of fun.  Jackson Hole is expensive.  I look forward to going back to the area when the kids are maybe a couple years older and talking them through Yellowstone as well.

Jackson Hole .. it's been too long.

I love Jackson Hole.

Love.

Could it have had anything to do with where Jackson's name came from?  Yep.

We have been talking about taking a trip up to Jackson Hole for the past couple of summers.  This year we finally pulled it together and went.  Evan and Rachel joined us as well.  We headed out nice and early on a Friday morning,  Lesson learned, apparently you can't rely on you phone GPS when driving to Jackson Hole and if it's been a really long time since you've driven there you may not remember exactly how to get there.  We didn't actually take any wrong turns but I was a bit worried occasionally.  I had forgotten just how beautiful it is there.  As we drove in we stopped at the Lunch Counter to show the kids.  We had river rafting tickets and Jackson was feeling a bit apprehensive about going.  I figured if he could see some boats float through what I described as the scariest part that maybe he would feel a bit better.

A little family selfie.

(Baylee had ridden up with my parents so she wasn't with us at the time)

It worked!  Jackson agreed to go.

Even Wyland was thinking about it after we sat and watched for awhile.

It wasn't long before we arrived at our pricey KOA campground.  My parents had pulled up the trailer since while it was expensive it was still cheaper than staying at a hotel.  The KOA was sat right on the Snake River.  Unfortunately the kids couldn't swim in it because it was moving much too quickly.  So they just did a little paddling instead.

Once we were all settled it was time for pre-dinner drinks and snacks.  We like to have little cocktail parties when we camp.  It's kind of a tradition.  It was fun to try some local brews too while we were there.

We always have the best snacks.

Have you tried the Fresh Market deli salsa?

If not, you MUST.  Now.

Our first official "event" of the trip was to take the kiddos on the cowboy wagon ride and dinner.  We'd done this one before.  In fact it was before we even had kids.  It was BEFORE I even met Jeramie.  This was his first trip to Jackson Hole too.

We did the later dinner offering and it was just gorgeous light as we went up to the little camp spot.

Then the Indians came and scared the crap out of Wyland.

He spent the rest of the evening a bit afraid they'd be coming back.

It didn't help that they sat on the hill and watched us!

Short story, dinner was good.  We sang some songs.  But honestly I don't think this was as fun as I remembered.  We did a similar kind of thing in Idaho Falls I think that was better.

to be continued ...