Lake Powell: Day 4

 I apologize that in this post my pictures are a bit out of order, so I'll follow the pictures on this one! On day 4 we got an earlier start because Gramma and Papa wanted to take the kids on a hike. So we got some breakfast in them and sent them off!

 Chan got these pictures with our camera and a very long lens! They were up pretty high! We stayed on the boat and I vacuumed and Chan got ready to put the remaining gas in the wave runners for our trip back to the marina.

 Once they got back from their hike we went out to Padre Bay to bob in the water and swim. This is my FAVORITE but Carter is not of fan of swimming in "the deep" so it took him a minute to get off the ladder and into the water!

 I talked Kathy into letting me take an action shot of HER and she did awesome! Isn't this a great shot! She is so fun!

 Here she is with our kids :)

 Chan took Will out for a ride and Carter rode along with them- they went to check out the bay.

 Gamma and Dakota after he got back from his wave runner ride with Papa!

 Gamma and Papa! We are so grateful they invite us to go boating! It's the best!

 Here's Papa's action shot! He got pretty fancy!

 Chan took Brianne out for one last ride too!

 Then it was time for one last run on the tube! This is Will and Brianne again!

 I am always so impressed with Kathy and how she rides backwards to spot! That's a tough job! She tells me that she's been doing it long enough that she knows exactly what Chan and Tom do and how they turn. Pretty neat!

 Here's Carter and Will! This was pretty funny because their weight is so different!

 Here's Papa watching as the tubing goes on!

 Dakota ended up switching with Kathy to spot and on the last run with Carter and Will Chan slowed on a turn and it yanked him and Dakota in the water! Thankfully they got back on and were fine- and smiling about it! (and don't you just love Chan's striped shoulder sunburn! We had some pretty funny nicknames for it!)

 Carter and Will thought it was pretty dang funny! They survived being tossed out!

 This was amazing.... when we were at camp you could take this very small canyon with the wave runner and go WAY in and it got more and more narrow as you went but at the end this is what was there. SO COOL! It reminded all of us of that guy from the movie 127 hours!

 Here's some more pictures of the hike. This one shows how great our camp spot was! We were sheltered so great and had lots of great swimming room. And you can see their great boat! We love it!

 Gamma and Papa climbing up the hill.

I loved this shot of them! This was truly the BEST trip EVER!! we had such an amazing time and I can't wait to go back! There is no better way to create family memories! Our family will have stories to share for years to come and hopefully we'll be able to make many more memories there in the future! Thanks again Tom and Kathy for a fabulous trip! We love you!

Lake Powell: Day 3

 Day three was truly a relaxing day. Tom and Kathy did a bit of work on the boat, like cleaning and organizing some things, but mostly we read, watched a movie, swam and hung out together.

 I snapped this picture of Chan as he dove off the back to swim!

 Day three was also tattoo day! We have done this before and it's good fun! Will chose a Chinese symbol and I'm pretty sure it meant dragon. Small and simple.

 Carter chose this wolf tattoo and said he picked it because he was a lone wolf pack! Goof ball! But it did look good on him!

 Brianne went tattoo crazy! She loved all the bright colored ones that were hippee-ish! And she ended up doing BOTH arms!

 They are cute aren't they!

 Then a bit later there was an EPIC tube battle! It was just tied to the boat and the boys were fighting over it like "king of the hill"!

 Chan jumped in and tried to kick everyone off! He got Carter off and was in the process of throwing off Dakota when his knee came crashing down on....

 Will!!! Yes that is a bloody mustache! YUCK! But thankfully it was just a bloody nose and after a bit of cleaning up he was fine and back in the water! But he did stay away from the battle from then on!

 Swimming is definitely FUN!!

 On this day we knew we would be night swimming because it would be our last night on the lake. As luck would have it it was also a full moon! But when we night swim we play marco polo with glow sticks and throw them back and forth to each other! It's the BEST!

 I took this picture of the full moon! I know it looks like a sunrise, but it's actually the full moon! I did about a 10 second exposure on my camera... cool!

 Here is a shot of Brianne in the water with her green glow stick!

 Here's a picture of Will with his orange and yellow glow sticks on the back deck.

 This one is Dakota with his glow stick in his mouth! Silly!

 This one is Carter on the back of the boat swirling his arms around with two glow sticks! Cool huh! He looks like a ghost!

And here he is again with one green one! I love the night pictures! And it's the end of another fun day at the lake!

Lake Powell: Day 2

 On day 2 we had decided that we were going to go further up the lake to Rainbow Bridge! We have always wanted to do that and attempted to last year when we hit a rock and had to cancel. So we were SO excited to FINALLY get to see it! (Chan has been there as a kid with his parents, but the rest of us were new to this adventure!)

 It was a great day, a bit overcast but still quite warm out. Perfect for the small hike we were going to take up to the arch.

 The trip on the water up to the bridge was amazing! The mountains were gorgeous and the further we went the prettier it got!

 After we made this turn it got REALLY TIGHT going through. Kathy made the comment that she was shocked the tour boats could get through. She even said she was pretty sure if they stuck their hand out they could touch the sides of the rock.

 It was pretty unreal going through that narrow bit! Will got really anxious!

 Chan had to attempt to touch the sides, but obviously it wasn't THAT close!

 After about a 45 minute boat ride we finally made it! We tied off on the dock and started on the small hike to see Rainbow Bridge.

 I had to get a picture of Chan and I! That's Rainbow Bridge in the background.

 Here's the group that took the hike (along with Kathy who took this photo!) Tom had to stay with the boat since we were parked in the tour boat area and may have to move.

 Pictures really don't do this justice. It really is amazing! There is a definite feeling, reverence, spirit there that is strong. Carter came over to me not long after we got there to tell me he could feel it and that was before I had said anything! It's truly majestic!

 We got all the way to the end of the hike right at the base of the bridge and there is a ranger there who talks all about it. It was awesome and he was SO great! You could tell he loves his job!

 He shared with us that it had been YEARS since any of the rock broke away from the mountain but that in the past week 2 PIECES had fallen! Not off of the bridge but just near it. He had pictures of all the dust that it created and you could see white marks where it had fallen. It was cool!

 I couldn't resist getting this picture! it turned out GREAT too!

 Brianne's wasn't quite as good but it's still cute with her little pig tails! Will and Dakota opted out of this one! I'm sure they thought I was ridiculous! I was just being creative!

 There was an area of "historic graffiti" on our way to the bridge. I liked the part with the ox so I snapped a picture :)

 This was right at the base of the bridge. There was a time that people used to be able to walk right up to it and under it but they stopped allowing it years ago. In fact the ranger told us it took 20 years for the landscape to recover and go back to how it originally was around it.

 I thought this was cool and one of the major reasons for not allowing people right by it any longer.

 After our trek it was time to head back to the boat and head over to Dangling Rope Marina. For years Chan has told us stories of going there as a kid and getting soft serve ice cream. So off we went to create that same memory for OUR kids :)

 It's amazing how they built this marina literally out in the middle of the lake! Everything has to be brought in by barges. There is a small store, snack shack, restrooms, garbage dumpsters and gas pumps. Amazing!

 So off to the snack shack we went for some nice COLD ice cream! The perfect treat for right after our hike!

 YUMMY!

 I had to get a shot of the boat tied at the marina. Then we were off to our camping spot where we had left the wave runners. It was time to do some more swimming and play!

 I spent quite a bit of time taking "action jumping shots" of the kids! It's so fun and I got too many to show but here's a couple! (In case your wondering the yellow things are swim belts. We only allow them at our camp spot for the older kids/adults.)

 This was my favorite of all of them! It's my new desktop photo!

 I loved this shot of Dakota! He's getting so handsome!

 Chan jumped on a wave runner for a ride! I think he took the younger kids on rides too :)

 Will helped get the rope attached to do some tubing! He was excited!

 Carter rode the wave runner a bit and enjoyed swimming too :)

 Brianne spent a TON of time in the water but got out for a small snack before jumping on the tube with Will!

 I never get any shots of myself so I asked Will and Brianne to take one- not the cutest- but at least now people can tell I was there too! :)

 All geared up and ready for tubing! Unfortunately the goggles Brianne is wearing (which I found out later were scuba goggles that were expensive- had I known she would not have been wearing them) fell in the water and were lost :( big bummer!!

 Don't you love how relaxed Will looks in this picture! Heading out to be thrown about the waves and it looks like he's going to be watching TV on the couch!

 I took so many pictures of the canyon we were in! It was so amazing! I loved watching the light change throughout the day on the rocks.

 Here's a shot of our wonderful parents! They went off for a little ride on their own after pulling the kids on the tube :)

This is what kids look like at the end of a day on the lake.... yup....exhausted! So were we! So it was off to bed for all of us!