Lake Powell 2012

 Ah, It's summertime again, and that means our annual trip to the 'Big Lake' as Grandpa Bryce calls it. It gets harder & harder every year to fit this little 4 day trip in to the ever busier baseball & golf tournament and traveling schedule. So hard that this is the first time in 3 years that Luke has been able to come! Crazy..



The Lake was, as always, splendid & breathtaking. There is nothing better than a sunrise or sunset on Lake Powell. Tranquility...

 We were blessed to have our good friends, The Naccaratos accompany us this year. They are Lake Powell virgins so it was so much fun showing them all the traditions and craziness we've adopted over the last 15 years.

Zac, Nick & Jake, on our way to drop off camping gear to our site

We hit a bit of a snafu early on, somehow bending this prop on day 1. Luckily, Wade & Rory are very prepared boat owners and we had a spare. Just had to quickly pull the boat out of the water, pull off the old, put on the new, and off we went. Hardly even broke a sweat. Well, I didn't because I stayed in the shade on the boat ;-)

 Our fearless captain Wade & his sidekick Zac.

My lovely friend Dominique was so excited for her kids to have this experience. I think she neglected to realize that she would be having it with them. Day 1 hour 1 she asks me "Does it ever cool down? Are there always bugs? Is it always this hot? Will my tent stay hot all night?" Silly little virgin...

She adapted quickly though and was happy as a clam as long as we were on the water, or at the Marina. 

Kyle & Dominique

 Their kids were super troopers. Ready for the next adventure at all times. Very helpful at meal & cleanup times. Very good at breaking up the fights my boys got it (did he just throw turkey at him?), and just happy all the time. Don't know how they did it, but these two deserve a medal in raising polite children.

Whitney & Makaelee cruisin' on the nose

Lexi & Kaden having snuggle time

 We did all the traditional Lake Powell funness including:

Sand hill...

 Whitney, Luke & Makaelee at sand hill

 Wakeboarding...

Luke getting some righteous air

 Tubing...

Whitney, Zac & Makaelee rippin' it up

stealing a nap on the Marina couches...

everyone...drooling on the leather...except the rambunctious 5 year old

 Lounging lakeside on the Adirondack Marina chairs...

And some obligatory sightseeing, Navajo Canyon still being our favorite on the Wahweap side.

 We were truly roughing it. This is all there was folks. 6 tents, a shade cover, a porta-potty, and a camfire. After the wind kicked up quite strongly on day 3 Wade vowed to never tent camp at Lake Powell again. We'll see if he follows through on that!

Goodbye once again to this beautiful place. It has watched us & our family grow up. Gone are the days of sandcastles and ice cream cones, to be replaced by Wakeboarding tricks and sneaking drinks out of the 'adult cooler'. (JK... we're not there quite yet)