Lake Powell 2009

For the last week of May, I had my entire family at Lake Powell for the first time in six years. Basically, what that means, is that no one was on a mission and Mike & Erin and family were able to come this year. Mike was able to get an "almost summer" week away from his residency in Minnesota and he decided that he really wanted that week to be at Lake Powell. It was amazing for me to have all fourteen of us together for an entire week . . . almost surreal! We chugged the "Black Pearl" to Iceberg Canyon, this year . . . an absolutely beautiful spot. Once we were tied in to shore with no less than six ropes anchoring us in (Brent hates getting up in the middle of the night during a wind storm to reset ropes that have pulled loose) the fun began . . . quintessential Lake Powell. Lots of eating good food, swimming (with or without swim noodles), wakeboarding, water weenie wars, card playing, movie watching, tubing, sun bathing, marshmallow roasting, rock climbing and rapelling (compliments of our friend, Tyson May, this year), scorpion hunting at night with a black light (that would be Scott), snoozing, reading, star-gazing, chatting, fishing, photgraphing, hiking, skinny dipping (aka special swimming), and so forth. There's also the inevitable trouble shooting a variety of problems that can arise on the houseboat . . . the generator, the motors, the electrical system, the water pumps, etc. Half way through the week, the engine in the Malibu blew up (pretty much just like I said it) so we had to rent a boat for the rest of the vacation. It was pretty sad, expecially for Mike and Steve who don't get much time behind the boat. Everyone made the best of it and switched over from wakeboarding to slalom skiing and still managed to have a great time. The Malibu is still in the shop awaiting an "engine transplant". Always an adventure with the Hales!

Tube wars . . . Tyson and Skyler May vs Bryce May and Mike . . . they actually think this sort of thing is fun.

Jordan getting drowned by Abbie and Landon. He showed us all his imitation of the elusive Lake Powell "rumpback whale" . . . just use your imagination 'cause I'm NOT posting a photo.

This is the entire crew . . . Hale family, May family, Chris Ricks and Grandma and Grandpa Hale

I thought I was going tube riding with my little grandkids but the second I got on the tube, the kids hopped off and Erin hopped on. Duped into taking a terror tube ride . . . my face tells the story! I know . . . I'm such a weenie

I brought a baby pool for the deck of the houseboat so that Noah could get in the water too . . . the lake was still pretty cold. Next thing I know . . . Rub a dub dub, three kids in a tub . . . they emptied it as fast as I could keep the warm water coming! Like, Lake Powell isn't big enough?

Laura's gonna looove this one . . . I wonder how long before I get a scathing comment? At least I know I'll get one comment!

Abbie with "Granny" and Great Grandpa Hale.

Landon watching a movie with Uncle Steve and Aunt Kalli. We watched at least one or two movies every day. This year we watched a lot more Disney than we have for awhile!

This was taken after our annual girl's "special swim". We decided to put our swimsuits back on for the photo . . . you know, make it more blog friendly.

There are so many other great photos that I'd love to post but I've really struggled just getting this much together . . . Brent probably has 600 photos on his Binford 2000 camera! Part of our Lake Powell crew had to leave a day early (Mike back to Minnesota to his residency, Steve back to Boston to start his program at MIT, Scott and Rachel back to Centerville to start their move to Kayesville, and Mom and Dad Hale back to Perry to start their recovery from a week at Lake Powell!) I sat on the back of the houseboat and watched them all leave (knowing that I wouldn't be seeing Mike and Steve for awhile) and just cried. My good friend, Julie, came back with some kleenex and an understanding heart. Thanks, Julie.

Til next time . . .