Since I am not as blogger savvy as I 'd like to be, I have not as yet written about our Lake Powell Trip this summer. The second week of June we headed to Lake Powell with the Hopkin's, Scott is one of Pete's partner's at work. They were kind enough to invite us along on their houseboat, as well as Katie's sister's family and parents. It was a young kids group, the oldest being two 13 year old girls, the youngest being 9 month old twins, with a smattering of other kids in-between.
But let me back up . . . we decided to take Pete's parents boat, which they have been kind enough to let us use for the last couple of years. Unfortunately, we have not had good luck with the boat. That said, the weekend before our Powell trip, we loaded up the kids after Jake's LaCrosse game and headed to Springvale, to pick up the boat from Pete's parents house. The next day, we turned around to come home, dropping the boat off in Manti to be fixed by Pete's cousins who sold the boat to Pete's family. Because of our past problems, we wanted to be sure the boat was in good working order before taking it out on Powell.
Skip forward to Powell. First day on the water, we've got the boat out and running. We have about 10 little girls swimming in the lake having a great time, when we decide it's time to go find the houseboat. Turn the key, nothing! Nothing at all. In my gut, I'm realizing that this is an omen of what's to come. After much looking about, we realize that Tyler, our 2 year old has yanked the emergency boat stop, so we reattach it, and we're on our way.
It can't be more than 10 minutes later, we're cruising on the lake, and Snap! The strap that holds the boat shade up, snaps in half and then posts holding the whole shade up snap in half. Unbelievable. These 10 or so little girls are all freaked out and the teenagers promptly decide that our boat is not nearly cool enough for the remainder of the trip. At least that's a problem that a little ingenuity with some straps and duct tape can fix.
Fast forward to day three, Wednesday. We decide we're going to take a boat ride to some indian ruins, eat lunch out on the lake and make a day of our adventures. As we're cruising along, Scott get's something in his propellor, so we stop to be sure he's okay. When all's well, we try to restart our boat, and sluggishly it starts up. A little upstream, we stop to let the kids swim (Lake Powell is extremely hot for those who haven't been there). That's when our woes began. We tried and tried to restart the boat, but nothing doing. Eventually, we decided to tie the boat up and take Scott's boat, all 19 of us, see the indian ruins and come back for the boat later, when the engine's had some time to rest.
Fast forward to day three, Wednesday. We decide we're going to take a boat ride to some indian ruins, eat lunch out on the lake and make a day of our adventures. As we're cruising along, Scott get's something in his propellor, so we stop to be sure he's okay. When all's well, we try to restart our boat, and sluggishly it starts up. A little upstream, we stop to let the kids swim (Lake Powell is extremely hot for those who haven't been there). That's when our woes began. We tried and tried to restart the boat, but nothing doing. Eventually, we decided to tie the boat up and take Scott's boat, all 19 of us, see the indian ruins and come back for the boat later, when the engine's had some time to rest.
We had a great time swimming in narrows, where Jake and Nate, hoofed it up the rocks and did some cliff jumping. We also met up with some friends of the Hopkin's, who took the two teenage girls with them, so now we were down to 17 on one boat.
Several hours later, we back to the abandoned boat, hopeful that it'll start. 
No such luck. So, going about 10 miles per hour, with 17 very hot and tired individuals, we started to tow the boat back to camp through the channel. Did I mention the mother of the 9 month twins was with us, but her babies were back at camp and she is a nursing mother? Anyway, at the rate we were going, it was going to be several hours back to camp, so Pete called the marina to get a tow. I won't tell you how much, but I can say that it hurt to part with that much cash, the boat was towed to the marina where we would pick it up a couple days later.
No such luck. So, going about 10 miles per hour, with 17 very hot and tired individuals, we started to tow the boat back to camp through the channel. Did I mention the mother of the 9 month twins was with us, but her babies were back at camp and she is a nursing mother? Anyway, at the rate we were going, it was going to be several hours back to camp, so Pete called the marina to get a tow. I won't tell you how much, but I can say that it hurt to part with that much cash, the boat was towed to the marina where we would pick it up a couple days later.
We felt bad about putting everyone out, and knew that it would affect how long we could stay on the lake. We had planned to leave early Friday morning to get back for Jake's All-Star baseball tournament, but knew that it wouldn't work with the current situation. So we ended up leaving late Thursday evening, and spending a night in a motel in Green River. I usually drive the late shift (I'm the night owl, Pete's the morning person), but knew I couldn't drive until 4am.
Anyway, we made Jake's game, and we had a great time in Powell, aside from the boat problems. Favorite moments included seeing our Mitch and Maddy up on water skis, trying out the new surf board (I got up, but only once and I fell in the wake, next time . . .), riding slowly on the big tube with Tyler screaming, watching Pete ski, kayaking, and watching Jake catch lizards and cliff jump. Probably my favorite thing was no cell phones for a week--there's nowhere like Powell for getting away from the craziness of everyday life and appreciating family. Now we're looking forward to a couple's only trip to Lake Powell in September. Should be a whole different adventure.
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