Lake Powell

Lake Powell is a magical place.  Robert and I met there.  It is beautiful.  We have wanted to take our kids there for a long time, so when we got an invite from Doug GD we jumped at the opportunity.  Doug just finished his houseboat at Antelope Point (which is by Wahweap).  We didn't have long to visit, so we made the most of it.  We left St. George early (5 am'ish) and drove the 2.5 hours to the dock.  We went with Mark (Rob's brother), Nicole, and their 3 kids (Courtney, Megan, and Lexie).  We met Doug and his family there.  The houseboat was amazing, and the speed boat was a lot of fun.  Here we setting off:
 

Max did the EZ ski.  It was really cute, and he was very proud of his skiing.

Rob had not been skiing for a number of years, and was so glad to be behind the boat skiing.  I will need to post a video of him skiing.  Robert, Mark, and Matt (Doug's son) all skiied.  Rob had a few hard falls, and Max and Kate liked it best when he crashed!

Sharing Red Vines on the boat.

Swimming in the middle of the lake.

Love the scenery.

Kate swimming- she was so happy.

Friends on the speedboat.

Megan.  She is such a cutie.

Nicole surfing. 

Robert surfing.

 

Max and his Dad.

One handed skiing for Max!

Kate was making faces at Max while he skiied.

Flag boy Max.  He felt very important.

 

Second level of the houseboat.  We ate lunch up here.

Max went off the slide from this level.  Unfortunately, he had the air knocked out of him a couple of times.

We felt lucky enough to spend a few hours at Lake Powell.  I asked my doctor if I could wakeboard, and she thought it was pretty funny I even asked.  Needless to say, I was not cleared for any water sports.

August Fishing

Max helping me make sweet potato "fries" (really baked) in the kitchen.  They are a favorite around here.
 

Max in his fort.  He would play in this all morning long.  It was amazing.

We took the kids fishing at a stocked pond.  If we had not caught a fish within 10-15 seconds of throwing out our line, we had lost our bait!  It was so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still go to the Home Depot on the first Saturday of each month and do the kids project.

 

July Happenings

Kate is my little helper in the kitchen.  She is ALWAYS happy to help.

We decided to paint scenes for the dinosaurs to explore.

Max had a very particular vision of where each color and line were supposed to be.

I recently purchased a pass to the Museum of Discovery.  One of the perks of the pass is free admission into many other museums around our nation.  I took the kids to Hot Springs to the Mid-America Science Museum.

We had to visit the dinosaurs MANY times before Max and Kate would truly believe me that they were only robots.  Kate told me, "I was brave, and Max was not."  This picture would back up her statement.

Dinosaur bones are not scary (triceratops pictured here).

Waving hello to the baby ankylosaurus.

Smiling by T-Rex.

My paleontologists uncovering fossils. 

Kate loves to sign.  She had been very disheartened because she just could never quite sign "I love you!"  However, she has mastered control of her fingers and is proudly showing us her "new" sign.

Max will not be outshone by his younger sister!

We caught a lot of big grasshoppers in our garden.  We decided to go fishing with them on an unusually nice Saturday morning (in July!).  Just for memory sake, Kate had a really rough time!  She was terrified that Max was going to fall into the lake and drown to the bottom.  We kept showing her the rocks under the water, and how he wouldn't go down, but it was not useful.  She was very concerned and wanted to go from the moment we arrived.

We also caught one giant caterpillar in our garden. Blah!  I hope a fish enjoyed this guy!

It was really pretty to fish at Lake Maumelle.

Kate sticking close to Dad.

Max throwing stick boats into the lake.

Kate finally agreed to reel in a fishing line.

Grasshopper getting hooked.

Max reeling in his line.

Me and Kate.