Vacation Post #3

Lake Powell with the Seamans. So fun! Thank you, Seamans, for all the hard work and fun we had! It was a blast to be all together. It got SUPER HOT this week and we were DYING!!!! We lived more in the Lake than out, I think. The heat was rough but the lake was so fun.

 

Everyone (besides the kids and Linda and me) made an ice cream run  and brought back popsicles for the kids and ice cream bars for those who stayed behind. YUM!

Jake and new-found buddy Tom (Derek's dad), who swam across the bay and back with him. Thanks!

Jake really IS going to kill me. His little bum is so cute, though!

Bethi and Derek... One month until the wedding!!!

Forced Jake in the tube behind the boat. He cried. Scared of the big wake. 

Me and A. in the tube. She loved it... I think. Didn't cry anyway.

Les and Linda--hard core!

Thanks, girls!

Me. Skirt. Wakeboard. Ever feminine.

Les's signature move to say, "I'm done wakeboarding, thank you." This was behind his boat. He got a lot more air behind the Goodman's wakeboarding boat and probably could've landed it. BTW, the wakeboarding boat has a HUGE wake and was scary to get out of. It made my stomach drop each time I did. You can catch some sweet air behind it (which I did not necessarily do, although I may have caught a little air once or twice).

Jake had a nap every day. He woke up looking like someone dumped water on his head. It was roasting! 

Jake wasn't the only one who loved the fish. Alisa played with the fish in the bucket all morning. Ew. Later in the week there was a dead fish floating behind the houseboat... Jake and dad (or Kelsi?) found a lovely green grasshopper we lovingly called Hoppy. He and Alisa played with it all week. We'd lose him, but he'd always turn up the next day on the houseboat. He was a good pet, until his leg fell off and we found him the next day. Deceased. Poor Hoppy!

Since cousin E. didn't fully appreciate the fireworks with the Crane's, they sent some with us to do with the Seaman's. Good thing, too. Jake and Alisa loved them and we didn't get to see the fireworks at the dam, although we saw the lighted sky. Happy 4th of July!

Aw, cute! 

Proof that Linda water skiied! Ha! It was awesome!

Jake and Jenni on the tube. Jake attached himself to Jenni the whole week. He woke up saying, "Where's Jenni?" and went to bed saying the same thing. He was glued to her. Thanks, Jen, for letting him maul you the whole week!

Cutie-pie

Jake got really chafed after 10 days on the Lake and wore his undies for a few days to switch it up. Not that they were really clean. We didn't do laundry for two weeks! 

Close up of Jake and Kelsi on the kayak.

Alisa making some soup--thanks, Grandma, for the great idea!

Favorite pasttime: trying to drown mom!

Jake and Kelsi in the kayak. Jake was pretty good with the oar.

Jake and Kels down for a nap. 

This was us every day, most of the day... escaping the heat! 

Relaxing on the fun center

Fishing with Derek--Jake's favorite light saber fighter!

Vacation Post #2--for picture lovers

Ok, here are muchas fotos of Lake Powell with the Crane's. It was soooo fun--Thank you so much, Mom and Dad!!! It is a TON of work to prepare, load, park, anchor, etc. the boat. I think we did ok short-staffed, don't you? We lost some rope and dug twice, but hey, it was fun!!! Thanks for a great week.

Here is Jake and cousins on the Sea Wasp. They had a ball behind the wave runner until a ranger pulled Scott over for having no flagger and too many riders. At least he didn't get a ticket!

Here's my niece on the slide. Scott miraculously got Jake down it twice! 

Theme of the week: GNATS! There were so many gnats it sounded like a beehive. We killed what we could with Raid, but they were pretty bad both weeks. Yuck! It doesn't look like many, but they are only the size of a crumb.

What a sweetie!

Grammy and Jake

The kids cooling off midday with the AC on and a movie. 

Alisa on her perch. She climbed these two steps all day long and felt so big!

He's going to kill me later! This was bath time with dad off the back of the houseboat. Later he admitted it was a little bit owie on the bum.

Bath time with dad

Fishing with the cousins. They loved it, of course!

My sister and I with our little roasted chickens!

Alisa and cousin--4 months apart. Behind her are my sister and friend. The tongue-twister: Alisa, Eliza, Lisa, and Alicia (and Ali).

My parents always fall asleep in this chair! Isn't that sweet? I love it. Lookin' good, Mom and Dad!

Fishing! He was so excited about his catfish.

Playing with his cousin (7 months apart) and having a blast!

We went into Page to go to church (our one time on land in between two weeks on the Lake!) and got some food before my sister and fam drove home to UT. Miss you guys!

gotta share it

Jake was sitting on the toilet waiting for me to wipe him and flushed it two or three times. I came in and he said, "Listen!" We listened to the toilet run and then he explained that it was singing part of the Darth Maul theme song, then sang what the toilet was singing for me. I repeat: Obsessed! 

Vacation Post #1

First I must say I am way out of the loop, but we're back... finally! Yesterday I walked into our way overgrown garden to pick some huge zucchinis and I almost grabbed a lovely black widow. It was belly up and isn't that red belly just beautiful--until you grab it! 

Before I post pictures, I must say that Jake was being so incredibly cute yesterday at the Drayson Center registration desk. He told the lady all about the fam: "This is my little sister, Alisa. And my name's Jakey. This is my mommy. Scott is at school. and there's Ali and Alisa and Jakey. And Alisa is such a big girl and she is getting really big and she is my little sister (then he hugged and kissed her)." You get the picture. It was really cute. 

We had a week in Flag before going to Lake Powell for TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT. We did some fun things with both families. We forgot the camera everywhere we went with the Seamans, but we spent a lot of time at the pool. Flag was abnormally hot and we were at the pool almost every day. They had a tube water slide. No age limit. You just had to walk up there all alone and slide down. Jake attempted twice, but got scared. I must say it was quite a shooter, so I don't blame him. He's only three, for Pete's sake! 

Anyway, with my parents we went on some beautiful hikes and took the wave runners to Lake Mary. It was really fun and the kids, for the most part, did great! 

Here we are hiking West Fork in Sedona. I think we hiked 6 miles. My dad carried Jake in the backpack the whole way. There was a ton of poison ivy growing onto the trail so we had to be really careful the whole time. Scott carried Alisa in another backpack. We passed this little slide about 1/2 mile in, and hit it on the way back. It was a great swimming spot. If you haven't ever been to Sedona/Oak Creek, I highly recommend it! Beautiful!

Dad and I helping Jake down the slide the first time.

My mom catching him. It was deep at the bottom.

Dad the mighty cliff jumper!

Scott followed soon after.

Swimming (as Jake would say) "All Together!"

Hiking. Like Jake's Darth Maul face?

On the trail. 

Alisa and Grammy.

Jake and Papa.

I know, I know. We are so hip.

This is us hiking on the San Francisco Peaks. It was so beautiful. I love this time of year in Flag! We had a crazy adventure. We took the Kachina Trial, which is about 6 miles across the mountain. We went a little crazy and decided to hike from the end of the trail to Scott's parents house, hoping Les would rescue us! After awhile, the kids got a bit stir crazy. We ended up calling our friend Jonothan to make sure we were going the right way, then hiking another 5 miles or so before getting desperate and finally getting ahold of Scott's dad to come rescue us. I guess we were only about a mile from the house, but we were so exhausted! We left at 1:30 pm or so, and got to Scott's parents at 7-ish. We were filthy and tired and thirsty, and our kids were hungry! It was a crazy adventure! Thanks, Mom and Dad! An extra shout out to my dad for carrying Jake (who leaned out one side the whole way) all the way down the rocky trail! He is not light!

Grammy, Papa, and Jakey

Jake getting some energy out in a little cave. We had to bribe him with an occasional piece of candy or fruit snack to stay in the backpack. He really wanted to get down, and did for 1/2 hour.

Alisa with Papa's hat on. 

Jake's favorite activity at either grandparent's house: Old legos. Classic Darth Maul face. He's obsessed.

Welp, there's more, but it will have to wait for another day. Peace out, Napoleon.