Fun in the Sun

I was a bit hesitant about taking the trip to Lake Powell.  Number 1...I'm not a sun person.  (Anyone that knows me knows I can't wait for October to get here!)  Number 2...I'm not much of a boat person.  Number 3...I get motion sickness, hence the reason for not being a boat person.  Number 4...I was really worried about keeping the kids from getting sunburned or drowning for the entire week.  Turns out all my worrying was a waste of time, which I guess worrying always is a waste of time because it doesn't change anything so why do it!  I'll know better next time because this trip was so much fun even IN the sun.  I didn't even mind it.  The kids still ended up with a bit of sunburn but they...we all...had a blast and can't wait to do it all again.

From catching lizards...

 ...to riding on the tube...

 ...to cliff jumping...

...to catching toads...

(or squeezing them tightly because "I wuv dem so much!" if you're Jack)

 ...to playing in the water...

 ...to fishing (got skunked!)...

...to knee boarding and wake boarding...

 ...to building a sand castle...

 ...to lounging in the pool.

Now after looking at those last three pictures you may ask yourself, "Why on earth would you spend time at the Motel 6 pool instead of on that beautiful lake surrounded by the gorgeous landscape?"  Well...let me tell you why.

On Friday, as we were heading back in to the marina, we were in the middle of the main channel and hit something.  Not sure what it was or why it wasn't marked if it was a rock, but we hit it.  Thank goodness no one got hurt.  Anyway, we made it back to the marina and my brother-in-law, Calvin, checked out the bottom of the boat.  He saw some scrape marks on the part of the motor that hangs in the water (how's that for technical terms) but was confident there was no other damage.

Fast forward to Saturday morning.  (You see where this is going right?)  We launched the boat and then headed out for the day.  After driving a while and wondering why the boat felt a little sluggish, we stopped to fish a little.  Then Jack wanted to swim so we were getting ready to let him swim and noticed water on the floor of the boat.  Calvin immediately checked the engine area and found about two feet of water covering the motor.  Obviously we had a hole in the boat somewhere!  He yelled to get the bilge pump going to get the water out.  My sister, Kristin, got the pump going and we headed for the marina as fast as possible.  I was completely confident that everything was going to be fine but of course we had to joke about it all the way back to the marina.  Calvin was yelling things like "We're going down like a sinking ship!"  Of course the adults all got a laugh out of it but Annie and Henry got pretty scared that we were going to sink.  We tried to assure them it would be alright....and it was.  We made it back to the marina no problem, and then decided to spend the rest of the day at the pool.  It actually turned out to be a great day.  No one was disappointed that we weren't able to be on the boat and we all made the most of it.  I made a quick run to Walmart and came back with enough blow up toys to cover the entire pool.  The kids loved it and I was the best mom ever for the day!