Matt and I picked up Tyler and Amy Sunday evening (July 31). We drove to Price, stayed in a hotel that night before finishing the drive the next morning. Luckily there is cell service where the house boat was this year. We were able to call and let Troy know when we were going to arrive. He came with his boat, Ann-Marie and John were on wave runners. We loaded everything onto the boat, Tyler joined John on the back of the wave runner, and we were off.
We got to the houseboat and within minutes Tyler and Amy were in their swimming suits and being shown around the boat and told about all the activities by their cousins. How grateful I am for family. Matt and I got all our things in and got settled, including setting up a tent on the beach that we'd be sleeping in while we were there. We got to take a spin on the wave runners later that afternoon and so enjoyed the time together. I really like that Matthew Jared Cornish!
While Matt and I were out on the wave runners Amy and Tyler were busy swimming, jumping off the high dive, and trying out the knee board. We hardly saw them, which seemed evidence that they were having a great time.
I wish I had a picture of Tyler on the wave runner. That is perhaps my favorite memory of him from the trip... his hair dried from the wind and a huge grin while cruising across the water. What a good kid. Here's Tyler getting ready to try the knee board:
Here is Miss Amy Elizabeth after a jump off the high dive. Johno reported to me later that she was really nervous but she did it; and after the first jump she immediately ran back up to the top deck to do it again. I wasn't too surprised. I sure like her face!
Matt said he went water skiing once as a young teenager. I didn't expect his lack of experience to stop him from being completely successful. He was up on his first attempt. He really had a good time out on the water. It was on his second time up that he figured out how to get outside the wake. That was trickier (according to Matt) on the water skis than on the knee board. We don't have any pictures of either of us on the knee board, but that was a lot of fun. I didn't try it until the end, but we had a great time figuring out how to get over the wake and then holding on with one hand. We looked pretty awes (if I do say so myself). Here's Matt his first time up.
Perhaps my favorite thing about this trip is how much time the cousins spend together. Here's Tyler, Jess, Lillian, and the daughter of one of the other families (I can't remember her name) just hanging out on the boat ready for a ride.
I was especially grateful for my sisters on this trip. Here are Ann-Marie and Robyn on the back of the house boat applauding the successes of the kids, watching little ones swimming, and wrapping kids up in towels when they come dripping back onto the boat. Caroline had to leave the same day we arrived. Robyn is the mama of the boat. When she told one of the boys that the treat closet was closed he was quite put out. He went over to his dad and said, "She thinks she's the boss." His dad said, "She IS the boss." We all laughed.
Uncle Troy is a great teacher. He didn't give up on me trying to get up on the skis a few years ago. Here he is helping Ash-Anna Banana on the knee board.
I just love scenes like this... one teaching another. Uncle Matt worked with Johno to get him up and going on the knee board. Some little people can start off kneeling (unlike us not-as-little-people who have to pull ourselves up on the board once it's being pulled by the boat).
And he's up! He had a great run.
A couple days into the trip we packed up the boat with the Cornishes, Bensons, and Seelys and took off to go cave swimming and get ice-cream and the dock. We parked the boat in the cave entrance and jumped in (Amy and Tyler in the "ready-to-jump" position).
Cousins, Alexa Ann and Ash-Anna Banana.
I couldn't believe how much warmer the water was once we got outside of the cave. Here we are, the floating Cornishes! We all swam out into the warmer water and Robyn took our picture. It makes me happy.
On our way out from cave swimming we boated past this row of little caves. Matt, Tyler, and John all wanted to try and climb up into them. Lake Powell is full of fun places to explore. You can't pass up opportunities like that.
This is John and Tyler trying to find a way up into one of the caves. They were quite proud of themselves once they'd made it (cue Rocky theme music). Matt Picked a different cave. He made it up as well and found some good hand holds that made it easier for others to come behind.
Pretty soon everyone had abandoned the boat except Ann-Marie and Robyn and Robert (someone had to be captain). Between Matt, John, and I we got all the little ones up into the cave. They all came out with a handful of rocks that they wanted to take back with them to the boat. There is something about kids and rocks. I love it! Only a few of the rocks survived the swim back. Maybe, just maybe, there are other rocks that are looking for a good home.
A quick family (minus Emily, darn-it) picture in the cave. It was really quick cause each little fanny was frying on the hot rock.
Matthew Jared and Tyler Jared. Sure do love those two boys!
The last day on Lake Powell has been lovingly labeled "Black Saturday" (or Thursday, in this case). It really isn't bad - it's just a lot of cleaning and packing and moving. There was a glitch here and there (like the house boat being stuck in the sand and having to be pulled by a boat and pushed from behind by all the adults), but mostly everyone pitched in to get the whole place ship shape. It wasn't long at all before Amy and Tyler were zonked out in the back seat as we drove home. Matt and I had a few hours to talk about some recent struggles and be reminded of how grateful we are to be in this life together. I loved every minute of it. What a blessing it is to have family and friends, and to have the gospel of Jesus Christ help us make it through the storms.
No comments:
Post a Comment