One of my all time favorite vacation spots is Lake Powell. I grew up going every year alternating between a houseboat from the Bullfrog Marina and Camping at Wahweap. I hadn't been in a long time, then my dad took us 3 years ago................and we were lucky to get to go again this past week. My parents bought into a houseboat and get a few weeks a year. We missed out last time they went, so I sure wanted to go this time. The houseboat is beautiful and has 5 bedrooms, but can sleep a ton of people. We had a group of 15. Here is the kitchen inside the houseboat.
Before we took off, Ryan was anxious
to get wet and took a ride on the paddleboard (thanks B. Mattson). Turns out they had another one on
the boat as well. Here is Ryan and Tayvlee with Abi.
I am so glad that K was brave to go on the slide. It is quite high for even a little girl................................
..............................or a grandpa!
My dad and Heidi with my sister Abi below.
My sister Megan, who was so helpful with Tayvlee.......and my 6'5" brother Zane.
And this wonderful, beautiful woman here is KRIS, who is Heidi's "kidney sister". Almost a year ago my step-mom needed a kidney transplant and this wonderful woman stepped right on in, being a perfect match, and donated her kidney to Heidi. Although I've talked to her and heard so much about her, this was the first time I actually got to meet her and her family. They were so much fun!!!
I was usually behind the camera, but here is one of me and Tay on the boat. Tay was sooooo good on the boat. Usually it just put her to sleep.
One day we found this huge sand hill, seriously it was quite the hike to get up. That's my dad with his hands up in the air. It is crazy steep to get up there, and with every step you take up, you slide half a step down, so it's tougher than it looks.
But here is the view at the top. You can see how small my dad's boat looks from up here.
Then you just roll down. If your Heidi you sommersault down. Here is Ryan, my dad, and megan jumping down.............so fun.
At the bottom there was a small cliff to jump off of. That is Ryan.
But we wanted something a little higher, and here we found it. that's me on the left and Tanner (Kris' son on the right)
And Abi was always such a brave girl, going wake boarding and even jumping off the cliffs. She's 11. That's Ryan on top with his congratulatory hands in the air.
Tanner again on the left and my brother Zane. This was really high, and we got caught by the water patrol, stating we can't jump off anything over 15 feet. Well at least we had our fun before we got caught.
Megan and Ryan jumping together.
So I grew up doing some water skiing and then only in the last few years I have tried wake boarding. Now the big hype is wake surfin. The difference is the shape of the board is more like a surfboard with a pointed nose and fins in the rear. The rope is really short and you surf very close to the boat rather than far away like a wake board. You can see from the pic below that my first attempt to get up was unsuccessful. I couldn't figure out how to get up when your feet are not bound to the board like a wakeboard.
Every one of us who did it seemed to have a completely different way of getting up. The only way that works for me is to hold the board with my left hand and get up with one hand on the rope.
I hope to do it again soon, so I can better learn how to carve back and forth.
As you can see, ryan had no problem with it. The rope has knots on it, so you can pull yourself in closer to the boat, once closer in you can find the "sweet spot" and completely let go of the rope as Ryan is doing here. So long as you don't lose the sweet spot, you can surf behind the boat for a while.
Tanner had this idea to try it tandem with his girlfriend, Carly. I couldn't believe they were able to get up.
Ryan, Grandpa and Kennedee below.
This is Kris' husband Mike and my other 6'5" brother, Parker driving the boat with his girlfriend Mish. She was so sweet. Kennedee followed her and carly everywhere. It was great spending time with them all. And Abi in front.
The last day, here we all are on the back of the houseboat.
