Powell Play

We went to Lake Powell to stay on the house boat at the end of June/ beginning of July 2011. It was a blast! I drilled the houseboat rules into Addie before we ever even arrived. She could recite them at any time: No going out of the houseboat without a life jacket and a big person. No climbing onto the upper deck without a big person. No running. No getting in the water by yourself. No getting up to go potty in the night by yourself. She was very diligent at keeping all the rules. No one drowned the entire trip, which was great.

Jason helping Addie get her jacket on to ride the banana.

Addie, Jason, Natalie (Nate's friend) and Nate going for a nice slow ride on the water weenie.

Addie and Andrea, enjoying the ride. She took a lot of long boat naps on this trip.

Not bad for an old man, eh? One time, as we were riding past some kids waving on a dock, Jason waved back. The little girl was really excited and said, "Mom! Mom! That old man just waved at me!" I had a few turns on the water-board myself. Fun stuff, that is.

Colton and I spent an evening fishing off the back of the houseboat. Yes, I am fishing in my pajamas. There's nothing better. I caught this beauty myself (although Colton did cast it for me that time).

We went on a long boat ride to Rainbow Bridge on one of the last days. Unfortunately, we ran out of gas on the way back and had to wave a few boats down before we found someone to tow us back. It was a super long and super slow tow job that took a few hours, but we survived.

My favorite thing that we did on this trip was go on an early morning hike through some slot canyons. We swam through certain parts, which I'll admit was kind of scary, and came across a lot of cool frogs and pretty scenes. It was the best hike I have ever been on. I didn't take the camera though because its not waterproof.

This trip flowed right into the Valantine family reunion and Independence Day celebration in Richfield.