And more love for Powell!

More swimming and tubing....

I think one of the girls had the camera for a bit....

The hotel maids left this cute towel arrangement on the bed and the kids thought that was so awesome! This is just one of about 10 pictures they took of it....The black balloons we put out for Mike's birthday. We also painted his toenails that morning with '40' and smiley faces.....

Aren't they cute!?

Love for Powell, continued...

Lake Powell, continued! Think we were wearing everyone out? Nothing like a nice snooze on the boat....Brandon falls asleep while the boat is speeding down the lake. He loves to sit in the bow, fall asleep and then we have to move him into the shade. We also learned this trip the the nose of the boat is called, 'The Bow' so whenever we would talk about 'The Bow' we say it very distinctly and dramatically.....please contact Sydney if you would like to hear it.

Lots of tubing! Lots of singing and dancing. Mike liked putting on songs like 'Love Story' and 'Party in the USA' and shaking his booty. It was so funny and completely embarrassed Amanda! That just adds fuel to his fire....

Sydney & Amanda doing 'Napolean Dynamite' dove hands...

Mike loves to drive the boat along these huge rocks. They tower over us!

Cutest boy in the world!

Love this picture! Great wakeboarding Amanda in this beautiful red rock country!

Beautiful Lake Powell!

We discovered Cathedral in the Desert canyon and it was unbelievable! Truly an amazing find.

These pictures are from us weaving through the canyon...

Great find, honey!

Amazing! We came to the dead end of the canyon, just big enough to fit the boat. Mike took the kids on a hike to see how much further the canyon went and I stayed in the boat to keep it off the rocks. The bow fit perfectly into the rocks at the end. I had to use the poles (which hold up the boat cover) to keep pushing it away from the rocks...quite an adventure. Mike & the kids loved the hike. It opened up up to a little pond and waterfall.

When they came back, Mike wanted the kids to cliff jump. Brandon wasn't into it, and Sydney really tried, but didn't do it.

Go Daddy!

There goes Amanda! Way to be!

After she jumped, we got everyone in the boat as more boaters (who also cheered when Amanda jumped) were arriving and the small dead end was getting crowded. Exploring this canyon really was a huge highlight of this trip.

We headed home on Mike's birthday, pulling up to our house around 9pm. It was so fun to see how the Francis' decorated our yard for Mike's birthday.

Thanks for a great trip, Mikey! Happy Birthday!! We love you!!!

Ah, Lake Powell. How we love thee!

For Mikey's 40th birthday, he wanted to go to Lake Powell! So, we packed up the kids, dropped the dog off at Roger & Cozette's (thanks, guys!) and headed to Bullfrog for 4 days. We got their on Saturday afternoon and it was cold and raining!!! But, we put the boat in the lake anyway and drove around just enjoying the beautiful scenery.
We stayed that first night at the Ticaboo hotel. Not the greatest place, but it worked. (The rest of the nights we stayed at the Definance House lodge and it was nicer). Up bright and early the next day, grabbed a breakfast and were on the lake by 8am.

We tubed and tubed and tubed (we even broke the tube-completely wore a hole in it) and Amanda wakeboarded. We spent a lot of time exploring. I loved Iceburg canyon. It is magnificent!

Looking straight up from the boat....I was laying on the back sun deck

We spent lunches and afternoons in shade underneath overhangs. Mike knows that if you get the boat in the right position, you get close to the rocks, but never hit them. The waves hit the rocks and then bounce you away from the wall. It's pretty cool.

We had a water gun fight for at least an hour one day in the water. We chose up sides (girls v boys) and it was so fun!

We went to Defiance House. You couldn't get to it unless you jumped in the water, traversed through the trees and then climbed up the mountain, so Brandon didn't want to go. He and Mike stayed in the boat while the girls and I make the trek! It was so cool! We climbed down into the Indian ruins (I think they have been restored and aren't fully original) and loved it!