Lake Powell: Living Rich with the Ritchies

The kids counted down days with excited anticipation to match my dread for Lake Powell this summer.  After my first experience on a houseboat feeling ill for days, I expected the same and took one for the team by agreeing to go.  We planned and shopped for our meal for 34 people, packed up and utilized every inch of the car, and took off at 4am to meet Paul at the dock by 10am.  By the time we reached "Last Chance Bay," I realized this was a level of fancy I had never seen or experienced.

Paul had a terrifying experience docking the boat in a storm several days before.  With 30+ people on the house boat and taking her on the maiden voyage (for them, at least), it was scary to combat the whitecaps and wind while failing to reach the two surf boats ahead for assistance.  They made it safely to the captain who manned the boat to park and dock with huge waterbeds as anchors.

We had a church service onboard, then went out to swim, play watermelon football, and explore for hours.

The other day, I asked Owen for an update on his favorite things to do.  One that surprised me?  "Looking out the window while we drive."  He is the same on a boat.  He is perfectly content to watch the canyons, the water, and the surfers.

On the way back, I had enough reception to get the text, "Happy Anniversary!" from my sister.  I jumped up, found Brady, and gave him a Happy-23-Years high five.  Neither of us even had it on the radar.  Hey now, our entire life is a little out of sorts right now.

Back to the boat for Olympic competitions, which included paper airplanes, booty scoot races, swimming race, greatest distance dives, form dives, and the crowd favorite, team synchronized swimming.  

I was so grateful for Gavin, the boy below, for immediately taking Zac under his wing with their love of surf.  Getting on a boat with a huge group of Logan and McKay's friends was fun but also intimidating.

Anniversary sunset pic:

The next morning, boats took teens super early for a surf and we joined a few hours later. (My total lack of photos for my oldest is because Zac was always on the boat with the teens.)

 Owen's been taking about going out solo on the boat but he is still too apprehensive about that experience.  Tanner took him out for his first round and Owen pretended it was fun.

Kate jumped in and looked solid.  She asked Logan and Tanner what tricks she should try and immediately started landing them.

Downward Dog:

We got back Monday night, made our meal, and spend the remaining time doing a wading workout, exploring the rocks we were docked on, learning a backflip, watching Olympics, and learning a new card game.  Note: eating dinner at 9:45pm is my kind of vacation.

Owen and Andie played for hours on the Lily Pad.  He also befriended every teen on the boat, especially Tanner (the blondie).  I am always so impressed with the Ritchie brothers and their choices of friends.  The friends are so kind and inclusive with my kids.

The teens and Owen went out on a late afternoon/evening surf and asked Owen to come along too.

Day 2: another cloudless, sunny wonder.  Kate wowed us all again.

Love her tongue:

I don't impress anyone but I am getting a little more confident.  It is bizarre how much different it feels behind a boat, and pointing the board at the boat which appears to be inches away is uncomfortable!  I got plenty of pity applause and encouragement and decided to ignore my ego and just enjoy the experience.

Brady is much, much better at this than I am, even with a complex meniscus tear causing him so much pain and swelling constantly.

Cliff jumping for our day 2.  Kate and Zac gave Owen a hard time about not surfing alone this trip, but I think his immediate jump off the boat, scramble off the rock, and cliff jump more than demonstrate his courage.

Kate jumped from a much higher spot.  I followed her, but spent too much time looking over the edge.  I did NOT want to jump but ultimately had no choice since it was impossible to scramble back the way I cam down.  It was terrifying and I'm all done proving to myself that I can cliff jump.  I can do it.  I hate it.

Meanwhile, Jason continued to drive around looking for higher cliffs to challenge Zachary.  On Sunday, Zac did a backflip off a 40' without any hesitation (getting him in trouble and scaring us).  He found a much higher cliff and took the plunge after Chase.  Quite a few other did it after him.  I hate watching cliff jumping.  It seems like such a bad idea.  I love that Zac is willing to send it but I wish his newish passion did not involve such risk.

Brady loves the jet ski.  I went on rides with him each day and took a turn driving until my tummy could no longer handle the motion.  How was the battle with motion going, you ask?  It was ok.  Not great, always experiencing vertigo, but mostly not sick.  I did have to eat the entire trip to avoid the empty stomach nausea, and I did plenty of calisthenics on the boat to stay active.  I also jumped off the surf boat dozens of times per outing to keep it all at bay.  The very worst part of the trip was waiting to get docked for an hour at Antelope Bay on Wednesday morning, but I survived and now I know I do not have to dread Powell.

We swam, played, walked, read, ate, and played games for the second night, too.  The teens all went out again.  Mandy came back and tried to convince us that Kate should quit ballet get a trainer and go pro.  Kate really is an exceptional little surfer.  She's not ready to drop all her other interests but it sure was flattering.  Paul made the same claims and my girl was all kinds of lit up.

Early morning departure on Wednesday.  Goodbye, Powell!  What a beautiful few days and a highlight of the summer.  So grateful to fill my cup with water time.  We were barely dry fo 3 straight days.  Most grateful for the Ritchies and their generosity!