Kristin's comment in the last post reminded me that I guess I should've said something about how we came upon houseboating, and the details that go into planning that kind of a trip. Many people have asked me about it.
Nine years ago, we visited Lake Powell by accident. I was working for Mariott at the time, and I was going on a trip with Grant's family (we weren't married yet) to the Southwest, so I was trying to book rooms at Mariott's along the way, since I got a pretty steep discount.
I was trying to find a Mariott close to the Grand Canyon, but the closest I found was a Courtyard in this town called Page. I had never heard of it, but we judged the distance, and decided that it would be a decent place to stay.
We drove into Page really late at night, and we couldn't see any of the surroundings, but when we woke up the next morning, we saw this big, beautiful lake in front of us. As we were hanging out at the lake, we saw tons of houseboats on it. Grant and I said at that moment how one day we would come back to Lake Powell and rent a houseboat.
A few years later, we visited Page again with my parents, and again said that one day we would come back and rent a houseboat. It was beginning to seem as if this was just going to be some kind of unfulfilled dream that we just kept talking about.
Until a couple of years ago...
My brother was going over the things on his bucket list, and houseboating on Lake Powell was one of them. We started making plans then. We said that once we got stationed in Los Angeles, it would be close enough for us to drive to Page, and Tony and his wife could just meet us there. Perfect plan, right?
Then I had two kids. So it started feeling like a dream again.
When we were in Pensacola for Thanksgiving last year, we started talking about it, and I suggested we do the houseboat thing this summer. Grant was hesitant, saying the girls would be too small, but I just said that there would always be some kind of an excuse, and if we didn't do it now, we might never do it. We all agreed, and started planning it out.
We did everything online, and rented the houseboat from www.lakepowell.com. We got one of the smaller ones, and booked the trip so that the prices still fell into the off-season pricing (the peak season started the day we turned our boat in). The website is very detailed, and if there was anything we needed, we could call and someone was always willing to help. We decided not to rent any jet skis or any other kind of vessel, because with the girls, it just wasn't feasible. But if it had just been us with no kids, or if they were older, that's totally something we would've done. We stayed for 4 days, and 3 nights, and with the littles, I think that was just the right amount of time.
The boat was way more spacious than I had in mind. The kitchen was awesome - it had a full-sized refrigerator, gas stove and oven, and there was a grill on the deck. We had one bedroom, but we ended up not even using it. Tony and Mere slept on the upper deck outside...Grant and I slept on the couch that pulled out to a bed...Kendall slept on the table that converted into a bed...and we brought the pack and play for Cami, which there was ample room for.
There you have it! Feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I'll answer back. I would highly recommend this trip - it was amazing, and I hope we can do it again someday.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Our Trip - Part 1
Okay, now that we've been back for OVER A WEEK now, and I've spent that time being incredibly lazy (at least as far as blogging, laundry, and housekeeping goes), I thought it was time to get in gear and stop procrastinating!
Simply put, our trip was incredible. I'm going to keep this short, because I could sit and write a book, but I really don't think anyone cares to read about it. So I'll just touch on some highlights...
*I don't remember what all I said on here about our trip, but we rented a houseboat on Lake Powell, which is on the Utah/Arizona state line. We also went to Monument Valley and Sedona.
*We went with my brother and his wife. How incredible that my brother, who was in a serious motorcycle accident about 4 months prior to this trip was able to make it, and be almost back to 100%?! God is so good, people - that's the understatement of the day.
*Both girls, especially Cami were sick the entire trip. Poor babies. But they were troopers! They both slept great on the boat and in the car.
*We didn't get nearly as much sun as I thought we would. Houseboating on a lake as big as Lake Powell, you spend a lot of time just getting to your next destination.
*Our first night on the boat, Cami woke up around 1 am crying. At first, I was a little nervous that she was waking up the whole boat, and actually, she did wake up the whole boat, but it turned out to be a good thing. When we anchored that night, we didn't actually anchor in the sand, like you're supposed to, because we weren't at a beach. We pulled up to a big rock, and kind of rigged the anchors on the rocks.
Well, her crying woke Grant up, who realized that the boat seemed to be drifiting a little - it had been a pretty windy night. I actually was having a dream before she cried that we were floating aimlessly down the river in the dark, about to collide into a rock wall. As I was feeding her, Grant got up to check things out, then calmly walked by me saying, "We're floating away," or something to that effect, which made me start shaking violently and praying earnestly. He got my brother up, who was already awake, and they quickly went to work.
Turns out, we actually weren't floating away, but the boat had turned significantly from where we were (we "anchored" with the front of the boat facing the rocks, but at this point, the back of the boat was getting turned towards the rocks, which isn't good, because that's where the propellers are), so in the pitch darkness (well, they had 2 flashlights) of being on a lake in the middle of nowhere, Tony and Grant got the boat turned back around, and anchored more securely. And Kendall slept thru the whole thing, which took about an hour.
*Grant caught a catfish, but we threw it back. Then we lost our hook, and weren't able to fish anymore.
*I would totally do this trip again, in a heartbeat.
Enough talking about it...here's some pics, and this is the hard part!
Simply put, our trip was incredible. I'm going to keep this short, because I could sit and write a book, but I really don't think anyone cares to read about it. So I'll just touch on some highlights...
*I don't remember what all I said on here about our trip, but we rented a houseboat on Lake Powell, which is on the Utah/Arizona state line. We also went to Monument Valley and Sedona.
*We went with my brother and his wife. How incredible that my brother, who was in a serious motorcycle accident about 4 months prior to this trip was able to make it, and be almost back to 100%?! God is so good, people - that's the understatement of the day.
*Both girls, especially Cami were sick the entire trip. Poor babies. But they were troopers! They both slept great on the boat and in the car.
*We didn't get nearly as much sun as I thought we would. Houseboating on a lake as big as Lake Powell, you spend a lot of time just getting to your next destination.
*Our first night on the boat, Cami woke up around 1 am crying. At first, I was a little nervous that she was waking up the whole boat, and actually, she did wake up the whole boat, but it turned out to be a good thing. When we anchored that night, we didn't actually anchor in the sand, like you're supposed to, because we weren't at a beach. We pulled up to a big rock, and kind of rigged the anchors on the rocks.
Well, her crying woke Grant up, who realized that the boat seemed to be drifiting a little - it had been a pretty windy night. I actually was having a dream before she cried that we were floating aimlessly down the river in the dark, about to collide into a rock wall. As I was feeding her, Grant got up to check things out, then calmly walked by me saying, "We're floating away," or something to that effect, which made me start shaking violently and praying earnestly. He got my brother up, who was already awake, and they quickly went to work.
Turns out, we actually weren't floating away, but the boat had turned significantly from where we were (we "anchored" with the front of the boat facing the rocks, but at this point, the back of the boat was getting turned towards the rocks, which isn't good, because that's where the propellers are), so in the pitch darkness (well, they had 2 flashlights) of being on a lake in the middle of nowhere, Tony and Grant got the boat turned back around, and anchored more securely. And Kendall slept thru the whole thing, which took about an hour.
*Grant caught a catfish, but we threw it back. Then we lost our hook, and weren't able to fish anymore.
*I would totally do this trip again, in a heartbeat.
Enough talking about it...here's some pics, and this is the hard part!
Friday, June 18, 2010
We're Back!
Sorry for the lack of posts - we were on vacation, and just got back last night. Hopefully, I'll get some posts up about our trip shortly.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Celebrate!
I wanted to direct everyone to my friend's new blog. She's pretty amazingly talented when it comes to entertaining, and her blog will give some great tips! I'm hoping she posts pictures of the Alice in Wonderland themed baby shower she just hosted for her sister, because it was ridiculously incredible. I'm so jealous of her skills!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
Date Day and Night
This past Saturday, Grant took Kendall for a little outing. He decided to check out the campus of USC, and from the looks of the pictures, they had a great time! Kendall even took a picture of Grant! We may have a future photographer on our hands.
Saturday night was our date night. Grant had a great idea to take the kayaks down to one of favorite spots - Balboa Island - and kayak in the little bay there. It was awesome. Since we don't have a waterproof case for our camera, we didn't get any pictures of us out on the water, so I just took this picture of Grant unloading the kayaks. We loved looking at all the gorgeous multi-million dollar houses and the beautiful boats that we passed. The only thing I wish we could've changed was the weather. June gloom was in full effect and it was very gray and dreary, but just about 2 mile further inland, it was sunny and gorgeous.
After kayaking, we got all dressed up and went to dinner at the Newport Landing restaurant. We sat on the balcony, overlooking the ferris wheel, the Balboa Island ferry, and the water we had just kayaked in.
As far as date nights go, it couldn't have been better.
Saturday night was our date night. Grant had a great idea to take the kayaks down to one of favorite spots - Balboa Island - and kayak in the little bay there. It was awesome. Since we don't have a waterproof case for our camera, we didn't get any pictures of us out on the water, so I just took this picture of Grant unloading the kayaks. We loved looking at all the gorgeous multi-million dollar houses and the beautiful boats that we passed. The only thing I wish we could've changed was the weather. June gloom was in full effect and it was very gray and dreary, but just about 2 mile further inland, it was sunny and gorgeous.
After kayaking, we got all dressed up and went to dinner at the Newport Landing restaurant. We sat on the balcony, overlooking the ferris wheel, the Balboa Island ferry, and the water we had just kayaked in.
As far as date nights go, it couldn't have been better.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
A Daunting Task
*I recently had a conversation about this with my dear friend Melissa, so none of this will be new to her.*
Having two daughters, I can't help but sometimes be confronted with the reality that I'm raising future little women. I want so badly for them to be well-rounded and interested in homemaking. With my new-found love for sewing and possibly quilting (I have to finish my first quilt to see if it's a love or not), I really want the girls to want to sew. I was never interested in those things when I was younger, but I wish I would have been, because it would be so much easier for me now. I also want them to like o cook and like making things look nice. All of that would really please me, but what it comes down to is that most of all, I want them to grow up to be women that want to please the Lord.
When I think about this, I get a little overwhelmed. I mean, who are they going to learn these things from? Me! And I am by no means a perfect example. That's the "daunting" part of the equation.
All of that to say that I was so happy to see a new website that just launched today, called Raising Homemakers! I'm excited to see what these women have to say.
And, yes, this post gives me an entry for a giveaway that they're having, but I want you to enter, too! So check out the website to find out.
Having two daughters, I can't help but sometimes be confronted with the reality that I'm raising future little women. I want so badly for them to be well-rounded and interested in homemaking. With my new-found love for sewing and possibly quilting (I have to finish my first quilt to see if it's a love or not), I really want the girls to want to sew. I was never interested in those things when I was younger, but I wish I would have been, because it would be so much easier for me now. I also want them to like o cook and like making things look nice. All of that would really please me, but what it comes down to is that most of all, I want them to grow up to be women that want to please the Lord.
When I think about this, I get a little overwhelmed. I mean, who are they going to learn these things from? Me! And I am by no means a perfect example. That's the "daunting" part of the equation.
All of that to say that I was so happy to see a new website that just launched today, called Raising Homemakers! I'm excited to see what these women have to say.
And, yes, this post gives me an entry for a giveaway that they're having, but I want you to enter, too! So check out the website to find out.
Kayak 101
Grant has been talking about getting kayaks for a while now. A couple weeks back, he bought one kayak, and then about a week ago, he bought another. He had these grand kayaking visions in his mind, and needless to say, I did not share these visions.
All I can say is that I need to trust my husband and his visions a little more. We took the kayaks out for Memorial Day, and it was so much fun! I went not really thinking that I'd actually go out, but Grant can be pretty convincing. So I gave it a try, and I'm so glad I did! My parents are here visiting, and our friends Mike and Michelle came with us. It was a beautiful, warm day (despite this being "sunny California," it hasn't been very warm lately), and the beach that we went to at Terrenea is not a real hot spot, so there was hardly anyone there. Although, out of the few people that were there, we happened to run into sme old family friends of Grant's family. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of them, but Grant did let them talk to his dad on the phone.
All in all, it was a fun day. Grant's visions of kayaking glory came true!
Enjoy some pictures. We look at the beautiful California scenery all the time from the top of the cliffs. Actually being in the water and looking up at the cliffs was a very cool experience. I wish I had taken the camera out on the water to capture it on film - maybe another time.
All I can say is that I need to trust my husband and his visions a little more. We took the kayaks out for Memorial Day, and it was so much fun! I went not really thinking that I'd actually go out, but Grant can be pretty convincing. So I gave it a try, and I'm so glad I did! My parents are here visiting, and our friends Mike and Michelle came with us. It was a beautiful, warm day (despite this being "sunny California," it hasn't been very warm lately), and the beach that we went to at Terrenea is not a real hot spot, so there was hardly anyone there. Although, out of the few people that were there, we happened to run into sme old family friends of Grant's family. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of them, but Grant did let them talk to his dad on the phone.
All in all, it was a fun day. Grant's visions of kayaking glory came true!
Enjoy some pictures. We look at the beautiful California scenery all the time from the top of the cliffs. Actually being in the water and looking up at the cliffs was a very cool experience. I wish I had taken the camera out on the water to capture it on film - maybe another time.
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