Lake Powell

After a few days of watching this cutie for the first part of fall break:

(we loved every minute with this sweet little guy and are missing him)

And getting to hang out with Sally (and even go shopping with her and Miranda one night:), we packed up and headed north to camp at Lake Powell and finish off our fall break off with a bang. We were invited by a couple of Dana's cousins.

(Sunrise Saturday morning)

My overall impression after arriving? How have we lived in AZ for 8+ years now and never come here before? It was beautiful and very similar to beach camping which is one of my favorite things to do.
 We stayed at a section of the Lake called "Lone Rock Beach". Get it? :)

Here are all of our favorite parts about the trip-
Sadie: The fast boat rides.

I also need to add- playing in this big hole where she spent hours. :)

Holly and Emma: Riding on the "big banana".

Even after they got dunked!

Eli: Going cliff jumping.
Which he didn't do, but he loved watching his dad and the older kids jumping. I didn't go, so I don't have pictures, but there are definitely some nice big cliffs there. And out of all the kids he was the saddest to leave. He loved the boats and paddle board.

 me: Sand Hill. Which is exactly what it sounds like- a hill of sand.

But much prettier. And bigger. My pictures do not do it's height justice. It's a workout to climb that thing. This is about 1/3 of the way up.

It helps to take a few climbing breaks on the way.

And finally you make it to the top- where everyone hangs out awhile since they went through all that work to get up there. (note: if you go, you may not have all these cute guys waiting for you at the top like I did:)

Oh and it doesn't hurt to have a view like this to enjoy once you're up there.

Then, when you're ready to head down, feel free to run. With all that deep, soft sand, falling really isn't a big deal. "Ready, Set...Go!"

And last but not least-
Dana: Paddle boarding at dusk.

He loved having a little much needed R n' R. And it was good to have something to offset sleeping in a tent :)

It was so great to be somewhere new and see new things. It's good for the soul. The kids were truly shocked by the fact that there are that many stars in the sky. We looked for the dippers and the north star and we could easily see the milky way. It's a beautiful sight to behold and we all just stared in awe. 

Lake Powell, you can count on many happy returns for us. :)