The weekend after Labor Day, we stretched out a final "summer" activity - Lake Powell! This year, we took Dallin, Audrey, Danny, and Jonas. I also decided to invite my sister's, Nichole, family and her niece-in-law, Izzy, to the party. I wanted something a little more chill this year. In fact, the AZ peeps didn't even join us until Friday night (because of work and school schedules) so we had Thursday and all day Friday on the boat by ourselves. We had so much fun! Our kids all had plenty of time to surf and test new skills before our guests joined us. Jonas was able to learn how to start surfing off the back of the boat instead of being pulled up in the water. He was pretty proud of yourself. He also wanted to be able to touch the "wall", and he was close, but bumpy water caused him to fall off the board. In that process, somehow the board flew back up to him and smacked him in the face. We're not entirely sure how it happened, but it hit his eye and cheek. Needless to say, he decided against trying it again. Yet, he was satisfied with how close he got to the cliff wall even if he didn't touch it. The older boys (and even Jonas and Audrey) tried to perfect their 360. They could get the full rotation (minus Jonas and Audrey), but couldn't figure out how to remain in the wave. Other than surfing, cliff jumping was the highlight. I even jumped! I don't think I've really jumped much (or at all) in past years so I challenged myself a little. It's kind of scary for me, but I did it. All in all the weekend was so much fun! It was two and a half days of pure water fun. The first day (Thursday, September 4th) we got there with a few hours to spare to play. We had a storm front cut the evening short, but we still enjoyed 4ish hours of time on the boat. Friday was a perfect weather day and we maximized our time out there. Saturday was a little rainy to start with (and a tad chilly for our AZ guests), but by the time we made our way to Padre Bay, the weather calmed down and we enjoyed another day of sunny skies, surfing, swimming, and cliff jumping. We came home on Sunday (September 7th), but not before going out to breakfast with the Lowes to celebrate Kate's 18th birthday. I can't believe she's an "adult" now. I know she's still in her senior year, but she has grown up way too fast! I was glad we could celebrate a little withe her. Now maybe we can officially be done with summer.
