A Tale of Two Cities...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...but we will get to that later.

The first leg of our "Lake Powell Trip" started off with a bang! Or should I say a Tractor. On Wednesday we traveled south to Paragonah, Utah to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Free for the night.

After dinner and watching some TV Grandpa Free started up the Tractor and Ryan and Avery took it for a spin. They looked so adorable riding it together, and Avery wanted Stacy to ride the tractor with them, unforunatly they wasn't room for her.

Avery and Ryan were enlisted to help Grandpa with some work they could do in the yard. Avery had a blast scooping woodchips and dispersing them over the dirt.

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Remember when we said that "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times?" Well, let us explain...

We planned on meeting our good friends the Dunyons at Lake Powell for some fun in the sun. But late Wednesday night we got a call from them telling us that an axel broke on the trailer that was carrying the boat, and on top of that their truck got a flat tire. So it seemed that nothing was going right for them. They had to stop in Las Vegas to get the trailor fixed and didn't know if they were going to make it to Lake Powell. So we ultimatly decided to drive onto Las Vegas to meet up with them there and then all go to Lake Mead. A lake is better than no lake at all. So we were on our way to Lake Mead.

When we finally arrived and set up camp it was hotter than an oven and were were all sweating, not just bullets but arsenals of sweat bullets. It was torture, but camp had to be set up. When we finally finished we changed and finally made our way to the lake. Avery didn't enjoy his first ride in the boat. Pictures were taken of it, but none were postable. We found a little alcove on the lake and set up some shade and chairs and some food and we played around in the water.

Avery and Ryan making a sand castle.

Stacy in her ADORABLE hat!

More sand castle building.

TA-DA! Presenting Ryan and Avery's sand castle...give them some credit, the sand was more like mushy clay and the fact they built this was an accoplishment.

Avery playing in the water with a purple bucket...water in, water out, water in, water out! Kids are entertained by the simplist activities.

Stacy, Emma Dunyon and Brooke Dunyon taking a dip in the cool water.

Stacy and Avery swimming and playing together.

Our second day on the lake was underway and Avery was more at peace with riding in the boat.

Ryan and Avery looking stoic as we wait for others to get ice and drinking water to take with us onto the lake.

An adorable mother duck and her ducklings paddling around in the bay of the lake! Emma and Avery really loved seeing this little family quack around our boat.

A HUGE catfish swimming around our boat while were were in the bay. He had to have been a foot and a half long, if not longer. He was really big.

Emma, Ryan, Avery and Brooke's cousin Jenny playing football in the water.

Because it was so hot camping in the desert and were were so misserable in the heat while we weren't on the lake we decided to pack up camp and head back to Las Vegas to stay with Aaron's sister Jenny. Jenny and her family were so kind to put us all up for a night.

Emma and Avery watching "Home On the Range" Saturday morning. Such cute kids! And they played so well together it was great!

Avery wearing his mommy's hat while in the car on the way home...what a goofball he is...but he sure is adorable.

Avery was so tuckered out that he fell asleep on the drive home...Stacy did too, but since she is the one who takes most of the pictures...we don't see one of her sleeping.

Over all it was a great weekend! And we loved seeing and spending time with Aaron, Brooke and Emma Dunyon. And even though we were supposed to go to Lake Powell and ended up at Lake Mead, it's not where you end up on your summer vacation...but the people you take on your journey with you that make the experiance worth remembering!

Next year...LAKE POWELL OR BUST!