Author: Abe Darais

Today Clarissa had a hike with her Arches people:

Today I left to New York. I caught my flight by 12 seconds, and I need to stop cutting it so closely! Back at the house, Lydia was preparing for her harp competition. She is sounding great!

Today I woke up and did the 500 workout (7 reps), and Lily and Mary went to the store for groceries. Back at home, Mary made the most delicious pancakes, which I gobbled up ecstatically after my workout. They were perfectly tasting protein pancakes and I loved putting bananas and fresh peaches from our trees on them. Our little trees made a lot of peaches this year!

After breakfast, we all went to the park and I ran a mile with Lydia and Mary. We timed their mile at 13 minutes and 6 seconds! I then ran a mile on my own at 6:36. We ran Basil a lot in the process, and also Ammon and Clarissa were riding their bikes around the track the whole time. It was a little hot, but a wonderful, glorious family outdoor experience. Then Lydia and Mary walked the littles and Basil home while Lily and I lingered and played some Pickleball. It was so fun!

Then we all went to church. The lesson was about loving those around us, and my biggest takeaway came from a comment Lily made. Her comment caused me to reflect that if we truly knew what every person was going through, and saw their lives from beginning to end and all the toil, pain and hardships that occur, we would want nothing other than to cheer them on and be happy for them during the good times, and we’d be much less inclined to be jealous, tear down, and fault find. I love that insight.

After church we all visited Georgia which was so fun:

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She didn’t join us for Olive Garden because she was very tired, but we enjoyed playing the card games she gave us while waiting for our table and for our food.

Back at home we played more of the card games she gave us (War, GoFish, Old Maid etc) and then we watched Elemental all cuddling as a family. Today was a truly happy day.

Today I did a long run in the morning and the kids had some fun watching Saturday morning cartoons:

Then we all went to lunch at Seven Brothers. We got these cute pictures of Lydia and Mary at the Riverwoods:

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Back at home, Lily and I did a lot of work on the house, especially in the garage. We put away messes that ended up in the garage from all of our summer trips. It took several hours to get the garage back in order! I loved listening to the CDs from my youth on our garage CD player while we cleaned. Mary also helped. It was fun encountering different things while I cleaned like this beautifully loose composition from Mary:

In the eventing, Suzanne came over and it was tremendously fun to catch up with her and tell her all about our Lake Powell adventures.

Lily and I visited Zion’s Bank and Mountain America Credit Union to check out their HELOC products. Afterwords we ate Pho. It was so fun to be on a date together! I’ve been working like crazy, and Lily has been cranking hard on cleaning the house and it was really nice to get out together.

Today was very busy for me because Lily was too traumatized by the mouse to go inside the houseboat and help pack and clean etc. Still, I was very happy to get everything ready to go while she rode on the jet ski with Mary. They both were having a rough trip and it was very nice to see them have some fun together. Lily also took Clarissa on a ride and unhooked the kill switch while they tried to save a fish. Lily didn’t know how to get the kill switch back in and so she had to tow Clarissa on the jet ski by swimming 30 minutes back to shore. Clarissa was much more sad about the dying fish than the fact that their jet ski wasn’t working and Lily had to swim them back, lol.

Here is a video of Lily and Mary riding around and some final pictures of our trip.

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Then I pulled up the anchors and drove everyone, but Lily back to Waweep in the Marina. Lily rode the jet ski next to us the whole way, and I was so grateful to hear that was a highlight for her on the trip. She communed peacefully, and mouse-free with the nature around her on that epic two-hour jet ski ride. We also all rode past the damn.

When we checked out they refunded our $680 in gas because of the mouse and jet ski issues. That was very helpful and we were grateful for that. We then drove home and pulled in at 11:30 PM. I was very tired for work the next day, and Lily was tired too, but motivated by her fear of mice to work on cleaning the house the whole next day.

Today started with me waking up before 6:00 to Jet Ski into Waweep marina so that I could rent a motorboat. The ride to the marina was amazing, and I captured some video along the way.

Back at the boat, the family was waking up to these beautiful views:

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While I was checking out for the boat, Lily called me in a panic because while she and the kids were eating breakfast, a very large mouse scurried under the table while everyone was at the table. Lily has a full on phobia of mice, and that event completely emotionally undid her. That was the hell of today. Lily and the kids stayed on top of the house boat until I returned with the speed boat. The kids got bored and sang the bottles of beer song to pass the time:

Lily didn’t step foot inside of the houseboat after that except to eat dinner with the family, and she was so distressed during that meal that she said it was the worst meal of her life.

The heaven of today was the jet skiing and the boating. I loved my ride to get the motorboat, and I absolutely loved boating around with the family. It was also so neat for me to pick up a new skill as I had never motor boated before.

We cruised through almost all of Navajo Canyon. The kids loved sitting at the front of the boat with the wind in their hair. We found a wonderful sandy beach to park the boat, swim, eat lunch and play. It was truly magical.

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Everyone was super tired after boating. I boated back to Waweep with Lydia after dropping everyone off and snapping this picture. Then I rode the jet ski back to the house boat. I let Lydia ride drive the jet ski back for almost the whole Arizona portion (which was most of the journey). She was legally allowed to operate a jet ski in Arizona without a permit (not so in Utah) so we felt better about her driving in Arizona before we crossed into Warm Creek (which was in Utah). She did drive some yesterday in our cove, but today she had a nice long ride driving. Lydia LOVED driving the jet ski and took it up to 30 miles per hour. She never wanted to stop, but did when her hand got sore from holding the throttle. It was such a fun experience for me to share her first jet ski driving with her. I could tell she really enjoyed it.

Back at the houseboat, I gave a tone more tube rides. Mary was having a truly tough evening. She got really freaked out and upset when Clarissa fell off her tube, and I towed her in, and she got water splashed in her face. Clarissa was fine, but Mary was very upset about it. Mary had been having a tough day already, almost to the level of Lily’s trauma. Mary, the whole trip, has been incredibly freaked out about all the spiders, gnats, and other bugs that have constantly surrounded us. She got so unhappy with the bug situation that at times she said she wanted to go home. Seeing Clarissa get splashed in the face when I towed her was apparently the last straw and she got really upset. I gave everyone else tube rides (and learned how to get people on their tube when they fell without towing them to shore) and everyone had a great time overall (Ammon did cry once when I steered him into a big wave hoping he would like it and he fell off and bit on his tooth painfully, but he soon recovered emotionally). After everyone had their turn jet skiing (and loving it) Mary had recovered and I took her on a long gentle ride during the sunset. It was magical and wonderful. Here are some videos.

You will notice that we have very few pictures for days 2 and 3 on Lake Powell. Everything turned out fine, but both days had some setbacks, and neither Lily or I were much in the picture taking mood.

I spent a lot of time by the radio trying to communicate with boat rentals to have someone come out and check our jet ski. On day 2 (Sunday), they finally made it out, figured it was a dead battery and then drove off because they didn’t have a replacement, and their jump pack wasn’t working. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if and when they were coming the first time, and then if and when they were coming back. Lily and I still had great time to swim and play with the kids though, and the kids had an amazing time swimming, kayaking, and building mud balls they called Kol-Nuts which apparently are some type of fiery food served at a restaurant from the Pixar movie “Elemental”. They built sooooo many Kol-Nuts and were still doing it on the last day.

I was frustrated at the end of day two when we still had a non-functioning jet ski. It was very hard for their mechanic to get over to us because other people were having bigger problems they needed to prioritize (like a broken generator for example). When they finally made it to us and couldn’t help, I was very frustrated.

On day three, the kids continued to have a really great time, but I got more and more frustrated as the day went on. At one point, Lily, Lydia, Mary and I all tipped the jet ski over to discover for ourselves that I had gobbled up the rope in the propeller. I was dumfounded that the mechanics the day before didn’t suggest that we tip it over to look at it. It seems like that would be jet ski 101. I should have thought of it too, but I especially thought a mechanic would have thought of that. So we figured out the problem on our own (actually a mechanic, maybe the lead, suggested we tip it over the radio, so that pointed us in the right direction), but we still needed a mechanic to help get the rope out, because after all my trying, I still couldn’t get all the rope out. So around 11:00 on day 3 (the jet ski had been down for 40 hours at that point), two mechanics came. They helped get all the rope out, but then we learned that the batter was also dead because of all the times we tried to start it. And unfortunately they did not have any jumper kit or a new batter. So they took off again, unsure of when they would be back because it all depended on what other calls came up. At that point, I slumped over the steering wheel feeling upset, sad, frustrated and mostly loss. In my mind, I knew how much fun everyone could be having on this, our one chance to jet ski as a family. I knew everyone would love it, and we had never done it before and this was our opportunity. I knew it would just be the best, and now because I gobbled the rope, we were stuck just playing on the beach again. Lily was very sweet and consoling. I was sulking, and sad. The reality was though that the kids were super happy with the itinerary as it was. They swam and played on the beach happily. They didn’t know to feel loss for the jet ski. The did ask about it on day 3 because they wanted to ride it, but they weren’t put out when I told them it was still broken, they just still had a great time swimming, kayaking, and making Kol-Nuts. I eventually shook off my frustration and went to swim with them and I had a blast. I also remember lunch being very happy. We all just talked and talked and talked and really bonded. I understood that the bigger purpose of our trip, just being a family and bonding together, and having deep time together, was being accomplished, and that was very satisfying. I starting to cheer up, when the mechanics came back around 3PM carrying a battery!! We got the jet ski up in no time, and then the party began!

I took all the kids out on a jet ski ride and they all loved it. Then we had a delicious dinner. We’d been eating well thanks to Lily’s preparation and cooking (all I did was grill). By day 3, we had had spaghetti with hamburger, grilled chicken, salmon etc. After dinner, I took all the kids tubing until the sun went down. They all loved it. I was thrilled that I could share those experiences with the children. Lydia even got to drive the jet ski and she loved doing it. It was one of the happiest moments of my life sharing such joy and fun with my children in such a beautiful place. I knew they would love the jet ski and they did. I was also over the moon with joy that the jet ski was fixed and that part of our vacation experience was saved. The day ended very very happy.

Also, after roasting for two nights inside, we moved mattresses to the top and all slept outside. We actually got a little cold (but not bad) and had tons of bats flying all around us, but it was a major improvement over sleeping inside, especially given the spectacular view of the stars.

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Yesterday and today were very big days. Yesterday I had an intense day at work. It was already looking to be intense with the business that is fortunately starting to pick up, but then early in the morning I learned that one of my employees passed away. This news was tragic in its own right, and even more startling because 6 months ago, one of my employees also passed away. My team has been through a lot, but it is nothing compared to the grief of the families and close friends of my team members who have departed. My thoughts and prayers are truly with all of them.

I finished work around 9PM and then packed until 11 or so. Lily wasn’t feeling the best today, but she did a ton to pack, get ready, and prepare meals for Lake Powell, and the kids (mostly Mary) really helped her pack as well.

By 8:00 AM today (Saturday), we hit the road. We arrived around 1PM (we lost an hour because we arrived in Arizona). After checking in and loading all of our things into the house-boat, we got a tour and instructions from Jimmy. This was my first time operating a house boat. Jimmy’s instructions (many of which I caught on video) turned out to be critical. He was a little concerned that it was our first time, and it was just us two parents and four kids, but he gave us great advice about the generator, the jet ski, anchoring our boat and more. In the end, things went as well as they did because of him. Thank you Jimmy!

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After Jimmy’s instructions, they helped us get the houseboat out of the marina and tie up our jet ski to it so we could tow it. After that, I was the captain, and with Lily as my navigator, we made our way to Warm Creek, a recommendation of the brother of our friend Derrek Marshall. We hung out with Derrek and Chelsea this week and they both gave us such great advice and encouragement about our upcoming adventure, and Derrek even called his brother (a Lake Powell expert) on the spot to get the advice on where to park the house boat.

We thought we hadn’t quite reached Warm Creek yet, and it was starting to get dark and we were getting nervous about daylight. We did see some nice beaches in a cove, though, so we figured we wouldn’t mess around with daylight. I jumped on the jet ski to scout around the cove to find a great place for our boat. After cruising for 2-3 minutes, I found the perfect beach. After driving up to it, I kicked my jet ski in reverse, and then it completely died. I tried over and over to turn it on, but had no luck. I thought maybe I flooded the engine somehow, so I slowly, but anxiously, counted to 60 and tried again, and still there was no luck. I realized it was a lost cause. I noticed there was another houseboat about a quarter mile from me as the bird flies. I kicked off my shoes and started to swim to it, and I quickly realized that would take forever. So I went back to shore, and with my shoes still off, I just started running along the shore line. I pretty quickly got into a massive patch of prickle bushes with no clear path around. Being in a hurry, I just ran straight through them, and yes, it did hurt. I then ran into a small channel I had to swim across before getting to land again, and then I ran to the other houseboat. I desperately pleaded with them to drive me 3 minutes to get back to Lily. I knew she and the kids would be worried sick. I foolishly didn’t take my phone. It turns out I would have had cell service, which I didn’t expect or think about. The people I bumped into acted a bit put out, and I could tell they were reluctant, and even a bit put out to help me, but they did, and for that I’m truly grateful.

When I got back to the houseboat, everyone was worried sick. The houseboat was drifting towards a rock ledge, and Lily couldn’t figure out how to start the boat. She knew how to start it, but the engines weren’t in neutral and she didn’t realize that and that is why it didn’t start. Once on the boat, everyone was very relieved. I explained everything, got the boat started, and went to the beach where my jet ski was docked. Once we parked, Lily and I started digging holes for the anchors. Then the boat started to float away. I rammed it up on the beach the way Jimmy told me (approach at 1,000 RPM then after you hit, crank it up to 3,000 RPM for good measure). Still, as my boat started to float away, I realized that didn’t quite do the trick. I hopped back in the boat, rebeached it, and then Lydia periodically would ram it forward to keep it beached while Lily and I dug holes for the anchors. My intention was for Lydia to ram at 1,000 RPM, but I didn’t communicate well and she was going full throttle, and probably rammed it 20 times. Needless to stay, It stayed put, Lily and I dug the holes, I put in the anchors and we were all set for the night. Lydia also helped dig after the inner anchors were in and we no longer needed her at the throttle.

It was a very adventurous day and we were grateful to be done at the end of the day. I don’t think we had a formal dinner because Lily and I were so tired and shook up, so people snacked and we all went to bed. Unfortunately we didn’t sleep super well either. Jimmy recommended we turn off the generator at night which means we can’t run the AC. I knew nothing about generators at night, so I followed his advice to a T worrying that any deviation could cause more problems. I later found out that we could run the generator 24/7 and he was probably just giving us advice to save some money, which was too bad because we boiled that night (and the night after) not realizing it was avoidable. Eventually, after the first two nights, we ended up sleeping on the roof (which Jimmy also recommended) and that was nicer.

It was a big day, and I felt happy to be in Lake Powell, to all be safe, and to have learned a new skill operating a house boat!

Today, Georgia came over. We loved having her over, and Ammon made her some tea using herbs from his garden. His tea really tastes great!