First some sad news: We lost Grandma Mary the Thursday before Labor Day. She went peacefully and without noticeable pain early in the morning. She was a few months shy of her 99th birthday and had a full and love-filled life. She lived in Seattle most of her life and while we never saw enough of her, she was a sweet lady and I always looked forward to seeing her. She'll be missed.
On to happier times:
My apologies for being a bit behind, but I wrote this whole blog and the internet promptly ate it. So it's taken a bit to recreate. Anyhow...
It was an amazing Labor Day weekend. We got to take E to one of my favorite places on Earth: Lake Powell. For those of you who don't know about this gem, it's a huge lake spanning the Arizona/Utah border and is like the Grand Canyon filled with water. My parents keep their boat there and I've spent many nights over the last 20+ years there. So it was very special to experience this place through the eyes of my first-timer son.
Lake Powell is about 800 miles away and there's not much major civilization to speak of within 300 miles, so in summary: getting the kiddo, the dogs, and us there was complicated to put it mildly. It involved me leaving the Thursday before the long weekend, driving the dogs to Barstow, getting up before dawn and picking up E & Lisa from the first SJC to Las Vegas flight. Then driving the final 6 hours packed to the hilt with dog stuff, baby stuff, sand stuff, and our stuff. My kind of adventure.
We arrived around 3pm to the open arms of Nana and Papa (who immediately handed me a cold beer -- I love that man). Here are some highlights:
- E spent many hours sitting on Papa's lap, "driving" the boat. So much that Captain Papa enlisted the big guy as Ensign E (which is a navy rank, from what I understand).
- The first night a gigantic storm hit us out of nowhere. I actually saw the squall coming as a wall of wind and rain barreling across the water with just enough time to say, "It's gonna hit us." It pulled out a couple anchors and a few tie down lies, nearly slammed us against the rocks, was full of spectacular lightning, and pelting cherry-sized rain drops. Lisa kept E and all four dogs calm inside the boat's tiny bathroom (I still have no idea how they fit). Eventually, we got the boat beached and re-anchored. The weather was near perfect for the rest of the trip.
- Another favorite activity were mini-adventures in Papa's Zodiac. Once we even piled all four adults, all four dogs, and the kiddo inside to explore the end of West Canyon. Another time, he rode in it for so long that he fell asleep standing with his life jacket on.
- E loved his new inflatable boat from Nana & Papa. His grin was priceless every time we did "Motorboat" or "Sally Goes 'Round the Sun".
- As expected, the sand provided endless entertainment...for the adults, the dogs, and the kid.
- The dogs played leap-swim-fetch until they could barely move. Watching them made the ~1600 miles logged on my car to drive them out there all worthwhile.
- There are these push carts at the marinas used to haul ice, bags, etc. along the docks. E fell in love instantly and spent the daily trip to the marina pushing the carts up and down the dock at breakneck toddler speed.
- E picked up several more words--it's getting hard to keep track, though we think his vocabulary includes ~20 to 25 "words" (some are sounds that he consistently uses, but those count in my book. After all, I know what he means. Some of the new additions: Boy, Lemon, Cinnamon, Up, Soap, Go, Hose. He also knows the sounds of a lion, elephant, snake, dog, siren, car, bear, monkey, and a dog panting (wonder where he's heard that one).
- Spending our final sunset toasting to Nana & Papa's 35th anniversary. Cheers!
Looks like fun!
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