Kessa loved going out on the boat, and she made an excellent flag girl. :)
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Shawn taught Kessa how to put her two fingers up for pictures. Doesn't she just look so cool with her two fingers and her sunglasses? Guess we should take her to Asia now… Then again, this is the same uncle that taught her to give wet willies. The best was when she tried to give one to Nana a month or so ago. Hahaha.
Oh hey, Abby was there, too! She never went out on the boat or anything. She never even got her swimming suit on. But that's ok. She's still little. She'll get out there next year. Abby did pretty great. She loved all the attention, all the people who would hold her. She was, in general, a very happy baby. She ate her first green bean and french fry this trip, too and loved them both. (Yup, we're 100% healthy here!) Her only bad times were sleeping. You'd think the boat would lull her into sleep, right? Uhhh… nope. For the most part she did great, but she had a few times that she'd just cry and cry. And she woke up every 2-3 hours at night wanting to eat. She just wanted to eat a LOT this week. From the moment we left the lake, she went back to being able to go 4-5 hours between eating and had a better, though not perfect, night. Maybe it was just the newness of the lake? Being on water all the time? Maybe she just wanted more comfort...
Awww… sisters. Kessa just LOVES Abby. She's always wanting to just touch her. Case in point:
Nick convinced Kessa to sit on the jet ski with him this morning. It was kind of amazing. She's been so cautious with everything. I think we convinced her because she had on her pjs and she knew he wouldn't actually go out. But then she liked it. So she agreed to put on her swimsuit. We had to do more convincing to get her back on, buy she did and they rode! We practiced her saying, "Slow down, Nick!" and "Speed up, Nick!" She wouldn't let him go faster, so we sent BJ out on the other jet ski so they could chase him. She LOVED it.
She was even happy about it! Papa spent the morning asking her to go out with him again later. She agreed. "Not now. Later." And then she did! At least, she went with Daddy and Papa took the other one out, too.
Travis gave Kessa some colored sparklers. She wanted to do them at the lake. She did 4 of the 5. My super-cautious child had no fear with the sparklers. She was flinging them all over, not caring where they landed. I had to hold them with her to make sure that we didn't get sparks on toes or clothes. We were successful. Thanks, Trav!
See? Non-chronological. This was our first drive on the houseboat. Kessa was outside for most of the trip from the marina to our first parking spot. She was fascinated by everything from the water to the rocks to boats passing by.
We slept downstairs. There are two bedrooms. Kessa got one; BJ, Abby and I got the the other. The first night Abby struggled falling asleep. We finally got her to sleep and Kessa really wanted to go downstairs. I wouldn't let her. I closed the door going downstairs to keep her from going down while the rest of us read scriptures. She pleaded for Racky (a stuffed raccoon I've had since I was about 7) so I finally caved and agreed to go down and get him. And the door was locked. And wouldn't unlock. After a little bit of panic and trying everything we could think of to unlock the door (and Abby waking up and crying) BJ finally just took the door handle off. That solved the problem. And he fixed the lock.
This jungle gym was a lifesaver. Abby loved it and spent lots of time in it. When Nick would let her, of course… ;) (I had a picture of Jessa in it, too, but it seems to have mysteriously disappeared…)
Kessa usually napped in her bed. But sometimes the counter is just better.
Kessa remains a tease. Perhaps she gets it from Aunt Jessa? And we all love how incredibly small she looks in comparison. Hah!
This was our first attempt of getting Kessa in the water. Last year we succeeded by just putting her in, then distracting her. This year that tactic failed miserably. Here's a 6-second video of the result. And no, those tears are not because the noodle is floating away. It's because she's floating away from the boat. After some chats with her, I discovered that she was afraid of floating away from the boat...
…so here's a video of me teaching Kessa how if she holds onto a rope, she can stay right next to the boat. And how she's strong enough to pull herself in. Heck, she can pull me in. She thought it was great. And slowly, ever so slowly...
And now for some non-photo anecdotes:
One night Shawn pulled out his guitar and sang songs about … anything. Every person in the room got a verse. And some things were just completely random. Several of us had tears in our eyes we were laughing so hard. My favorite line? "If two polar bears got married in the temple, they'd evacuate the temple because that has never happened before."
We played lots and lots of games. Stone Age, Settlers: Cities and Knights, Ticket to Ride (love the bluetooth feature on the app. We had several games going on iPods, iPhones and iPads. Yeah… we're an Apple family), Small World, Phase 10, and Dominion. And probably some others. There was often a game going on.
Food was delicious. As always. Travis sent us with some tomatoes that were GINORMOUS. Like, probably 7-8" in diameter. We were a little worried that they wouldn't taste good that big, but they did! (Again, thanks, Trav!)
The fuel pump for the toy tank died, so Nick got to fix it. We really are so lucky to have him with us for craziness like that. And amazingly, he burned a paper clip while trying to fix it.
I have now gone to Lake Powell 5 times. This is the first time that the rocking of the boat has stayed with me. All last night I watched as the world gently rocked around me. It was so weird. Especially when I was just laying in bed. Or trying to walk and finding myself not being able to walk a straight line. Today has been a little better, but I've still had my moments. So, so weird.
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