Forth of July Weekend

Just before the Forth of July holiday I had a little scare.  I started bleeding a little.  I was afraid that I might be loosing my baby girl.  My doctor had me come in for an ultra sound to make sure everything was okay.  Thank goodness all was well.  To my surprise the doctor said we could go on our family vacation to Lake Powell, as planned, and not to worry.   We headed down to Powell for some fun with Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandpa said we could take the "Big" boat to the beach, which is a treat these days.  Ever since he has gotten his slip and ski boat he rarely lets us camp on the beach.  What fun is Lake Powell without the beach!  Well, we found a great beach for the kids and were having a great time.  On day two, we were all lounging about and my Dad was cleaning the boat, a common occurrence.  None of us were paying any attention to the weather.  The wind was slowly picking up and this is usually a sign to batten down the hatches and secure the anchors. Well, by the time we realized how bad the wind was, we were in trouble.  We had backed the big boat up to the beach the wind had pushed us further back.  The props were hitting the beach and one of the side anchors was coming loose.  In hindsight my Dad made a tragic decision, to pull the front anchor and have Kevin pull the big boat out from the shore using the ski boat.  Keep in mind, the only able bodies were my Dad, Mom, Kevin, and well Me!  I threw the kids down into the cabin of the big boat and frantically told them to put on their life jackets on and not to come out no matter what!  Kevin jumped into the ski boat and tied a rope to the back of the boat.  My Mother held the end of the rope and climbed onto the bow of the big boat securing the rope to the railing.  As Kevin headed out into the middle of the Lake the rope began to tighten.  He was being bounced around by the waves and having a hard time controlling the ski boat. My Dad started the engines of the big boat and let the front anchor loose!  This is when all heck broke loose.  Kevin couldn't get the ski boat to pull the big boat away from the shore.  Every time he floored it he was yanked sideways along the shore line.  In a matter of seconds the big boat turned sideways as well and was parallel to the shore! My Dad jumped out to try to push the boat off the shore and I couldn't help myself from joining him.  He yelled at me to stop and get back on the boat, but I was stubborn and wouldn't.  My Dad and I couldn't get the boat to budge, the wind was too strong. Kevin kept trying over and over again to pull the boat out.  He was frantically working to  keeping the rope out of the prop and making sure he didn't hit the beach himself.  He was having a difficult time. After what seemed to be a long time, and feeling like getting the big boat off the shore was hopeless, we stopped and thought things through.   I convinced my Dad to let me onto the ski boat to help Kevin with the rope.  After a couple of tries we got the big boat straightened out and away from the shore.  My Dad was pretty upset by the whole situation.  He felt horrible that I had done so much to help and was worried I had put the baby in jeopardy.  At the time, I thought I was making all the right decisions.  Looking back I shouldn't have tried to help push the boat away from the shore.  Luckily I didn't hurt the baby and we made it back safely to the slip.  We decided to spend our last two nights in the slip and only venture out to the beach during the day with the ski boat.  We found out the hard way that we just didn't have enough capable adults to manage the two boats in a storm!  We ended up having a wonderful time and all ended well!

Ocianne on the ski boat!

Ocianne being a diva in the cabin of Grandpa's boat.