The Brockbanks head out to Lake Powell every summer, and they have a blast! So in an effort to see what it was all about, we invited ourselves to tag along for the last few days. They rented a great boat, had all of the water toys, and had the hotel all set up. It was just up to us to get there and play, play, play. And that is just what we did!
One of our first stops was Sand Mountain. Micah took it upon himself to challenge Jake to running up it. I think his original plan was to run up it three times consecutively, but the mountain was deceiving, and I think he got two times in.
Not willing to be outdone, Scout took the challenge. Nobody thought he would make it, but Scout thinks he is a better runner than his dad and Jake, so I knew he make it.
Trey and Micah encouraged him towards the top, and only minutes later, he was pumping his arms at the top!
Luckily the way down was much easier!
Sissy hung with her sidekick “Doey” most of the time.
Next to Sand Mountain was a little place to rock jump. Trey and Doey helped Scout up, and then he took the plunge.
Later in the day, the boys wanted to head out to some “real” cliffs. And the handsome Jake offered to carry Scout up to the top.
Once he got there, Micah needed to help him with his take off so he would jump out far enough.
And all was well with my little dare devil!
We then headed up through a glassy canyon and got a few ski runs in.
After that, we went and explored some caves.
When Sissy got up top, she found a rock for Auggie, that she demanded to be carried all the way back to the boat.
My poor kids were wiped about half way through the day, but nothing stopped Scout from having the time of his life!
Sissy on the other hand couldn’t hack it the whole day, and took a few snoozers.
Micah, Jake and Cade played “Last Man Standing” on the raft while Bryan drove like crazy.
It got pretty hairy out there, and I am proud to say they all kept trying to pull the “rear naked choke hold” on each other. I guess it is a wrestling move, but just sounds SKETCHY to me!
Trey wanted in on the action, and gave Micah a run for his money while they were trying to outlast each other.
The Brockbanks introduced us to “bouldering”. It is a very testosterone driven sport where the guys climb to free standing boulders and push/maneuver them until they crash into the lake. It is amazing how satisfying this was to all of them as the ladies watched from the boat. But there was an incident. Poor Cade was pulling up on a rock as hard as he possibly could. As he pulled, the edge of the rock broke off and flung into Micah’s face. Micah swears he broke his nose, and that his sunglasses saved his life. Without a doubt it must have hurt, but I swear I married someone who knows how to add drama to any story he retells!
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After this, we skied more, tubed more, played more, and finally headed into shore by night fall. We then went back to the hotel and swam a little, then went to eat and finally hit the hay.
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Then woke up and pushed repeat.
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I grew up spending summers in Lake Powell, and almost forgot how much I love it.
Glad I spent this trip remembering!
When we came home from Hawaii, Scout picked up a few new habits. I am certainly not pointing any fingers at any cousins, because quite honestly, I am sure he gave other cousins some new habits of their own. He probably sent a few of them home with a new found ability to crack jokes constantly (not the funny type — the type where you ask him if he already went to the potty and he says “no” when he really did), or tease relentlessly. Well, he came home with a really annoying one. (And I have no clue if it even came from a cousin.) But his habit was a word that he thought was pure bliss coming off his lips. Unfortunately, that word would be “wiener”. He would use it in sentences, he would call his sister a “wiener”, he would say it a million times a day! Which meant that I was correcting him that same million times. About four days in, I had really had it, so I brought out the big punishments — and one mention of them got him to stop cold in his tracks.
THANK GOODNESS!
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Fast forward a week. Scout, Icka and I were driving somewhere in a car. Scout asked me in seriousness, “Mom, I know I can’t say it, but can I say ‘wiener dog‘”? Like I can really tell him that he can never say “wiener dog”…so I responded with, “Scout, if you are really talking about a dog, then you can say that.” We kept driving, and within minutes, Icka had done something to bug Scout. I immediately heard, “Icka….you’re a wiener dog!” When I gasped, he calmly told me that “Mom, I was really calling her the dog!”
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Back to threatening with the big punishments.
My kids swim almost every single day. They are literally obsessed with it. Good thing we have a pool out back! One of Icka’s favorite things to do while in the pool is to take a dolphin ride on her dad’s back. I caught it on camera this time around.
Pre take off.
Mid ride.
Almost coming up for air.
This little thing can hold on forever. Micah is constantly surprised at how she just holds on and never complains. Especially when he goes almost the whole span of the pool.
Long ago are the days when Skilly would pass out free coupons that read, “One Free Musash….Only $20.” That girl passed those out for years, and every time I would try to redeem one, I got hit up for a bunch of money at the end. Talk about a con!
But these days, Skilly really does have a spa on occasion. This time, on a summer afternoon of not having much to do, she asked my kids if they wanted to come to Skilly’s Spa. They and I were all game! So 15 minutes later, Skilly had it all set up for pedicures.
She was very professional and exclusive. Notice the floating flowers in Icka’s water.
In the end, Icka turned up with pink polka dot.
And against my wishes, Scout got watermelon toes. Just like the ones Skilly got when she went to the spa a few weeks before.
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Just when I thought she was closing up shop, she turned them over to manicures.
The kids were loving the VIP treatment.
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But in an attempt to have a little masculinity shone through my boy via the spa, Skilly took him over to the make up artist.
And she worked wonders as she turned Stinky into a superhero!
I went to the garden, and I had some serious loot! My red brandy wine and lemon boy tomatoes are amazing! My yellow brandy wine are so so. I also got a bunch of japanese cucumbers and lemon cucumbers, some swiss chard, some green beans, a few purple onions, and a ton of herbs — basil, italian parsley and dill.
Basically, I can’t complain about eating deliciousness for days on end!
Scout told his dad a few days back that he didn’t like that they hadn’t wrestled in a while. Little did he know that it was a bit of a conscience effort on our part because his playing with kids his own age had become a little too aggressive. So in an attempt to calm him down, we sidelined the wrestling. But when he seemed so bummed out about not partaking in his favorite past time, we relented and gave in. We made a date — the next night — to have the ultimate wrestling showdown. I let him pick any name he wanted, and he came up with “Battle Destroyer” all himself. Then the next day, he came up with an outfit, and I gave him a little face paint to add to the drama. He was so excited for the match, and knew his dad would be SCARED!
Knowing what was going on upstairs, Micah got into an outfit of his own, and started taunting Battle Destroyer as he came up the stairs. Scout was beside himself with excitement. And when “Malcho Man” showed up, Battle Destroyer came out swinging!
Battle Destroyer is on the left, and Malcho Man is on the right.
There were some really crazy moves during the match. Especially when MM needed his Malcho power and started doing some sort of crazy rant. Upon seeing it, Battle Destroyer needed his own power, and started doing a crazy dance. Icka got in on the action, but in a jump from the “top ropes” (top of the couch) to the ground, she sustained an injury to her left foot.
The good news is that Malcho Man was taken down in about the eighth round, and Battle Destroyer claimed his victory.
Poor little Icka ran over to Uncle RyRy as she nursed her foot. Poor thing is tough — and the fact that she sidelined herself must have meant that she got hurt pretty good. And I learned all throughout the night as I was up with her moaning and crying, that she really did hurt her little foot. But I’ll admit that her limp today is kind of cute.
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It was a good battle.
I am glad to see the little guy beat the big (and very skimpily dressed) big guy.
Congrats goes out to you Battle Destroyer!
A few more pics of our great time in Hawaii!
First and foremost — a shout out to Megan. The girl who made everything happen! The girl who made our stay what everyone is considering their favorite trip EVER!
Bella is always a huge help with my kids. Mostly because she loves and adores them to the bone, but she would constantly take them to the potty, help bathe them, listen for them as Micah and I would do something when they were asleep, and let them play with her phone or watch movies on her computer. Shout out Bella! Nnow have kids so ours can be best friends!
Spencer was the frog catching king! One night he came in to our room and showed us his catch. Everyone thought it was awesome — especially Scout and Icka.
Bella was even hoping that this would be the last frog she kisses. Or more likely — that this frog would turn into a prince!
Apparently the frog got spooked, and left a little treasure on our floor. That little treasure led to one mad little girl, and to this day, Icka says she loves all of her cousins “except Spencer”. When I ask her why, she tells about the frog poop he put on our floor. The best was when she actually said in her prayer, “I love (then named about seven of her cousins by name), but I don’t love Spencer!” Unfortunately I laughed a little in that prayer.
Dad and kids — notice the matching suits Micah and Scout have. that was Micah’s Father’s Day gift this year. And Scout was so cute when every morning, he would see what his dad was wearing so that he could coordinate his outfit to match.
We went to some tide pools, and got a glimpse of a mama turtle and her baby.
The trek there was decently long, and poor Scout was wiped. Little did we know that he had a fever, and was sick for about 24 hours. Poor guy! Especially poor when I said, “No Scout, I can’t hold you….you are a big boy, and big boys walk!”
And stop for potty breaks!
But we finally picked up on him not feeling well, and finished him off with a ride back to the hotel.
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In the end, Hawaii was THE BEST! Partly because where we stayed, partly because we left every worry behind, but mostly because we were all together as a family!
Of everything we did in Kauai, I think my favorite part was when my mom jumped. But a close second was at night when we all came together and played games. Megan — the ring leader — put together most of them, but I was in charge of a night, and Brett did Sunday night’s more spiritual get together. Megan is INSANE! She brought over an entire suitcase dedicated entirely to her games, which were, Minute to Win It, Fear Factor, The Eternally Wed Game & Survivor.
Minute To Win It
First of all — here is a tribute to the girl who made it all happen. Megan was beyond organized, and is the reason our trip was insane! Here she is starting off our first night with a friendly game of Minute to Win It.
As Megan explained, my husband sits and comes up with his strategy.
Unfortunately for him, I was born brilliant, and kicked his trash in the dice on a stick, stacking game.
The brothers had a pretty good showdown, but Jake took it in the end.
Scout was a fierce competitor!
So of course the testosterone was going strong, and in the middle of our game, Ryan was challenged to climb a super high palm tree….and Ryan is up for any dare, and completed the task! Nice work — too bad about the scraped up arms!
Nonnie got in on the Skittle/Straw competition.
Sissy just got in on the straw action.
The oreo form your eye to your mouth game was tough. As you can see, Seth was trying to use his ridiculously long tongue to help him out.
The four year old category was so cute during this game.
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Sand Castle Contest
Here is Icka gathering flowers for our finished product.
Scout was on our team too!
Did I mention that it was the winning team?
Here are the winners!
How sweet is our finished product!
I know how sweet — $5 sweet for each of the people on the winning team!
Sorry sucker on the other teams!
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Fear Factor
All you need to know is that our faces needed to go in and retrieve a key to unlock some of our teammate’s hands from hand cuffs.
This stuff consisted of Kim Chee, gross eggs, pudding, squid, other types of nasty fish, etc.
As bad as it looks, the smell could have killed the weak.
It’s a good thing that Bella isn’t weak, because when she had to lightly touch her nose to it for the win, Micah came up behind her and smashed the container to her face. Afterwards, she was so mad at Micah — but kept including me in as a conspirator. I totally denied it, as did EVERYONE who watched. Everyone thought Micah was the only weasel — including him. But when we pulled the pictures up at Tristen’s request, the proof was in the pudding. Whops — I guess it was just like Pavlov’s Dog. I see Tristen in a bad spot — and I make it worse. I actually kind of feel bad!
The rest of the Fear Factor games were a blast also! But when I had to eat salt and vinegar covered crickets, I dry heaved about thirty times. I was surprised at how weak I was at Fear Factor. I totally blame it on the pregnancy!
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Coin Toss
On my day, I wanted the adult game to be separate from the kids, so I organized a coin toss for the kids. I grew up with Grandpa Murchie always throwing hoards of $$$ in the pool, and loved it, so I knew these 25 kids would love it too. But to make it WAY more fun, I did a little trivia game at first to allow them to get three steps closer to the edge of the pool. (One step per answer correct.) And right before they umped in, I told them that they were all jumping in for GOLD COINS! When I showed them, I heard a gasp amongst them — a coin toss for dollar coins — what could be more fun?!!!
Here are a bunch of them lined up. But don’t worry, I made them all get out before the toss to make it equal.
This is at the end of the toss where Micah went in to check and see if there were any coins left. Luckily our little bottom-feeders found every last one!
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Nonnie In A Nutshell
My adult game was celebrating the common denominator to us all. So my game consisted of all things Nonnie — mannerisms or sayings she is known for. You know — “Take Gas” or “Go jump in the lake” or “Skiwampum” or “ADRIAN ….” or her cackle, her eating style, or her face rubbing as she talks. We laughed SO hard all night. But if anyone was stuck or repeated, they were out. Amazingly enough, Shem and Ryan were awesome! My mom was so flattered to know they ever listened! But in the end, Ryan had about three times more than anyone. He was by far the winner.
And for the winner…..
I got him a blanket of Nonnie — so that he will never feel like he is without her!
I am proud to say that it might have been one of the best moments of the trip. And he LOVES his blanket! He literally walked with it around him the whole night, and then hung it from his balcony at the hotel!
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Survivor
The first event was a relay race while dressed in a hula outfit. Scout was pretty good!
But look at the Shmickster! He was awesome!
Afterwards, Micah dressed up in the costume — just because he liked it.
We moved on to “Cheeto Head” where we all tried to land as many Cheetos on one person’s head full of shaving cream.
Ryan found the shaving cream, and went crazy. No wonder every grandkid thinks he is the funniest person alive!
Here are all of the teams lined up for a relay race. Micah’s team cheated and won!
Then there was a whip cream eating contest. Seth was pretty dominant in this one.
But the final event to figure out the ultimate SURVIVOR was to stand on one leg in the surf — exactly where the waves were crashing. It was between all of the members of Micah’s team because they had won the most challenges. Everyone thought Micah was a shoe in, because of his athletic prowess. Too bad he was out in the first moments.
The surprise of the night was the showdown between Ryan and Merrill. We knew Ryan would be awesome with his par kour and all. But Merrill was the dark horse. How could the ultimate stereotypical tourist become the ULTIMATE SURVIVOR? Little did we know that he was P90Xing it up prior to the trip — and took the whole competition to the bank! $50 richer and even better — he was THE SOLE SURVIVOR!
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We had SO much fun! We would repeat everything all over again. Thanks Megan!
We spent the fourth in Kauaii doing store bought fireworks like when I was a kid. It was really fun, and every one loved it but Scout. For some reason, the loud sounds of the fireworks bother him, and he bowed out to the hammock with B once the fireworks got started.
Here is Icka with Seth’s boys.
Scout won a dollar, and was obviously pretty excited about it.
Every time I asked Icka who her favorite cousin was, she would always (and still does) say Gabe. not that Gabe isn’t great in his own right, but she loved him because she thought he looked like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. She would even argue with Liza over who was “Darla”. And when Gabe would go anywhere, she would say, “Don’t leave Alfalfa!” We died over this. Gabe was game at first, but I think about day two of the Alfalf saga, he was getting a little over it. But not my Icka — she still talks about “Gabe” — or “Alfalfa”!
Firework Time! NayNay — nice attempt on a heart.
We are proud to be American!
Christian was so nice to Icka — and isn’t he darling!
Icka finished the night with Grant and Covey on the hammock.
We were so lucky that Abby was able to be baptized over in Hawaii. Shem and Kasi worked it all out, and we had the bishop preside and it was an awesome way to spend our Sunday. In the program, I am pleased to report that Tristen and I were asked to sing together. (My mom and Shem both spoke and did a perfect job.) I am sad to report that Tristen has an AWFUL voice, and it went a little awry. We chose Armies of Helaman, and had all of the kids join in on the chorus. Even though there might have been a little mishap — the spirit we felt was strong, and it was a perfect day.
Look at that little tan and peeling face. She will never forget this day!
Nor will her family — even if it is due to Tristen’s singing!
I am so glad that we were all there to join in on the really exciting day. It really was a fantastic day.
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