Every year for Easter Cade's extended family goes to Lake Mead. For some strange reason this was the first year I've been able to go since we were engaged (remember that Cynthia!). I wasn't too thrilled about taking a baby camping for days in the heat with almost no shade so Cade left on Wednesday with some of his family and then Conner and I drove up late Thursday night with the rest of his family. Cade was supposed to come pick us up in the boat when we arrived to take us to the camping spot. Unfortunately we ended up leaving 2 hours later than planned. I texted Cade around 10 and told him we hadn't made it to Kingman yet and he responded saying that he should have just picked us up in the morning. That was the last text I got from him because the service was bad on the lake. So when we finally arrived around 1:30 in the morning I didn't see him waiting for us because the lake was dark and assumed he had gone back to camp. It turned out Cade was down in the boat still waiting for us but he had fallen asleep and didn't see us arrive. I tried to sleep in the car but I maybe ended up with about 2 minutes of sleep between trying to keep both Conner and I comfortable. Cade ended up waking up about 2:30, got worried, and then came and found us. We decided we would just wait until the sun started rising before we went across the lake.
Here's Conner on his very first boatride. Surprisingly, even though the ride was pretty bumpy and windy he just fell right back asleep.
The view from our tent.
After we got to camp we had breakfast and sat around talking with everyone for awhile. Then Cade took Conner out fishing with his dad and brothers. They were gone FOREVER. It was great to have some time to try and sleep but after awile I was getting very concerned about Conner's well being. I knew Cade wouldn't think to reapply sunblock on him and I thought for sure he was going to return as a tomato, but I have to give Cade credit on this one. As I suspected he did not reapply sunblock but he did keep Conner shaded somehow and he had no sunburn. In the afternoon it was so freaking hot. The only shade was in tents with almost no airflow or under a beach umbrella that had about 6-7 people crammed under it at all times. Conner was getting cranky and needed a nap and there wasn't room for us under the umbrella so after I got him to sleep I laid him in our tent and did my best to keep him cool with wet, cold wipes :) Ha ha, I know I'm a dork, but I was dying so I was sure he was too and there was no escape from the blasted heat!
I'm sure some of you are asking yourselves why we didn't get in the lake to cool off. Well the lake was like ice and I wasn't getting anywhere near that thing, even though a few other brave souls did. Cade and his brothers even went wakeboarding, but I don't do freezing cold water. Conner wasn't all that thrilled with the idea either after he tested the water.
In the evening the kids had an Easter egg hunt. Conner thoroughly enjoyed getting his one egg.
After the egg hunt we just sat around the fire enjoying ourselves. Is it just me, or does anyone else think Conner is the devil here? Click on the picture so you can see his red eyes.
The rest of the night didn't go so well. After Conner fell asleep in Cade's arms his cousin Randy was walking by with more wood for the fire and accidently jabbed Conner in the head pretty hard. He woke up screaming for awhile but there were no visible injuries. Then since Conner was experiencing his first cold (which started before we got to the lake) he could barely breathe all night and kept snorting and waking us up. We tried cleaning out his nose 3 different times but it didn't help much. Then we put him in between us and propped him up on a pillow so he could breathe better. But while Cade was trying to get him a bottle he didn't notice his leg and knealed down on his little ankle, which brought on more screaming.
Things were a little better in the morning. Conner, Jeter, and grandpa Johnson enjoyed some time playing in the sand.
And then Conner was done and slept until we left a few hours later. One day in the sun is enough for him. And he only ended up with a tiny sunburn on his cheeks and chin.
The first half of the drive home was nice. Conner and Jeter slept most of the way. But after we stopped to eat they were done being in the car. Between the two of them someone was crying all the way from Kingman to Flagstaff. Our truck was in Flagstaff so we had to go there first instead of going straight home. Cade helped Kameron take care of the boat and then we had to stop again in Camp Verde to give the Johnson's their stuff that wouldn't fit in their car. So somehow even though we left the lake around 2:00 we didn't get home until 11:00. It was a loooong day. I can wait to go again next year! (And that is not a typo :)
