Little Tahiti

Our Heaps Family Reunion... on the Little Tahiti

Dave and Marianne were in charge this year and were generous or CRAZY :) enough to take all of us to Lake Powell to enjoy their beautiful houseboat

Bring on the SUN, RELAXATION, GAMES, WATER, HIKING, YUMMY FOOD,(even fresh cheese from Italy!) and GREAT COMPANY!

CRAZY tube runs!

Kayaking is the greatest!

Jacqueline learned how to ski, thanks to our pro teacher, Aunt Ali. She also got to go with B.T. on the sky ski!

Emily was all smiles! She could always find someone to go swimming with and she surprised us all by wanting to learn how to water ski! She didn't get up BUT, she TRIED!

Emily's LOVED playing with Mochi, Uncle Daves dog who loves water as much as she does! (she even let Uncle Dave give her wet slobbery Mochi kisses!)
Thomas has been waiting for SO long to get to go to Lake Powell. He soaked in every minute! He loved skiing with B.T. and learning from Aunt Ali too. He also loved the tube rides and knee board wars with his cousins... CRAZY!

There was a fun slide going off the back and the REALLY brave people went off the whale tail which was about 45 feet high! B.T. was our "olympian" diver, skier, hiker... let's just say he is very talented at making things look REALLY easy!
Isn't this guy handsome? Sorry ladies, he's mine! I love watching him ski, look how he touched the water WOW, he is good! :) Yes, my kids think I am pretty sappy... they teased me about cheering them on when they did so well skiing... hey, that's what mom's are for right?!
Heres me with my crazy amazon hair :) hiking, skiing and taking in the rays was the perfect way to spend my vacation!

We had a BLAST hiking around the canyons. It was so beautiful and unique. We could have gone all day!

"Christy's crack" was a favorite with the kids! It was a walk between two huge slabs of rock!

We celebrated Roary's, Ali's, Angela's and Matt's birthdays with a PIRATE PARTY!

When Deb is around, you know it's going to be quite the party!

She went all out with pirate garb, tatoos for everyone and the birthday people had to sword fight and walk the plank!

The men had a hair growing contest... what do you think? Thomas is pretty hairy!...

We had treasure hunt with ostacles like, talking with a (almost) dead pirate, defeating a mean alligator, jumping off cliffs and finally a fight with other pirates to find the treasure :)

Deb made us all playing cards with our pirate pictures and names on them... so cute!

Matt made a great pirate named Obadiah. The kids loved his accent!

We hiked up to see some Indian ruins

Our crazy cousins!

One of the highlights of the trip was hiking through a slot canyon named

Brig's crack (yes, Brig discovered it!)

This was true canyoneering at it's best. We repelled down rock walls, shimmied our way through narrow cracks and spider walked over deep pot holes. It was a BLAST!

Most of us came out with a few scrapes but it was worth it... even though Monica, Alice and Matt ended up on anti-biotic for staff infections when they got home! (but that's a whole different story!)

This is what the last obstacle looked like coming out of the canyon. We couldn't bring our camera since we had to throw our packs over rocks and into water holes. It was absolutely breathtaking!

Everyone was so impressed with how tough Jac and Thomas were going through each obstacle. They didn't complain once and did everything perfectly. It was so much fun to have them with us!

Thanks Dave and Marianne for the amazing trip and for the wonderful memories we will have forever!