A Typical Mower Trip!

Well, we are now home from our annual trip to Lake Mead for Labor Day weekend. As most of you know, the Mower's are known for their unluckiness on vacations. Well, we have a lot to be lucky for and grateful for this weekend. On a good note, we were able to spend the weekend with Rob's brother and his family. There were 14 of us all together! We left on friday, at about 4:00, only two hours later than we had planned. About 2 hours down the road, we stopped to eat and realized that we had left Rob's wallet at home. It gets worse, so we go to get my wallet, and realize that I had left my ATM card in my jeans at home. So it all went on the credit card this weekend. Luckily, Jordan was prepared and offered up his ATM card with his hard earned summer money in it! What a sport! So off we went from dinner when we passed some old neighbors on the road, The Tarello's. We drove past and I said, Hey, that looks like Brian. Sure enough it was, and a phone call to Allison to get their cell number, we chatted away! Funny to see someone you know on Pearblossom HWY. Well, we left them in our dust. About 20 minutes later, we get a call from them asking if we had lost a wakeboard. We looked back and realized that Rob and Jordan's wakeboard had somehow come off the racks and flown off into the road. We all pulled over, and waved down some people who had picked it up off the middle of the road. (I'm sure they were planning on keeping it if the Tarello's hadn't seen them picking it up). It was hardly damaged, no damage to the boat, and LUCKILY, hadn't hit anybody or anything! We arrived at our room late on Friday night. The condo was beautiful! Brenda and I went out grocery shopping at midnight for the next day, and weren't in bed til 2:00am. We got up early as usual and prepared to go out for the day! We met up with the Searle's and the Barlow's and found a great little beach that was protected from the wind. It wasn't as warm as usual, and as you will notice by the sky, their was a little bit of a storm brewing. We got sprinkled on a couple of times. Our burritos (as shown in the picture) didn't quite warm as usual. Yes, that is a mound of about 30 burritos on some black rocks! Rob took all the kids out tubing and wakesurfing, which was a hit! About 1:00, the wind kicked up and our EZ up fell victim to the wind! Good thing it was only about 90 degrees out! Glad we didn't borrow the Hoskins EZ up as planned! Well, we decided to pack it up and head to the narrows, where it was calm, and do some cliff jumping. The kids all jumped and had a blast! We were all in a beautiful cove, as peaceful as could be. We had just got done giving my great neice Jesse a talk about how we ALWAYS wear life jackets (since she had taken hers off a few minutes earlier). Not just for safety, but because it is the law. I told her she had to wear it, no acceptions. I pointed out how even the adults were wearing them in the water! So, we were wading in the water, mentioning to Brenda that I could do this all day long, when Rob began to notice the wind picking up a little bit. He noticed the anchor line stretching and hollored to me calmly to get everyone in the boat. I had a feeling come over me that we needed to get everyone in THAT SECOND! I yelled to all the kids, lifted them with my hands on the back of the boat, hopped up, and Rob yelled WE HAVE TO GO NOW-GET EVERYONE AWAY FROM THE BACK OF THE BOAT (All the time, the wind was picking up)! He started the boat as the line snapped, and off we went, leaving behind his brother Kenny and our great nephew Michael (It reminded me of the titanic movie wear Jack slips away). I have never seen wind pick up in a matter of 20-30 seconds like that. It was probably a 40-50 mile per hour wind gusts, straight into the cove we were in! Panic set in by the kids, who were all on the floor of the boat. I had to reassure them that it was okay and we wouldn't leave them behind) It took a couple minutes until we attempted to try to rescue the two left behind (Yes, they also were wearing life vests!) There were huge waves and wind and mist directily into the cove, just like you would see in a movie, as they were waving their hands to us. The first attempt was unsuccessful! We could see on their faces the fear they had! They were trying unsuccessfully to swim to the middle of the cove so we could pick them up, but the wind was so strong, it was almost impossible. I think we were all saying a little prayer in our hearts. It all happened so quickly. We went in quickly for a second attempt, as the wind settled a little ( and I mean, maybe 20 mph). We reached out and pulled them in, and out of the cove we went. We stopped to regroup, and they needed some time to regroup. My sweet hubby then informed me that I was to drive the boat back into the cove, leave him, so he could recover our anchor. His words were, I am going to get my 400 dollar anchor! And my thoughts were, ARE YOU CRAZY! Well, I dropped him off, I asked Kenny to say a prayer! During the prayer, Amanda said, Heather go now! I proceeded to go back into the cove to pick him up. I am not the best driver of the boat as many of you know. I can do okay, but wow, I was pretty impressed with myself. I pulled to the exact point I needed to be to get him, he jumped on, and out of the cove we went. After many rough waves on our way to Callville Bay, we made it safely. We are grateful today for prayer, answers to prayer, and being able to remain calm in a difficult, stressful situation! We are grateful to have had that talk with everyone about the MOWER RULES, just minutes before this all took place. The lesson my children, myself, Rob, and our family learned on Saturday, was priceless. It just goes to show you how a fun peaceful day can turn so quickly. Everyone was fine, a little shaken up, but I am thankful today for a quick thinking husband who always remains calm and seems to know what to do! I am thankful for acting quickly on his instincts, and being prompted to get everyone in! I still look back and don't know how I got 10 people in so quickly. I will never forget the look on Kenny's face as we drove away from him, leaving him behind. Well, needless to say, we spent Sunday in, and went to the pool, then to Hoover Dam. It remained windy the whole trip, and I think we scared off a few of the people from boating for a while. And yes, he recovered his anchor! All in all, it was a fun trip, we learned ALOT, and the kids had so much fun with cousins! I don't think I've ever written so much on one blog, but it is just one of those things I don't want to ever forget!