Canyon Lake

Last week was a lot of fun! Aaron, Rebecca, and Anna (my brother, sister-in-law, and niece) came to Arizona for a week long visit. They stayed with my parents and so we spent a good deal of our free time over there eating, watching movies, and talking. We love having them come visit (they lived here for the past 2 years and only recently moved to California). It is so fun because Stephen loves to play with his cousin Anna and they are so cute running around the house together.

On Wednesday we made a short day trip to Canyon Lake, which is about an hour east of Mesa/Gilbert, to ride the Dolly Steam Boat. This is one of several lakes formed by dams along the Salt River. While I have been there several times to ski, wakeboard, and ride inner tubes for mutual activities and hanging out with friends, I had never gone on the steam boat. It was a relaxing and beautiful experience. This lake has spectacular scenery (they don't call it Canyon Lake for nothing).

I am a horrible photographer so my pictures don't do the scenery justice, but you can enjoy the pictures of us hanging out with my family. I forgot to get a picture of the boat - duh! It was a two story boat and we rode on the top. The paddle wheel was just for show - I am pretty sure the boat had a gasoline engine! The scenery is beautiful. The entire lake is surrounded by cliffs and rocky hill sides.

Stephen was grouchy the whole time. We couldn't get him to smile for any pictures. He wasn't feeling very well (just a cold), and I think he was disappointed that the boat didn't go any faster! The whole way there he kept saying "ride boat in water - go so fast!" Also, the life jacket that he was required to wear didn't look very comfortable. Anna didn't really like hers either.

PS. The scantily clad girl in between my parents is not part of my family...