Palm Springs

Ok so 2 months ago we went on vacation to California and I thought it might be time to actually post about it! Jeff had a National Waterpark Conference to attend in Palm Springs, CA. Well there was no way I was letting him go to California without me! So I called up my Mom and we made plans to go also. About a week before we left I started getting cold feet. Mainly I just wasn't too excited about a 6 hour plane trip with 2 kids, 1 Grandma w/ no memory and No Husband. You see Jeff was actually flying out on a different airline and arriving at a different airport. So I wasn't too thrilled with the way the plans were working out, but we had our tickets so off we went.

My kids are so great they made the whole trip. They were so well behaved on the airplane. Tyler gets so excited about traveling that the experience alone kept him occupied the whole time. Maggie could barely keep her eyes open the whole plane ride. Every take off and landing quicly lulled her into sleep. They didn't even want to watch any of the 6 movies I dragged with me in my carry on luggage.

We actually flew into San Diego. We picked up our rental car and took a nice drive along the harbor. We saw some huge Navy ships and some Cruise ships docked just a few feet from the road. That was exciting. Then we took off for the 3 hour drive to Palm Springs. Apart from a few bad directions from the web, we arrived safe and extremely tired in Palm Springs. We picked Jeff up from the local airport where he had arrived 4 hours earlier and headed to our resort. Wow did we stay in a very nice place with the most comfortable bed ever!

Jeff had 2 days off before his conference started so we spend most of our time trying to decide how to spend our time. We hit about all of the 5 pools on the property. They were all cold! Ok the water wasn't that bad but the air was pretty chilly. We spent one day at Joshua Tree National Park. Jeff and Tyler decided they really liked hiking. Donita got us momentarily lost in the desert, but luckily it was only for a few minutes before we spotted a road to guide us back to our car.

We also celebrated our 7th wedding Annivesary while in Palm Springs. We figured the vacation was our present to each other, but we did manage a nice romantic dinner at the villa. We also got to spend a couple nights alone once Jeff checked into his hotel room at the Conference Center. Wow it seems like we have experienced so much in only 7 years. Happy Anniversary Honey!

The kids had a great time just playing in the hotel. Maggie really enjoyed the pool and spending time with her Nanny. Tyler is infatuated with hotel rooms and loves to just hang out in them during his vacation. I did take the kids to a Children's Museum one day. We also spent a day at the local Outlet Mall. Mostly we just enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. Mom and Jeff really enjoyed the desert and would have been happy to move to Palm Springs. I personally missed seeing anything Green! Although you really can't beat having sunshine every day. It is certainly a cure for the Winter Blues.

Of course our biggest excitement of the week was the California Wild Fires. We flew into CA the day before they started. So they were burning all week and we were trying to figure out how to get home. We were supposed to drive back to San Diego and leave from that airport on Saturday. We weren't sure it would be open or the roads would be open or safe for us to drive back. Mom finally convinced the airline to let us fly home from the Phoenix airport. So Friday night we bid Jeff goodbye and headed our for our drive to Phoenix. Man, the desert is a busy place at night. I didn't expect so much traffic. And Phoenix is a big busy airport. Especially when your son decides he needs to use the bathroom 10 minutes before boarding, AND he just can't wait, AND the bathroom across from your gate is out of order, AND you walk 10 minutes in the wrong direction and never find a bathroom so you have to turn around and backtrack another 10 minutes in the opposite direction, AND you finally make it just in time! (I threw that story in for you other Mommies with 5 year olds that wait till the absolute last minute to decide they need to use the restroom)

So we made it home safely. And Ohio, true to form, welcomed us with gray dreary skies. It really makes you miss California, even if the desert doesn't have any green.
Love,
Donita