Another Spring Break....another amazing trip planned with Geoff and Robin.
We were headed for Palm Springs.
It was hot and beautiful.
The house we stayed at was AMAZING.
Seriously.....AH....MAZING!!!!!
We left Bellingham on Friday afternoon....
Geoff and Robin were already there when we got there....we just needed to wait for Annalise's booster seat. Really? Booster seat....again??? We were beginning to have flashbacks to Hawaii.
The airline assured us that it would be on the first flight in the morning.
We could just come back and pick it up then.
We had a great dinner, went to bed, and the girls woke up ready to hop in the pool!!!
We made a trip to the grocery store....
And then back to the airport for Annie's car seat. Hmmmm...well...apparently you can't find anyone from the airline working unless it's an hour before a flight or 30 minutes after a flight has arrived. They forgot to tell us that part.
We weren't happy....and still didn't have a car seat. So...we went back to the house to swim.
(Our two fishies...Geoff and Annalise!)
And Mark...he's funny.
Lucky for us....Gramps planned his California trip to coincide with ours.
He made it to my aunt and uncle's place just down the road about the same time we rolled into town.
He came over and hung out for a while with us.
It was hot....but lucky for us the house had "misters" outside to cool things down.
(Did I mention how crazy awesome this house was???)
Oh....and an outside tv and bar!
So pretty....
The next day was Easter, so the girls needed to prepare for the Easter bunny.
And low and behold....the next morning....the Easter bunny delivered!
He sent the girls on a scavenger hunt through the house beginning with a trail of jellybeans from each of their bedrooms. The jellybeans led them to their first clue.
"It's on like Donkey Kong".
They thought they saw the game Donkey Kong in the cupboard by the tv....no clue there.
Then they remembered the colorful ceramic donkey in the entryway...
Yep! Ok...next clue...something like "in a while crocodile".
They immediately headed outside....
"a journey across land is called a traverse".
They were stumped. Really stumped. They looked everywhere.
They finally made their way out to the garage.
Our rental car was a "TRAVERSE".
Success!!!
Geoff is a good morning person...as long as he has coffee!!
The girls opened all of their Easter goodies...
And Gramps even brought them an Easter basket.
Ok...pause for a moment.
This COMPLETELY made me cry. It was always my Mom who took care of those things. Yet...here he was...hundreds of miles from home, had already been on the road for over a week, and he went and got his granddaughters Easter baskets. Oh my. I know Grams is smiling. My heart is full.
Thank you Gramps.
Couldn't skip coloring eggs....
We had planned on going over to Auntie Rea Rea and Uncle Rob's for their golf club's Easter brunch.
We visited with them at their place for a while, then walked over to the club to eat.
Well....some of us walked. (The girls got the special treatment!)
It was amazing.
We headed back to the house for the afternoon to do some swimming and hanging out.
We did an Easter egg hunt....
...and then...Mark got hurt.
He was literally just stepping off the tanning shelf into the pool.
He says it felt like someone SHOT him in the calf. He couldn't even walk.
It was terrible. He limped around for the rest of the day, but was clearly in a lot of pain.
Cake didn't even help.
(Nice photo bomb Robin!)
Unfortunately, the next day was even worse. We made an appointment to go to urgent care and get it looked at. Mark and I went to the doctor....
The girls and the Nelsons went on an adventure to the park.
Then the girls went on a shopping and fruit picking adventure with my aunt.
We finally made it home....after an ultrasound, some pain meds and a CRAZY boot due to the torn muscle in his calf. BOO!!!! :( He was a great sport and was able to hobble himself into the hot tub and pool. (There was NO way he was missing out!!!)
We invited everyone to our place for a "delayed" Easter dinner.
(We were too full after the awesome brunch for dinner the day before!!)
It worked out well....my aunt, uncle and dad all came for dinner.
So lovely.
Mark continued to be a good sport.
We were planning on going to the Living Desert the next day.
He was determined to go.
We did the research and found out that you could rent an "adult stroller"
(for adults and seniors only).
Geoff offered to push him around.
It was hot.
There was a lot of cool stuff to see!!!
The girls really liked the spiny cactus!
There was also a desert carousel!
It was hot. Really hot. We had walked (and pushed) a long way.
The snack bar was like an oasis...beer and slushies. Both well deserved!
We continued around the loop and found this mud nest, some goats and an old train yard...
and for some crazy reason...Annalise was cold enough from her slushy to need a fleece jacket.
Did I mention how hot it was???????
The rest of us just needed to get back to the house and jump in the pool!!!
And so we did....
The next morning we went to a place called Cheeky's for breakfast.
Gramps finally came and was staying at our house with us.
We love having him around!!
We had done our research about places to go for breakfast.
This place had 5 stars, good bloody marys and something called a "bacon flight".
Geoff found his happy place after a 90-minute wait.
Back to the house for a day of squeezing oranges the girls had picked with Auntie Rea Rea and POOL POOL POOL time!!!
Avery's room and courtyard....
Thursday night brought Villagefest in downtown Palm Springs.
They shut down the main street and there are hundreds of art and food vendors.
Also...GREAT people watching!!!
We started with dinner at a big pub....
We have learned to travel with pocket notebooks.
There is a lot of wait time at restaurants....we play a lot of "guess my picture" and hangman!
(Better than being plugged in to an electronic device the entire time!)
After dinner we headed into the street festival....Annalise was so excited to see Michelle Obama!!!
Then they each got a henna tattoo!
Our last full day and the girls kept bugging us to take them to Boomers.
Kid paradise...go karts, bumper boats, arcade, mini-golf.
We agreed...but only after lunch at In N' Out Burger!
Our first time!!!
The boys left us girls...but we still rocked the go karts.
(Well...actually....Robin got bullied by some teenager and spun out.)
Then just Avery and Annalise did the bumper boats.
It was war.....
We had a great trip.
Mark was super bummed that he hurt himself and couldn't really do everything we had hoped to do.
(Guess we'll have to come back!)
At least he could still limp his way into the pool when he needed!
Love spending time with our best friends....
...and what an added bonus to have my dad there with us, too.
Spring Break 2015
