Day 1 in Palm Springs

We were the first of our vacation crew to arrive on Saturday.  We found the rental place easily with the help of some Iphone navigation and mapquest.  It was fun to scope out the place when it was all clean and ready for guests arriving.  We checked out all the bedrooms and although I had joked with my dad earlier that we would be taking the master suite since we were the first to arrive, we didn't.  We did choose the bigger of the other two bedrooms though!  We immediately went outside to check out the pool area and were in awe instantly.  The kids of course wanted to swim right away, but they had to wait, we had a few things to attend to first.  Being the first to arrive and hours and hours earlier than everyone else meant we were in charge of stocking the fridge and buying beverages.  We quickly read through the manual they had left us on the alarm system, pool, hot tub and where to go and shop.  They said to help ourselves to anything that was already there and low and behold there were 2 coronas waiting for me and Dan in the fridge!  We took them outside and we all sat in the sun for awhile just taking it all in.
Dan unfortunately did not have the best of first days on the trip and everything that could happen to him did.  First off he gets a lot of anxiety when on vacation and it puts him outside of his comfort zone.  After we arrived at the Palm Springs airport he figured out rather quickly that one of his ears didn't pop and he was a little miserable (or a lot) from it being plugged.  He decided that he would run to the grocery store by himself.  Well, I attempted to write down some directions for him and because he doesn't know how to use my smartphone he didn't take it with him.  The kids were jumping all over the place wanting to go swimming and they were getting hungry for lunch.  Dan left and we had strict instructions that we were not allowed in the pool until he was back.  I took the time to change the kids into their swimsuits (and mine) and unpack some of our clothes in the closet and dressers - 7 days is too long to live out of suitcases, especially when I over pack them.  We waited and waited and waited for Dan to get back.  I couldn't imagine what was keeping him so long, it was only supposed to be 2 miles away?  My phone finally rang.  He got lost and was still lost and dealing with driving with people in California, not too ideal for him and I had no way to know where exactly he was, nor would it have mattered because I wouldn't know where it was and how to get him back to the house.  He did finally make it back to the rental house thank goodness and we unloaded groceries and beer and made the kids lunch and they finally got to swimming!
Here are a few pictures of our first swim in the pool on day 1:

Me and the kids swimming

So mishap # 1 for Dan this first day of the trip was getting lost on the way to the grocery store.  Mishap # 2 and # 3 happened in the pool during his first swim.  

The kids were so excited to go swimming and the pool was heated to a fabulous 85 degrees, you can't beat that!  Swimsuits and life jackets on the kids and Dan jumped in the pool and swam around.  It didn't take long before the kids wanted to try jumping in from the side.  Junior climbed out of the pool and was waiting for Dan.  Dan went under the water and came up at the edge where Junior was.  Well, Dan came up a little too close to the edge and as he surfaced he scraped his nose on the side which was made of stucco.  It immediately made a bunch of lines of blood across his nose and a huge scrape and started bleeding.  I jumped up when he yelled and as he was trying to figure out how bad it was cut and he wasn't looking at Junior, Junior launched himself into the pool thinking Dan was going to catch him.  Junior's belly (life jacket) landed right on Dan's head and snapped his head back and into the water they both went.  Dan came up spitting and bleeding and in pain, mishap #2 and #3.  

Dan got out of the pool for awhile to lick his wounds and I jumped in and swam for awhile with the kids.  We eventually got them to go down the slide too that day, but learned very quickly after Katelynn's first turn that we needed to splash some water on the slide.  Katelynn went down the slide and we heard a big - screeech - of skin down the dry slide - oops - lesson learned.  

We also noticed the first day that the temperature starts tapering off at about 3:30 and by 5:00 it was dark outside.  We sat around for awhile wondering what to do to keep ourselves busy while we waited for the arrival of Grandma, Grandpa, Riley, and Landon.  Dan finally decided that him and Katelynn would go venture out to the lemon tree and pick a lemon.  Since she picked the lemon we told her that she would have to take a taste of it.  You can't pick and not try it!  So we had a good time with everyone taking a bite out of the sour lemon.

The kids were starting to wind down and we were anxiously awaiting my parents arrival still.  We had all been up since 4am and the kids had not napped at all.  Katelynn eventually laid down on the couch and try as hard as she could to stay awake passed out cold.  Junior, my little party man, was going strong and you would have thought that he had had 2 naps.  My parents finally arrived with Riley and Landon in tow.  Everyone was pretty tired after traveling so we had a few beers with my parents and crashed out for the night.  

We had one more day to wait for the arrival of Jeff, Tonah, and Greyson.  Greyson and Riley had been sick and Greyson had taken a turn for the worse on Friday.  Tonah took him to the doctor and the doctor recommended that he not fly on Saturday and gave him meds for fluid in his ears.  We were all pretty bummed about it and my mom scrambled to get them on some flights on Sunday.  After a lot of texting and phone calls between everyone they were all set and we would see them late on Sunday night.

So this was our first day and adventure in Palm Springs.

Off to Palm Springs, CA

The countdown days to a vacation always seem so great!  The excitement of what is to come and the anxiety of what to all pack.  Packing is always an issue for me, especially when you are a little unsure of what exactly the weather may hold and when you don't have a set itinerary of plans so you don't know how many dressy outfits and casual outfits you will need.  The days leading up to our trip Dan was jumping around the house already that Monday asking when I was going to start packing.  I finally started packing the kids on Wednesday night.  Dan was all packed by bedtime Wednesday.  I packed my suitcase on Thursday night.  Friday night I spent unpacking the entire kids suitcase and mine and re-packed them.  Ugh! My suitcase which I was attempting to eliminate clothes from really ending up being more of a swapping of clothes.  We had an 8:30 am flight out of DIA on Saturday morning which meant we had to get up and get moving early.  Dan ended up waking up at 3:30 am and I got up shortly after because of all his hustling and bustling around.  By the time we left I think he probably drank 2 pots of coffee.  The kids were so excited when we woke them up that morning - Is it time to go?!  They did great at the airport and everything went smoothly checking our bags and car seats at curbside and going through security.  We stopped by McDonald's for breakfast and to kill some time.  

Katelynn at the airport

Junior at the airport

Mom playing games on her phone.

Katelynn playing games on the Ipod.

My mom had purchased us the Classic ticket on Frontier airlines so we each had the luxury of watching our own show on the flight.  The kids did great on the flight.  Katelynn was thrilled to have her headphones and cartoons and Junior just thought everything was great.  The flight attendants on our flight were just awesome with the kids stopping by and checking on them and talking with them.  I'm sure most of you are aware that I don't fly well and during the flight both of my kids had to use the restroom and I had to take them.  Its hard enough for me to get my butt in the seat and not freak out, but getting up and walking in the isle just about throws me over the edge!  I held my cool, but it took a lot out of me.  

Junior so happy on the flight.

Katelynn with her earphones.

We arrived in Palm Springs at 9:30 am.  As we walked through the airport we realized that we were outside!  It was so nice out and unbelievable.  There was a little park outside between the gates and the baggage claim so we took a quick break to enjoy the immediate sunshine and warmth and take it all in.

We got our rental car with no issues and our bags and we were off to our rental house with the help of Mapquest and my Iphone!