Davids Family Easter 2012

We had another great Easter this year.  We got up Easter morning and the kids ran around the house to find where the Easter bunny hid their baskets.  Once they found them they indulged in probably way too much candy for breakfast, but it kept them busy.  We were off to church with the Reichel family in Louisville next.  After church we went to their house and took pictures, visited, and ate fantastic food as usual.  The kids had an Easter egg hunt and all was great again this year.

Day 2 - Palm Springs Vacation

What a way to wake up in the morning - Sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine!  It was fabulous and exceeded our expectations.  We grabbed coffee and drinks and sat outside and just enjoyed it. Dan made everyone a great breakfast to enjoy.

There were hats at the house we were renting and the kids thought it was super cool to wear them that morning so we had a little hat party at 9am. 

Right after breakfast the kids were were ready to hit the pool and since it was heated we let them even that early in the morning.  We were staying on a golf course and my dad sees some people getting ready to tee off behind us and decided that he just had to talk to them.  He proceeded to jump over the fence and threw one leg over the top and slid across on his belly and jumped down.  Not a smart move - again the stucco attacks!  He definitely knew better coming back over and wasn't about to make that mistake again, we did get a few pictures of his wall jumping escapade. 

Landon and Dan playing football in the pool.

Since it was the first full day for my parents they wanted to hang out for awhile. The guys, my dad, Dan, and Landon did get a round of golf in that day though.  They couldn't wait to get going.  Me and my mom hung out with the kids at the house and the pool for awhile.  They wanted to swim, swim, swim.  They had a little snack picnic together outside.  And I took the opportunity to attempt to catch some rays and relax.

After awhile I was getting antsy to get out of the house and go do or see something.  We found a flea market that was only a couple of miles away to walk around.  We ate lunch there and just walked around and did a little bit of shopping.  This was definitely not a place that the kids were excited to be at or enjoyed.  There were only a few booths that had kids toys or anything that interested them.  There was a ton of booths for casual clothing for the older generation and swimsuits and beach towels and random things.  We attempted to get the kids to take naps when we got back the house, but the only one who actually took one was Riley. We went out to eat that night at a place called the Jackelope Ranch.  Our plan was to hit their happy hour and we had looked at the menu before hand.  The place was really cool from the outside and the kids thought it was great.  We got there around 5 or 5:30pm and Happy Hour ended at 6pm.  Unfortunately there is a specific section of the restaurant you have to sit in to get the happy hour menu and it was packed full both inside and outside.  I figured that the menu options would still be the same and asked that we get seated wherever, I was wrong!  The menu was different and much more expensive for the inside seating.  The other problem was it was very fancy and quiet and all the adults looked at each with a look of terror with 4 little kids who are not used to eating out that much and sitting nicely and quietly.  The kids actually did amazing that night.  My dad at one point got up and went to the restroom and when he came back of course then one of the kids had to go.  We thought it was hilarious and said - Well, you know where the bathrooms are so you can go head and take them and he did.  When he returned to the table of course another kiddo had to go to the restroom and we sent them with my dad as well - it was too funny to see him return to the table just waiting to see which kid was going to jump up next.  Dinner was nice, expensive and sorry that Jeff and Tonah had missed it.  We were getting in a hurry towards the end knowing we had to drop part of our crew off and me and my dad had to get to the airport to pick up the rest of our vacation crew.  Outside the restaurant it was surrounded by orange trees.  Dan jumped up and grabbed each kiddo an orange.

After the orange picking we rushed back and dropped everyone off and darted to the airport.  I was the navigator again and as we were getting close to the airport I pulled up the internet and started looking at the incoming flights to Palm Springs.  I noticed that the airline my brother was flying in on was not scheduled to come in for another hour, but yet it was "On Time".  I kept thinking ...hmmm, this doesn't really seem right when my mom said they were coming in now.  I finally called my mom and asked if she was sure on the arrival time because I was showing it an hour later.  I was right, they weren't due in for another hour and she had us rushing off to the airport, of course everyone back at the house thought it was funny.  We figured we go into the airport and grab a beer and wait, no big deal.  We walk into the tiny airport and the bar is closed - seriously!  We didn't figure we would have much time to drive somewhere, grab a beer and get back so we sat and waited.  I taught my dad to play angry birds on my phone which was hilarious and then we did some people watching which was even funnier making up stories about people waiting for their loved ones.  My brother, Tonah, and Greyson did finally arrive and we were so happy to see them.  They said Greyson did great on both flights and slept.  We grabbed their luggage and back to the house we went.  So finally everyone in our vacation party was in Palm Springs.  We decided after the delay with part of crew that we would hold off one more day for Disneyland and go on Tuesday and planned on hitting The Living Desert Zoo the next day.

We got back to the house and the new crew was pretty tired from all their traveling from the day.  My crew was already in bed so me and my mom decided to grab a few beers and hit the hot tub - awww - a great way to end the day!

I'm ready for some hot tub time!

Me and my mom enjoy some time together.

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!