Weekend in Palm Springs: First Family Vacation

Last month Daddy and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  We always said we would go big for our 5 year and return to Hawaii, where we spent our honeymoon.  But as it turns out we have 3 weddings to travel for this year and decided that was more than enough air travel with a toddler.  So we opted for an extended weekend just a short drive away in Palm Springs and had a great time.

This was one of your longest car rides and you did great.  We left shortly before naptime so you slept much of the trip and even once you woke just entertained yourself in the backseat until we arrived.

When we got to Palm Springs we stopped for lunch and then found a nice park for you to get out and run around for awhile.  We checked in to our hotel and had time for a quick swim in the pool before dinner, bath, and bedtime.

That evening was the first time we ordered your own food off the children's menu:  grilled cheese and fresh fruit.

On the second day we went to The Living Desert, a small zoo and botanical gardens in nearby Palm Desert.  I have decided that until you are old enough to tell me otherwise, I'm deeming giraffes are your favorite animal.  Mostly because they are tall and you are tall, but also because we've ended up with quite a few giraffe toys and other items.  So we made the giraffes a priority, though they were not as excited to see us as we were to see them.

There is actually a baby in the top left of the picture, but the rest are just peeking above the hill and that's as close as we got.

We also saw people getting rides on a camel which you seemed interested in.  There were plenty of other animals, too, but these were the highlights.  It was hot and the animals weren't very active so we really didn't spend a lot of time there.

On day 3 we rode the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway 2.5 miles up the face of Chino Canyon to enjoy views of the San Jacinto Mountains and Coachella Valley.  At the top we bundled up the best we could a took a little time to walk some trails and enjoy the scenery.  There wasn't much there, but you got your first look at snow.

Finally our trip was coming to an end.  On the last day we packed up the car, checked out of the hotel, and made time for a short shopping trip on the way home at Desert Hills Premium Outlets.  I sort of (really) hate shopping, but was in serious need of some new clothes so we allowed about an hour stop and I grabbed as many bargains as I could in that much time and we were on our way home again.

All in all we had a great family vacation.  You were beaming the whole time.  You love having both Daddy and me at your disposal and enjoyed the extra time to play and have our undivided attention.