Vacation!

We got back Sunday from vacation. My parents have a time share in Palm Desert (which is near Palm Springs in California) and reserve a couple units that have a kitchen and living areas as well.

We had THE BEST TIME! First, if you haven't been to this part of the country it is absolutely gorgeous!!! You've got snow-capped mountains in the background with palm trees all around the city. It really is beautiful and you can feel the stress melt away while you're there.

Since we don't want Jenson flying on airplanes due to his immune system, Doug braved it and drove out with the kids with my parents also driving too. It's about a 21 hr drive, but they all managed really well... in fact the kids did a nice job. Jenson is obsessed with fast food signs knowing many of them have "yum-yums" (his word for french fries), so my parents said they alone counted over 500 times he said "yums-yums" while he was riding in their car! He also loves to spot "Target" and call out whenever he sees it. Very cute.

I had the pleasure of flying down there from a business trip in the bay area. I definitely drew the long straw on that deal.

The week was really great, mostly because we were all together the whole time and hanging out. We went to the pool several days and Sydney is getting much more comfortable in the water. She's close to swimming on her own, but discovered if she used the "noodle" she could get around the pool totally by herself so was loving it!

Jenson decided he wanted nothing to do with getting in the water again this year, but he thoroughly enjoyed playing ball down by the pool and getting water for all of us from the water cooler at the pool area. This kind of became an obsession for him where he'd go get more before you were even done with the cup of H2O he just brought you.

One day we made stuffed animals down by the pool. Sydney stuffed a polar bear which she named "Beary". Jenson made a monkey which he named "Ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh"...yes, he really chose that as the name!

Doug and I drove back with the kids, and believe it or not there was only 1 major meltdown on the 21 hr drive. Not bad for a 2 yr old and 4 yr old. Sydney wrote the entire alphabet by herself on the drive home. I'm proud of them.

Here are some memorable quotes from the trip:

Sydney - "Cactus' are very pokey" - when seeing them out the window on our drive

Jenson - "Yum yums!" - this one is mostly memorable due to the repition factor... by the end of the trip he would say it but wanted no part of eating them

Sydney - "Mommy I need my purple noodle" - referring to the long floaty she loved using at the pool

Jenson - "Whoooaaa!" - when riding on the golf cart and going over a big bump

Jenson - "Hi mommy, awh mommy, mommy home" - he'd come over to me, put his cheek against my cheek, and repeatedly say this throughout the week... talk about adorable!

Sydney - "More hummus please. I really do love Trade Joe's hummus!" - let's just say Syd has been going through TJ hummus withdrawals since moving to Texas... no other hummus quite compares.

Jenson - "Need Ernie" - his way of telling you he needs a diaper change and wants the diaper with "Ernie" on it

Jenson - "Yay!! It's Ernie!" - his excitement when we'd find an "Ernie" diaper

Good times for all.

Kristin