Fabulous February

Mid-April what? First comes February, I helped throw a super fun Hugs and Kisses baby shower for a friend. If you would like, you can see the details on Enchantresses3 .

Then, our little family took a road trip down to Palm Springs. On the way there and back we stopped in Bakersfield to stay and visit with Ted and Nevada, my cute grandparents.

Daisy and her great Grandma Nevada.

Daisy, as much as she loves grandma, spent most of her time with Molly the dog giving

hugs,

kisses,

 and some heart to heart.

 For breakfast we went in the backyard and picked tangelos. They were divine!

Then we were on the road again. Another 4 hours, 1 bag of beef jerky, tons of Valentine candy, 1 huge pile of chili-cheese nachos, and a 32oz. vanilla Dr. Pepper later, we made it to Palm Springs. The original hotel Sean had booked put us in a smoking room with literally your stereotypical, smokin' cussin' biker chics and dudes next door. Upon trying to change rooms we discovered that there were NO vacancies and that included all over the rest of town. Sean and I were not going to let our family sleep in a smoke infested room...NAST! Being that it was Presidents Day/Valentines Day/every marathon and bike race weekend, we FINALLY, after MUCH searching, found this time share in which I pleaded with the manager to let us use an unfinished "suite". It is amazing what price you will pay in desperation...and what they will charge knowing you are desperate!

Behold, the Adriatic Villa

The Adriatic Villa fulfilled its purpose for one night if you don't count the blaring Latino music til 1am from the front desk which shared a wall with our room. Fortunately we had reservations at a nicer place for the rest of the trip AND we were meeting Ryan(Sean's buddy growing up), his wife Shari, and their 3 girls who were driving out from Utah that afternoon.

 We found the Living Desert Zoo. (I laugh at this name because I have a Living Desert Zoo back home in NM that is more like the Dying Desert. Nothing quite like this one).

We weren't used to the 85-90 degree heat. Daisy crashed with her veggie chips in hand.

Our new hotel was awesome. We spent most of the time at the rockin' pool.

That big slide was so fast. I had raspberries on my elbows to prove it. The consistent warm sun was so wonderful especially since we live in a place that is usually in the 50's and 60's year round.

 Shari and I got some good shopping in and the boys of course got their golf game on. Here is Lily with Sarah and Audrey downtown Palm Springs. All the girls got along so great.

On our way back up the state of Cali we stopped again in Bakersfield and what is a trip to Bakersfield without catching toads in Grandma and Grandpa's yard?

I love how Lily loves critters like I do!

A few ring pops and about 2 movies later we made it back home.
Road trips w/ the family are true tests of patience and endurance!
 At least we didn't have to cut Lily out of the seat belt this time around!