Palm Springs!!!

We had a very LONG day of travelling to get down to Palm Springs. We had to stop in San Jose and switch planes. Fortunately Grandma Peggy was with us and she was able to help a lot! The kids did a lot better than we were anticipating. They liked looking out the window, you couldn't see the planes landing or taking off but at least they could see the people working and driving the trucks around. Most of the time at the airport was spent chasing after them, Kayda discovered that she LOVES escalators.

On the first flight Dillon slept for quite a while and Kayda was entertained by a movie. Thank you technology!!! Dillon did eventually wake up and moved around between Daddy, Kayda, Mommy and across the aisle to Grandma Peggy. It was fun keeping him entertained, he was a little tougher to keep contained!

After about 7.5 hours in the car, on an airplane or in an airport we finally made it to the house! The kids were SO excited to be outside! FREEDOM! We showed the kids the backyard and they went nuts! They had a great time with the few toys we pulled out that evening. Kayda was exploring the house, going into everything, loving the fact that she could reach the light switches.

She had been gone for a while so I went looking for her. She had the door closed, the light on, the tv on and she was lying in bed watching it. It cracked me up, she was watching the news, so I changed the channel to a cartoon so that she would be a little happier.

As we expected after dinner we ended up in the hot tub. The pool takes too long to heat up so we just all went in the hot tub. The kids thought it was just great! It took them a couple of tries to figure out that they couldn't just walk across the hot tub though. They could walk around the edges but they'd sink in the middle. It was NOT fun putting them to sleep in Palm Springs, it was incredibly difficult EVERY single night that we were there but eventually they did go to sleep and eventually they did wake up in the middle of the night but it was still fun being down there. Anyways, on with our pictures and stories...
 

The next morning, right after they ate breakfast, we were outside again. Grandma pulled out the toys and we hosed them down so they weren't quite so dusty. The kiddos had a great time exploring the new set of toys! Dillon discovered the puddle, for a little while he just stomped around in it but the next thing we knew he was bent at the waist trying to DRINK it. He's a sturdy little guy but boy is he flexible!

There is a basketball hoop in the backyard which Daddy lowered so that the kids could shoot hoops. He tried letting Dillon make a basket but he didn't really know what to do, Dillon was too nervous being held up there and holding onto his ball to actually shoot it. We gave Dillon a little break and Daddy let Kayda shoot the ball a few times and shot a few himself. After that Dillon got the idea and had MUCH more fun making baskets with Daddy.

We went to walmart and picked up some more toys for the kids. We got bubbles and Kayda was in heaven! She was pretty good at blowing bubbles at first, then she started blowing too hard and I couldn't get her to be more gentle so she had a MUCH harder time of it. She loved to dip the wand in the soap and then she tried and tried and tried for those bubbles! Dillon thought they were just great when I blew bubbles for him.  He chased them and tried to catch them. Obviously they're bubbles so they're hard to see in this picture but they're floating all around him!

Daddy helped Kayda blow bubbles too, I ADORE this picture!

Those first few days in Palm Springs we went on walks in the evening. The kids had a great time! Dillon did really well, the only places he had trouble were the driveways where the ground is sloped for the cars. He would end up down by the street because he followed the slope! Grandma helped him with that a lot during the walk though, most of the time he was mister independent but he would hold hands for brief moments here and there. Kayda is getting very good at crossing streets now, she looks both ways, RUNS across the street and yells "Hurray" when she gets to the other side. We crossed a street on our walk and she was waiting for Daddy, Dillon and Grandma to get across and I thought her "waiting spot" was well chosen. This is another one of those pictures that I LOVE.

Those first few days we spent a LOT of time in the water. Kayda and Dillon just couldn't get enough of it! Here's some playtime with mommy. Kayda loved any and all floaties that could help her swim around on her own. She played in/with all of them. Dillon preferred to be in someone's arms being carried around where he wanted to go!

The neighbor behind us lent us this huge float toy with a squirt gun on it. Kayda LOVED it. Whenever Dillon was out there too she wanted him on the toy with her. He would sit ever so patiently behind her playing with his toys while she played with the squirt gun. We would go to one end of the pool, say "ready, set go" and then I would push them so they floated to the other end of the pool. Kayda thought it was fantastic, Dillon could have cared less what was going on. He is so laid back, he just goes with the flow.

That is the end of the first part of our California trip. It was perfect weather (which can't be said of the rest of the trip, though it got close) and we had a WONDERFUL time!