Tuesday, July 1, 2014

palm springs vacation, baby!

On vacation! Palm Springs. upload Rainer photobomb. Getting date shakes. Palm Springs Vacation. upload upload Playing in a public fountain. They're having a great time. Palm Springs vacation. upload Best children's museum (our favorite anyway). Palm Springs Vacation. upload

As soon as school was out we headed to Palm Springs for our big summer trip.  This was our second time taking the kids on to Palm Springs (we also went in November).  Both times we stayed at Omni Rancho Las Palmas.  We have such a great time there--it is so much fun and such a less crowded resort than something like a Disneyland Hotel or, heaven forbid, Las Vegas.  I guess I'm more of a Palm Springs type of girl.  The hotel is really fun, with a great pool area for kids and they even show summer movies out by the pool at night (we saw Frozen and Despicable Me 2).  There is tons of stuff to do in the area and we always feel like we barely scratch the surface.

Some of the stuff we did--
:: spent a lot of time at the pools/waterslides/lazy river at the hotel
:: went up the Aerial Tramway and went for a hike and had lunch up there
:: spent an afternoon at the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert (it is awesome!!)
:: went to Shield's Date Garden and got date shakes
:: went to a movie at the Mary Pickford theater and played in the fountain (we saw How to Train Your Dragon 2)
:: went to The Living Desert (this was awesome but we needed to go earlier to avoid the heat--we only got to see half but what we saw was great)
:: stopped at Cabazon Dinosaurs (super cheesy but my kids like it--it's pretty cute and fun)

It was a great way to kick off the summer and both boys kept commenting, "this is the best vacation ever!" I'm very much hopeful we can make it back again in November.   I have a little saving account that I devote solely to a vacation fund and automatically deposit money there each month.  That way I can enjoy these trips and not freak out about how expensive absolutely everything is.  I love these little family getaways and think they are so bonding.

Where do you like to vacation?  Do you stay close by or travel far afield?  We always stay close by, but there is so much to do in California that it hardly feels like a hardship. 

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I love vacationing up north (San Jose/ San Francisco) so very different than So Cal. It feels like a different state!

I'm glad you and your family had a nice time in Palm Springs. I too am not fond of big crowded places. The smaller or less crowded the better!

Unknown said...

Sounds wonderful! And such lovely weather. I'm not a fan of staying in hotels though, especially with children. We are going camping in France, just like almost every year. I love the Alps, such a nice change from our flat Dutch landscape, and not too far away. Still 3 weeks of work to go, I can't wait!

Gabi said...

Lovely family vacation, you must be lucky to have so many possibilities within a relatively short distance! Just yesterday we were trying to find some place for our summer holiday and my son started to complain about how expensive everything is.... reminded of your savings fund for exactly that purpose, vacation. What a great idea this is! Seems to be Mallorca this year, such a wonderful island, hopefully we will be able to find a place to stay.

Sarah said...

What a great trip!
And now I want a rootbeer float :)
Hope you guys are soaking up one another company during this lovely summer break!