Tuesday we spent the morning at the Childrens Discovery
Museum. Max and Emily spent most of the time playing dress up. Each afternoon, after our morning adventures, we would go down to one of the pools. One of the pools had a big water slide. Max tried it, but it was a bit long for him. One day we went to the pool with the smaller slide and Max loved it. So I guess we just need to work up to the different slides. Tuesday night Jan and Jeff went to Ruths Chris Steakhouse and we watched all the kids. We took a long walk in the cool of the evening around the grounds. Everyone had a great time, especially in the shuttle ride back.

<Insert Museum Pictures>

Monday was zoo day. We started off feeding the giraffes. The Palm Springs zoo is much more spread out than the Santa Barbara Zoo. By 11a it was pretty hot. There was not much shade. One thing that the zoo had that I wish SB zoo had was a petting pen. There were a dozen or so goats and sheep to pet and brush. Lucy really liked petting the goats until one of them butted her and she sat down hard. No more pet goat. Max spent a bunch of time quizzing the volunteer attendant on the names of each of the goats. His favorite was named Chocolate. Lucy was a bit disappointed because the Meerkats were set far back so she could not get close. At the SB Zoo they are behind glass that she can get right up close to them.

<Insert Zoo Pictures>

Sunday we went to Knott’s
Soak City Waterpark. At Salem, there were coupons for admission to the water park, so I grabbed some for our trip. Unfortunately, they stayed in Carpinteria bad Matt. We found a great spot in the shade of a tree next to the kiddie slide Gremmie Lagoon. Max and Emily had a great time sliding down and running back up. Even Nathan spent a long time sliding. Lucy slept for a lot of the morning in her stroller. The lifeguard (Janine) was great with the kids. We rode some bigger slides and played in the tide pool, but the hit of the day was the kiddie slide. That night, Toby and I went to Macaroni Grill for dinner while Jan and Jeff watched the kids. It was a wonderful date, and not just because of the chocolate raviolis we had for dessert.

<Insert Waterpark Pictures>

First, the thanks:
Poppa and Yaya used 2 of their timeshare weeks to get us the room with Jan and Jeff Bernards and family. Monya Wright and family watched Petey and Ginger for the week.
The Westin Mission Hills Villas
The
resort’s waterslide

It was a rough start. After a toooooo long drive to get to Palm Springs, we arrived. We had been slightly concerned about the weather because all along the way it was cloudy and cold (we neednt have worried, Palm Springs has been clear and sunny with highs in the high 90s). Toby had requested that the 2 rooms be next to each other and that we have early check-in (check in is a 4p and we didnt know when we or the Bernards would arrive). She had been told that neither would be a problem. The Bernards arrived about an hour and a half before we did (2:30p), but were not able to check in. When Jan asked about the early check in request, the front desker said that yes there was a request for early check in, but that it was just a request. <insert snotty voice>. When we arrived, the Bernards and we went to our rooms and found that they were not next to each other but about 8 doors apart. Toby spent some time at the front desk and the next day the Bernards moved into the room next door to us. Having the doors right next to each other makes it sooo much easier for the little ones to go between the rooms.

Once these 2 initial hiccups were straightened out, everything else was nearly perfect. Our room balcony looks out over one of the pools and the golf course. Next to our building is a big grass area with rolling hills (Max and Emily spent a bit of time rolling down the grass hills). There is a wading pool at the main family pool that was great for Lucy and Nathan (Max liked it too). There are shuttles to take us all over the resort grounds (I think the shuttle drivers have a script they follow when talking to the guests : How is everything?, Where are you from?, How long are you staying?, Is this your first visit?, etc) . Everyone is very nice.

The first night, Poppa and Yaya watched all four kids and Toby, Matt, Jan and Jeff went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. On Saturday, we drove to a local street fair and ate lots of Kettle Corn and drank lemon and orange slushies. Poppa and Yaya left later that afternoon to spend Saturday night with Burt and Sue Neinhuis.

We went to a weekend church retreat 21 – 23 April. SBCC’s annual retreat is located
at the Salvation Army Camp in
Malibu, CA. SBCC has about 700 people attend the retreat. This year, Toby was
asked (and accepted) to take on the job of running the kitchen for about 1/3 of the
attendees. She and her staff of 4 (plus a few volunteers) prepared, served and recovered
from 5 meals for about 250. They did a great job and she is considering doing the
job next year. It really helped that Lucy spent the weekend with Yaya and Poppa. Max
and Dad got to spend a lot of time together. Although most of Max’s time was spent
exploring with 2 buddies, Christopher Cassriel and Luke Callaway.

One thing that Max did, that his buddies would not, was the zip line. The camp has
a bunch of climbing / ropes stuff for kids and adults. Max surprised Mom and Dad by
climbing up the tree on little pegs in the trunk, hooking on to the zip line, and
then dropping off. What happend to my son who cried after getting 6 feet up the climbing
wall at the Avocado festival last year?

Hooking In

Ready, Set, …

Whew! Made it.