Hot Summer Trip

We began our holiday weekend by heading directly into the heat. Palm Springs was just slightly cooler than the surface of the sun at 115 degrees, seriously, we found the one place on earth hotter than Bakersfield to go on vacation. But Baba and Nana had a cool, salt water pool and a well air conditioned house and lots of cold beverages.

The little ones immediately dove right into the pool - you really don't feel the 100+ degree heat when up to your neck in cool water. They did not come out until they were completely pruney and demanding hot dogs.

The next day was dubbed the "Greatest Day Ever" by Athena, after a little breakfast we "discovered" the Children's Discovery Museum of Rancho Mirage and fell in love with the place.

They had an awesome art station and science activities, a bungey chord maze and the Dude could not be torn away from the ping pong ball pipes.

Zoe found the play Vet Clinic and was completely transported to an alternate reality where she was Dr. Zoe who gave solemn diagnosis to stuffed ferrets of vague illnesses like "acuture" and pronounced they needed days in the hospital to recover.

Meanwhile the Dude and his Dad found a real live CHiPS motorcycle.
(duhn duhn da na...)

When Athena found the dress up area, well, we knew we were going to be here awhile.

Jack and Baba settled down to look at an "encyclopedia" (remember those?)

Zoe made an adorable Fireman

And Baba introduced Jack to a funny thing called a "typewriter"

(I think this museum made Baba feel old).

My girls take dress up seriously but eventually we were able to drag them out with promises of PF Changs (Athena's favorite restaurant) and Cars II followed by a wee little trip to Ben and Jerry's.

After a quick rest, we regathered the troops for dinner to celebrate Nana's birthday. She does not like birthdays, she's had enough of them she says, but we did manage to lure her out to her favorite restaurant as long as we promised not to make the waiters sing.

The restaurant was terribly popular and had a minimum 30 minute wait, so we opted for the terrace to be seated right away. It was still around 100 at 8 o'clock at night, but they had fans and misters so we were fine. Immediately following dinner, we were paid back with a fantastic fireworks display at the neighboring golf course.

We had the perfect view right from our table, it was truly and unexpected and magnificent end to the evening.

The next day, we got up bright and early (Jack was up brighter and earlier than the rest of us) and packed up to head to Aunt Barb and Uncle Ron's traditional July Fourth BBQ.

There was football...

and corn toss...

and basketball...

and a whole lot of cousins and aunts and uncles.
There is only one person who can make Chris look short,
his cousin Matt, aka "the Big Guy."

And, sparklers, of course. I love this picture. These are our girls in a nutshell. Zoe carefully examining her sparkler trying to figure out how it works and Athena dancing as if to say "Yay! It's sooo pretty!"

It was a great weekend of concentrated family time. Ahh. When we asked Athena and Zoe what they liked best about our weekend trip, Athena said "the cereal at the hotel" (these poor children are denied Fruit Loops at home) and Zoe said "playing basketball at the hotel."

Wait a minute, we said, what about swimming in Baba's pool, or the children's museum, or the fireworks, or seeing Cars II? "Oh yea!" Zoe said, "I liked all of it, except I did not like throwing up in the car."

No, that was not a highlight, but all the rest was.