Not Quite What you Thought, but Still Good.

My husband had some good plans for me today.
He was going to take us all to one of my favorite places (Ashland, OR)
Then he had an awful fever-filled sleepless night.
We woke up and he went back to bed.
Sick day.
Me in p.j's until noon, when he woke up again & I grabbed a shower.
Not quite what we had imagined.

Instead, gifts from the kids; rocks & flower jars.

Gillian weaves me a daffodil hair wreath.
The 4 children explore the hillside at our sometimes place of residence in Butte Valley.
I sit on the deck in the shade with a cup of tea,
reading the beautiful "Bread & Wine: a love letter to life around the table".
Through the screen door I listen to The Bells of Santa Ynez
playing on a massive record player.
A big, black beetle repeatedly dives at my head,
which is dressed in the a fore mentioned daffodil.
Ants an inch long, thick and juicy looking crawl across the deck boards.
I give the exploring children a serious scolding for some bad choices.
I get kinda mad.
They all have to stay near by now and stay on the lawn.
They chase fence lizards.
I go back to reading.
It's getting hot.  The Daddy wakes up, we move the party indoors.

Now I have my baby, who is not quite a baby anymore, napping on my lap;
totally.passed.out. & peaceful.

Until then she woke up, sweaty and mad.
Water is nice for her, until she decides to slip some of it on me, and some slips on her, too.
Mad again.
Chocolate cookie is nice for her, until she finishes it and has melted chocolate on her hand.
Mad again.
She comes back to my lap and see this photo of her & smiles.
Peace again.

My sick husband is back in bed sleeping.
The kids smile over cereal for dinner and I sit down with leftovers and a beer.

Ins't this just like mothering, (and really like life in general)?
Things don't go the way we expected.  Then we can look and see the good that is there.
We can be grateful for, enjoy it in the right then.
The good we just saw may pass or change, and then we can look for more good,
and grab on and be grateful again.
Around and around it goes.  Moments.  Opportunities.  Changes.
The good and the bad all mushed up together in this life.
I do love it.
Happy Mother's Day!

Palm Springs with a bunch of Little Kids

We took a great family vacation to Palm Springs this spring.

Mom and Dad had fun and all the kids had fun.  

I know the line -

"There is no such thing as a vacation with young kids; just take family trips."  

While it is true that is was not pure relaxation all the time, 

we still felt like it was a great break and vacation for all of us.

It was a vacation and an adventure trip, all rolled into one.  

It did seem as if we were the only family in the canyon.

That was weird.  But, it still didn't feel anti-kid.  

Palm Springs with a bunch of little kids is a thing that really can work well.

We loved starting the morning with a walk to Koffi Coffee.  

We grabbed fantastic take out at the local Woody's Burgers.

We sat down to eat enchiladas at La Perlita Mexican food.  

The kids still talk about the salsa there.  Lappert's Ice Cream was a tasty 

and eccentric parlor.  

The owner plays chess with buddies in the front, 

and pauses the game to scope ice cream.

Some super good (and high priced) pizza was from Bill's Pizza

We also had a terrible breakfast, but I won't link them here.... 

(Elmer's, I should've known).

It was a super awesome experience for all of us at the Living Desert Garden & Zoo.

We loved it all.  

This garden park is in Palm Desert, towards the south end of the canyon.  

The drive through the neighborhoods to get to the park was pretty fun, 

checking out the mid-century modern styles.

And the Giraffe Feeding!  We didn't have to wait in a line or push through a crowd.
We just walked over and got invited to help feed.  That was sweet!

The plants were amazing, especially the cactus and agave.

We surprised the kids with the trip on the Aerial Tram up to the snow in San Jacinto park.

They were shocked that we got to have a snow adventure on our desert vacation.

This was a first for them and a big dream come true.

The snow was sparse and icy.  But, they didn't mind.  

It was incredible how cold it was up there, compared to the canyon floor.  Brrr....

I wore my flip flops.  That was a bad idea.

This snow guy was found by the kids, not made by them.  

We did manage a snowball fight, though.

The Air Museum of Flying was super cool for us.  

It's small and was a quick afternoon outing.

But, we all enjoyed it.    

Peyton was so cute pushing Kendall around.
Kendall was absolutely in love with the little umbrella stroller.
When I bought my ticket from the front desk,
the sweet old man told me to wait right there,
because he had a carriage for me.  I didn't know quite what I was waiting for.
Ah.  Yes.  Of course, a stroller.
(Would you believe we went on vacation with all the littles,
without even thinking to bring a stroller?)

We were happy at with our stay at 7 Springs Inn & Suites.  We got a two story suite.  

The kids got their own room, and so did we.

We all slept well here.  And enjoyed the daily swims, too.

We think Palm Springs is a great get away for parents and kids.