so we went the other way

***warning***

-really long, vacation post, with probably far too many pictures.
-enjoy, or skim, i won't really know... :)

for rodeo vacation, the plan was to go to el paso to visit my sister and her family. well, as it turns out, my sister ended up not being in el paso, but houston dealing with a family illness. we were super bummed about missing out on #1. a trip, #2. spending time with family, and #3. good el paso bbq. our first thought was to just stay home and get some fun household chores done ( i.e. painting, more garage shelves). we also thought that maybe dave could cancel just one of his days off, and the other day we could spend in phoenix at the temple and ikea.
dave walked in the house wednesday afternoon (after an awesome week at work) and told me that he was the #1 salesman for the month! yippee. #1 means the potential for more cash bonuses and a guaranteed large commission check. so we decided on vacationing anyways. the indio/palm springs resort had openings and is only a 5 1/2 hour drive from us (only 3 1/2 from my mom's house) so we booked it and began packing.

one of the greatest beauty's of our vacation ownership (that's the new word for timeshare) is that the units are like apartments. most of them have two bedrooms (or even 3 or 4) and all of them have kitchens. we can save lots of money by packing a cooler and bringing snacks and breakfast foods. i am getting better at having meals planned out as long as i have a few days to prep (which i didn't really have for this past weekend.) *these resorts would make a great place for a family reunion, a break from school, or a weekend with friends. heated pools, large clubhouses... wanna come with us?*

thursday morning, we loaded up, and headed 5+ hours on I10 west, instead of the 5 hours on I10 east to el paso. we met up with my mom and sister for lunch in avondale and let jenna run around and play for a bit.

we made it to the resort by dinner time- and were very impressed. our room was beautiful- and right out the back door was a man made stream the led to a pond. but that's not the first thing jenna noticed....
she noticed the ducks! she just kept saying, 'duck' 'quack quack', and chasing them around and blowing kisses. they would waddle right up to her, and she wasn't even a little bit afraid.


we spent time on friday at the playground and checking out the pools. then we jumped in the car for our adventure on the palm springs aerial tramway. check out the link- i had never heard of it before! it was quite an adventure! it took 11 minutes to raise up something like 2000 feet.

jenna had her first taste of snow. seriously, that was the
first thing she did; it went straight in her mouth!

*beautiful views around where we played for awhile*

we had lunch and explored the museum a bit before heading down.
...on the ride down... i couldn't look out the windows (even though you can't
not look out- they surround you!)... dave took some pictures, and
we switched jenna back and forth. everyone got a kick out of her.here she is with her arms up saying 'wheeeeee' as we went down the mountain.
found this warning to be a bit alarming...

that same afternoon we went swimming. how fun is that, we played in the snow and just hours later were in the pool? jenna LOVED loved Loved the pool.

this resort has 2 huge, heated pools. we spent most of our time in the
baby pool that had a beach entry and was only 1 ft deep.

here are dave and jenna 'swimming' in the lazy river.

saturday was the start of the classic car show in palm springs. we were able to see some of the classic cars on display at a shopping center. tickets to the actual show were $50 each, and you had to dress up... i liked the idea of walking in the sun, up and down the street for an hour, for free much better! (click on the pictures to make them bigger)

sunday, we headed home. as dave packed the car, jenna and i said good-bye to the ducks. we opened the back door, and i said, 'where are they?' and jenna's immediate response is, 'i du no?' (i don't know) with her arms up in the air. we had to search them out, but she did say good-bye and blow kisses.

*jenna did great in the car. she constantly surprises us with her adaptability.

we pray the next one is as accommodating,
or else vacations will be fewer and farther between.*