San Diego

After a week in Palm Springs we headed back to San Diego for a few more days of fun. On our way we had to stop at the Hadley fruit stand and pick up some treats that said Hadley on them. It was SOOOOO windy. 

 We went to visit Grandma Charlene's grave up at Point Loma in Rosecrans. It is absolutely breathtaking up there. 

I can't think of a more beautiful place to be laid to rest. Glad she gets to be there. 

 Everyone there was in the military or had a spouse who was. We took some time to walk around and read all the tombstones and it was pretty amazing to see. 

Miss you so much grandma and boy do I ever wish you could meet your namesake Lauren Charlene...you have so much in common! 

 Then we headed down to Sea Port Village to walk around and enjoy the view. The kids aren't as into sight seeing as I am though... next time I'm going alone! 

 Riding the carousel. 

Ben forgot that he was brave last summer and rode on the horses and wanted to go back to riding in the chariot...oh this boy, he's a funny one!

Palm Canyon in the Coachella Valley

 Our last day was cooler and windy so we decided to go for a hike. We went out to the Coachella Valley Palm Canyons and it was great. They had a neat visitors center where the kids got to see bugs, rocks, and bones. 

 The coyote skull was a big hit!

 Lauren's class is studying rocks right now so she was excited to see the rocks. 

 Our Family

 us again:) 

 love the walking stick she found

 Ben drew a line for us all to follow so we could know the way back. 

Thank goodness or else we'd still be there. 

 The desert trail lead us to this pond with palms all around it. A little oasis hidden in the dessert, it was beautiful. 

 The water was so clear. 

 The kids with Oma & Opa. 

 Oma & Lauren

 The trail was right on top of the San Andreas Fault. We kept wondering if there was an earthquake, would we disappear?? Lucky for us there wasn't one!

 After our desert hike we decided to stop at In N Out. It tasted sooooo good!!! Rumor has it one might be heading to Bellevue, I hope that is true. Love their simple menu and they are so gluten free friendly! 

Lauren LOVED it! 

Our last night in Palm Springs. The kids are both crazy sleepers- always cracking up at their positions and all the animals they insist on sleeping with. 

We had such a fabulous time in Palm Springs- thanks for having us Oma & Opa!! 

Taylor & Ethan

This is pretty much what Ben & Kevin looked like everymorning. Ben is in heaven, as you can see. 

Taylor, Ethan, Pam & Stef came to visit us for a couple of nights in Palm Springs. The first day we swam and grilled a tasty dinner on the patio. 

 The next day we got to go swimming at the fun hotel with slides because Uncle Bob & Aunt Rosemary were staying there. So fun!! 

 Ben was brave this year! He went down the slide more than Lauren. 

 Pammy & Steffy enjoying the beautiful day! 

 That evening we walked around downtown Palm Springs. Had to get another Marilyn Photo. 

 I think the highlight for Lauren was getting to ride in the double stroller! 

 Pam had quite the load to push around in that thing!

 Silly girls!

 Went out to eat at Ruby's! 

Taylor got a free root beer float because she got a red gum ball out of the machine. 

It was very exciting:) 

 After dinner the kids threw pennies into the fountain...then Taylor decided to fish some money out. I walked over there and she had a handful of coins! Too funny! 

So fun to get to see everyone and have fun together in Palm Springs! 

El Paseo

 Oma, Lauren, & I had a girls day of shopping and lunch on El Paseo. El Paseo is a fancy street with lots of shops full of things that we could never afford, but fun to look at. 

 We had lunch at Tommy Bahama's, which was soooo good! 

 Lauren was thrilled with her mini burgers- put an umbrella in anything and it instantly becomes fun and fancy!

They even have golf carts to drive you to your car when you are done shopping. Fancy! 

Museum Trailhead

 We went on a family hike at the Museum Trailhead one morning before it got too hot. I had read about this hike on a free brochure and it said it was 1.5 miles of moderate trail. I thought it sounded perfect for the kids... 

 They were super excited for their first "real" hike, all Lauren could talk about was how her teacher likes to hike too and she'll have to tell her all about this (love how much 1st graders love their teachers.)  

 Well we started hiking and quickly learned that this hike was not moderate at all, it was more like straight up rock climbing. The trail was a few feet wide and we had to climb over some pretty big rocks. Some of the time you couldn't really even tell where the trail was because of all the rocks. And on top of that, there was a pretty decent drop off on the side of the trail.  The kids were still loving it but Kevin and I were getting a little nervous thinking about what could happen if anyone was to slip. 

 The view was amazing though! 

We made it about 3/4th of the way up and decided the hike down was going to be more challenging than going up because of all the loose rocks so we started our decent. The kids were pretty proud to have made it this far though! 

 On our way down we saw a few other people who commented how surprised they were to see little kids on this hike. We felt like awesome parents:) 

 When we got to the bottom we read the trailhead sign (probably should've read that before we left) and it said, "This hike is strenuous and only for experienced hikers." 

Apparently that free brochure I read had a little typo;)

After the danger hike we headed home for some R&R by the pool!