Palm Springs 2.0

Back in 2016 when Lacey was 7 months old, we did our second trip with a baby, and went to Palm Springs. Neither Tom or I had been there before, and we weren't really sure what to expect. It turned out that we REALLY liked it, so we decided we would go back again this year!

The trip was a little different this time, because we travelled with Tom's friends, Simon and Leanne, and their two girls, Chloe and Hannah. We rented and shared a BEAUTIFUL Air BnB house in Palm Springs with them, and gloried in the warm weather, backyard pool, hot tub, fire pit, putting green and horseshoe pitch. It was nice having adult friends around to share the trip with. And it was nice that Chloe and Lacey could play together (although we're still not sure if they enjoyed each other's company or not-- there was a lot of arguing).

This time around, Lacey is napping one time a day (as opposed to three times a day on our first visit), so we had a lot more flexibility to get out of the house and sightsee. We went back to the Living Desert Zoo, and as you can imagine, Lacey had a lot more appreciation for the animals on her second visit. She enjoyed feeding the giraffe, and was amazed by it's long blue tongue! 

She also rode her first carousel. I wasn't sure what she thought of it, because she wasn't vocal at all during the ride. But when it was over, she requested, "More up, down and around please."

Another highlight for Lacey was her first lollipop-- yum!

On another morning, we took Lacey on her first hike to Andreas Canyon on the Agua Caliente Indian Reserve. The hike was very short, about a 1 mile (1.6km) loop-- but Lacey insisted on walking about 2/3 of the trail. We saw dozens and dozens of lizards, and she told all the other hikers that we saw about the lizards. People kept coming up behind us on the trailing, and exclaiming over how they had seen Lacey's tiny footprints in the dust of the trail. Lacey did really well, and it seemed like she really liked hiking!

The mornings tended to be our out-of-the-house adventures, and in the afternoon, all of us would pile into the pool. 

I had always planned to sign Lacey up for swimming lessons. But while I was on leave, the idea of dressing myself and Lacey for a 30 minute trip into the pool had seemed incredibly daunting, so she's still a swimming lessonless kid. That doesn't stop her from loving to splash around in the pool though!

We didn't figure out how to get the hot tub heated until our last day, but Lacey was definitely a fan of the hot tub over the pool!

I imagine we'll find ourselves back in this neighbourhood again in the future.  It was too perfect to pass up!