Bliss

Well, we're back! It was such a wonderful time. I'm sad it's over. Next vacation will be longer than 4 days. =)

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Wed night we set up camp in our basement on the hide-a-bed. We figured it would be better that way, so our sitter could be in our bed upstairs. Otherwise when the kids woke up they would be upstairs by themselves. So we set the alarm on Josh's phone for 4:30a.m. and hit the hay.

Fast forward to 6:00a.m. We both wake up with a start, instantly knowing we've overslept but not knowing by how much. We jump out of bed and race to Josh's phone... which has died. Thus, no alarm. It's 6:00; we were supposed to leave at 4:30 to have time to get to the place we're leaving the car, catch the shuttle to the airport and check-in. Our flight doesn't leave until 7:15a.m. so we decide to make a run for it and see if we can make it.

We get to the parking lot where we're going to leave our car, pull in and the shuttle is right in front of us. We aren't sure where to park since the lot has a FULL sign--but we know we have a spot because we reserved one beforehand. The shuttle driver starts honking and motioning us to follow him. He leads us to a spot and gets us right on the shuttle! We would have been driving around for a LONG time looking for that spot.

So we hop on the shuttle and get to the airport. It's about 6:45 and we still have to check our bag and go through security. The airline agent checks our bag, puts a large, yellow LATE CHECK tag on our bag and wishes us luck. Then it's on to security. The line is LONG. LOOOOOOOONG. But we get in line, since we can't do anything else. We get through the line and it's now after 7:00. Our plane leaves in less than 15 minutes. We start RUNNING for our gate.

I didn't even take time to put my shoes back on. Yep, I was hoofing it through a major airport in my socks. I about died from a heart attack. Further proof I need to get my booty in the gym and get in SHAPE. We get to the gate at 7:10; 5 minutes before the plane departs. We rush on, find the two last seats (Josh was so sweet and let me sit in the emergency aisle, which meant lots of leg room and he went ALL THE WAY to the back of the plane) they shut the door and we're off!

BUT WE MADE IT!!!!!!

The flight is uneventful and we head to the rental car agency who hooks us up with a cherry red Chevy HHR. Now. I think these things are hideous. They remind me of a hearse. But it got us where we needed to go without breaking down or running out of gas, and the the A/C was amazing. Something you don't take for granted in 110 degree heat.


Having not eaten all day and it being well past noon, we stop to eat in LA. Any guesses where we ate? Here's a clue...

It's a burger chain...

It's delicious and fresh. SO GOOD.

Yep, it's 5 Guys Burger and Fries.

After getting a good meal in our belly, we begin the 2 hour drive to Indio. On the way we pass HUNDREDS of windmills. These pictures really don't capture it at all. They went as far as they eye could see. It was amazing.


We made it to our resort and it is beautiful! Indio, CA is smack dab in the dessert and I can't even fathom how much the resort spends on electricity for air conditioning. There were 16 buildings of units. They also had to cycle the pool water (there were 2 huge pools) through a cooling unit otherwise the water got really hot. They also watered the grass/golf courses.

We had a one bedroom unit with a surprisingly comfortable king size bed:

And a full kitchen/dining room/living room:

And some cute art:

And a hot tub right outside our back door, with a cute view of the pond and ducks:


We ate breakfast out on our patio every day. It was the only time of day cool enough to be outside, not in the pool, and not suffocate from the heat. ;-)


Speaking of pools, there were two of them. We spent our time at just one of them; the one closest to the lazy river.


I didn't get any pics of the lazy river, but we rode it at least once a day, in a double inner-tube. =) We also spent some good time laying out, with good reading material and frosty drinks:

Note to self: Mike's Hard Lemonade Black Cherry is surprisingly yummy!

We only lasted max 3 hours by the pool before we had to run for respite from the heat. One day we went shopping and hit up Starbucks:
We actually got a cream cheese danish here that was really tasty! I was surprised.

The next day we went to the movies. We saw "Dinner for Schmucks". One of the worst movies we've ever seen. Along the lines of "Something about Mary". The best part was the old couple sitting behind us. They cracked us up!

Old Man: This is stupid.
Old Lady: I'm sorry. We could leave?
Old Man: Harrumph

A little later...
Old Lady: Where are we going for dinner? We gotta have something to look forward to!
Old Man: Harrumph

At the end of the movie:
Old Man: I'm sorry. That was the dumbest movie ever.
Old Lady: Let's go get some dinner. Gotta do something to make up for sitting through that.

Here they are:
:-D

Since we had access to a full kitchen we went grocery shopping for food. We bought too much, and we also encountered some interesting wares:
Cow tongue, anyone?
No? How about some pickled pig feet?
Nah, we didn't take any of that home with us. DISGUSTING!!! Instead, we bought some fresh ingredients and some indulgent stuff... cookies and ice cream. =)

We made wraps every day, and they were so good and refreshing:

We had some funny moments, like when I discovered Josh had put the salsa in the cupboard instead of the fridge:

On the last day we gathered up all our leftover food:
Josh literally went around asking people if they were staying and if they wanted some free food. And someone took us up on it! ;-)

On our last day, our flight didn't leave until 7pm so we stopped in Manhatten Beach for a couple hours.

We walked down the end of the pier and saw this:

A plaque showing Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh as champions of the Manhatten Beach Sand Volleyball Championships.

Oh, look! Here we are!

At the end of the pier was an aquarium and a cafe:

JAWS ;-)
Nemo :-D
Sea Lion and Orca skulls:
Weird, ugly fish:
Moray Eels:

Starfish:
On the way out of town we saw an Old School McDonald's:
And Randy's Donuts, which apparently is a landmark in El Segundo. We didn't stop for any, but there was a long line of people waiting to get them, so they must've been good!
All in all it was a fantastically wonderful trip. Better than we could even imagine, and we both decided it won't be 6.5 years until we take our NEXT vacation. ;-)

I'll do another post later on my weight and my plans for the future. =) For now I've got to snuggle with my kiddos and get ready to send Kate off to kindergarten on Wednesday! :-O