living desert zoo

Thanksgiving 2 in Yucca and Palm Springs

The day after Thanksgiving, we had planned to drive a few hours to Great Aunt Linda and Uncle David’s house in Yucca Valley and spend some time with them and Grammy, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah, who drove out from Utah, and Uncle Mike and Ali who drove out from Wyoming. The whirlwind of the week of Thanksgiving, however, had finally caught up with me, and I woke up feeling exhausted and like a cold was coming on. That, coupled, with feeling nauseous and dizzy from morning sickness (all-day sickness, really), was enough to keep me in bed and sadly, unable to travel.

Jake was still up for taking all three girls, however, so after summoning up the energy to get them all packed, I bid farewell as they took off on their journey through the desert. While I wish I could have come to hang out with everyone for Thanksgiving weekend, a nice, restful three-day staycation at home was just what the doctor ordered!

Meanwhile, in the desert, the girls were having a blast on their extended Daddy-Daughter date (minus the not-so-fun extra few hours in the car both ways due to traffic over the holiday). Jake and the girls stayed at a Marriott condo in Palm Desert, and met up with our family at Great Aunt Linda and Uncle David’s house upon arrival for a second Thanksgiving feast. The next morning, they met up with everyone at the Living Desert Zoo in Palm Springs.

Getting the text updates at home made me miss everyone! They had so much fun riding camels and playing at the zoo that I don’t think they missed me!

Camel ride for two.

No camel ride for Meredith, so she had to settle for a ride on Daddy’s shoulders.

Silly Great Uncle David!

Posing for this picture is SO lame, Daddy.

Cheery Meredith is always up for saying a big “CHEESE!”

The adults try to catch up with Meredith.

Meredith was so excited to hold the birdies… until one bit her.

Hey, did that thing bite me?

Ouch! Whenever Meredith sees birds, she STILL talks about the “Bad birdie ouchie.”

NOT funny, Grammy!

The twins, fortunately, had a bite-free experience.

Feed the birds. Tuppence a bag.

Amelia the bird lady.

Sammy calls for one more bird.

Pizza time.

Taking a rest back at the condo after a busy day.

A pretty view, minus Jake’s monster feet.

Back in Yucca, the girls loved visiting the park by Great Aunt Linda and Uncle David’s house.

Riding the stagecoach.

Meredith got a little too dizzy spinning with Uncle Mike.

Before leaving back home, everyone met up for breakfast in town.

As a parting gift, Aunt Linda and Uncle David gave the girls a bunch of old hats from Uncle David’s mom’s house… perfect for dress up!

Jake and the girls had to take several rest stops on the way home because the holiday weekend traffic was so bad. Very glad I was not in the car with them!

When Jake and girls collapsed through the door, they looked like bedraggled travelers who had just completed a pilgrimage through the desert for months! They had a fun time, but the car ride and exhaustion from all the excitement had definitely taken its toll, especially on Jake!

Back at home, while I had spent a relaxing weekend resting and trying to curb my morning sickness, I had also torn the house apart all weekend looking everywhere, including the trash, for my wedding ring, which I had taken off while preparing Thanksgiving dinner and thought for sure it must have been accidentally thrown away! I was near hysterical when Jake and the girls returned, but fortunately, Jake found it behind one of our dressers without too much effort. I swear I had already looked there, but I blamed it on the pregnancy brain!

I missed everyone, but the girls loved their adventurous Thanksgiving and seeing our family. A big thanks to Great Aunt Linda and Uncle David for hosting, the rest of our family for helping with the girls in my absence, and Jake for letting me stay home in bed!

Lots of love,

Living Desert Zoo

After our rock climbing adventures with Uncle David and Aunt Linda in Joshua Tree, the twins and Jake spent the day at the Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert. Upon arriving, Jake noticed some golf carts roaming around the zoo and asked how he could get one of those to tour the park. There were no tour guides available, but, apparently, it wasn’t busy that day, because the front desk called Gail, a volunteer zoo guide, at her house to come and give Jake and the girls a tour in one of the golf carts.

Even though it was her day off, I guess she loves giving people tours because she was excited to take the girls around! Apparently, she spends her winters in Palm Springs (it was her last day in town that day) and her summers in Alaska. Must be nice! Gail doesn’t have any grandkids of her own and basically adopted the twins for a day. She took them around with Jake on the golf cart well past the amount of time she normally gives tours, took pictures for them, and was so happy when Jake texted her a few pictures from their day. Thanks for the VIP tour, Gail!

Riding in style. Jake said the look on people’s hot, sweaty and tired faces was priceless as they zoomed around and were able to cut in some of the longer lines for activities like giraffe feeding.

Giraffe feeding at this zoo was only $5– compared to $80+ at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (we’ve never done it there).

Poor goats had no where to escape from the twins.

I feel for you, Goat. You look the same way I do when I’m trying to sleep and there’s one or two three-year-olds directly in my face.

MUST. GET. CLOSER.

Some boys observe the crazy wild animals in the spider web.

At one point, Jake had taken the girls to the bathroom, when all of a sudden, he turned around just in time to see them giggling and running off with a “Caution: Wet” sign from the bathroom. He raced out the bathroom door, but they were no where to be found! The girls usually stick really close to us in public (like hanging on to our legs close) and have never run away like that, so you can imagine Jake’s shock.

Jake and Gail ran every direction for five minutes, yelling and searching everywhere for the girls, who had completely vanished. Jake said his heart was racing, but he managed to stay calm, while Gail was a complete basket case, frantically calling on her walkie talkie to have all the exits of the zoo shut down.

After a five-minute frantic search, Jake happened to hear one of the girls far off saying, “Where’s Daddy?” and finally tracked them down. Jake showed me on a zoo map where they had taken off to and I have no idea how they managed to run that far away in such a short amount of time. Just hearing about the fiasco gave me a heart attack. From now on, I guess we’ll be having discussions about not running away and what to do if they get lost.