Spring Break 2016

This year for Spring Break, we took the kids to Palm Springs, with my sister and her family and my parents and stayed at the Marriott Villas.  My parents have always been so gracious in hosting an annual vacation for our entire family. In the past years, we have gone to Mexico, Newport Beach, Hawaii and the past two years we have gone to Palm Springs.

On the Giant Rocking Chair in Beaver

The first part of the trip, we spent a few days in Las Vegas to help break up the long drive to California. We stayed at the Westin Resort in Lake Las Vegas. The resort was beautiful.  We swam, played chess and checkers on the giant game board and then had brunch at the little cafe in the hotel.  Naomi loved wondering around and was so fun to watch her dance and waddle, like any new walker does. 

Naomi dancing in the hotel room

Headed to play the giant chess

Checkers

The beautiful view of the swimming pool 

The view of the lake 

The beach that is at the Westin resort was gorgeous 

My little Naomi waddling around the chess board 

The cousins playing at the beach at the Westin

We then drove to Palm Springs. The Marriott resort in Palm Springs always has fun activities planned for the week, since it was Easter weekend, they had put together a Easter egg hunt of 6,000 eggs. I could not believe how many eggs they had for the amount of kids that attended. Well, and since Allie and Mason brought their giant Easter baskets, they filled their baskets to the rim.  I was quite embarrassed when I saw how many they had. 

We then had our family picture with the Giant 7 foot Easter Bunny.  I think my two older kids were more frightened by the bunny than Naomi was. She had no care in the world that he was there, Allie was not wanting to get in the picture and I had to beg her to stand by me on the opposite side of the bunny. 

We then went to the College of Desert Street Fair, that my family loves to go to.  This is like a farms market with lots of markets, crafts, purses, and clothing. It always seems like we find the greatest treasures or junk when we go to these kinds of things...but for some reason we always go back.

At the Street Fair

We love the Street Fairs

We then went back for some lunch, relaxing and swimming at the resort pool. 

The next day was Easter. We enjoyed a relaxing day at the resort. 

The next day, I woke up to a beautiful sunrise as I ran 5 miles around the resort. I could not help but stop and take a picture of it. The desert seems to have gorgeous sunsets and sunrises just as spectacular as the ones on the beach. 

That morning, we all went to Indian Canyon to explore the hiking trails. This place was very interesting. The Indian's own the canyon and they charge $9 per person to go into the canyon. We had originally thought it was $9 per car, but they charge per person, which is quite expensive. But, we knew that it must have some awesome hiking trails because the line to get into the canyon looked as if we were in line at Disneyland. There must have been at least 30-40 cars lined up at the service station to get into the canyon. We were determined to try it, and I am so glad we did. The trails were unbelievable.  It is hard to describe the beauty of the place, it was a mini oasis and we enjoyed a picnic lunch down in a oasis of Palm trees. It was picaresque, to say the least.

At the top of the hike

The Cousins

In the Canyon

The huts were too cute to pass up

The huts that we saw on our hikes

The kids loved climbing on the palm trees

The giant Palm Trees

The trails in Indian Canyon

The kids taking a water break

Brooke, Brielle, Me, Naomi, Allie and My mom

Bryson on top of the giant rock

The palms inside the canyon

The waterfall in Indian Canyon

Mason and his messy face

We took the kids to see Zootopia, a Disney movie. It had a super cute message about believing in yourself.  To never stop trying. You can be or do anything you want to do.  The movie was about a little girl bunny wanting to full fill her dreams of becoming a police officer, and regardless of what people told her, and the obstacles that came her way, she never stopped trying. The movie didn't have the poster for Zootopia, so the kids posed in front of the angry birds life size poster instead.    

At the movies

We spent most of our week at the resort swimming, playing on the playground, roasting marshmellows, playing on the golf course and just having a good time.

Naomi and I playing outside the condos

Dinner at Bobby Mao's

Party of 13, please. Eating dinner at the Bobby Mao's 

Too much fun

Allie, Naomi, Bryson, Mason, Tate, Corbin and Brielle

Making s'mores 

Allie 7 years old

One of our favorite traditions is taking the kids on the gondola boat-ride inside of the JW Marriott. The JW is absolutely gorgeous. We spent the evening watching the flamingos, playing on the mini golf course and going on the boat ride. 

Allie and Naomi ( sisters ) 

My mom and my two girls

Grandma TT and My two girls

The Kehl family

The boat inside the lobby of the JW

Cousins looking at the flamingos

Getting ready to board the boat

On the boat ride

 The last night at palm springs, we got some family pictures and pictures with my parents and the 7 grand kids that came on this vacation. My two brothers, we unable to join us this year on our Tate family vacation. I'm so grateful for my parents and the opportunities they have given us as a family to make memories with each other. My dad has always been a believer in making vacation time as a family important, and some of my most fondest memories are the vacations we took together as a family. I am so grateful to them and I know these vacation memories will last a lifetime!

The Kehl Family 2016

My parents and their 7 of 16 grandkids

The morning we checked out and drove to Vegas to let the kids stretch their legs as we went to the M&M factory and Coke Factory. 

Allie says,"Mom, is there really coke inside this?"

We then drove to St. George and stayed over night. We took the kids on a few hikes to the red rocks. It was an amazing trip and we made some awesome memories with cousins and grandparents, siblings and parents! 
Until next time......

Daddy's girl

The End