8 months old

Noah is 8 months old today! He is crawling around everywhere and into everything! He has also just started pulling up. Today, he even made it all the way up the stairs by himself! We just introduced meat, and he isn't the biggest fan so far, but I can't say I blame him - the stuff smells terrible! Hopefully as we introduce solids he will do well with those and we can introduce some real meat instead of the pureed stuff soon! We continue to enjoy our sweet, happy boy! Here he is pulling up (you can tell he's proud of himself!)

Palm Springs Part IV - Miscellaneous

We really had a great time in Palm Springs, the weather was beautiful and there was so much to see. Above, is Noah and I outside our hotel with the grapefruit trees! The first few days we were busy doing lots of stuff, but then Noah and I pretty much just hung out at our hotel during the day.

At night, we ate lots of good food and had dessert almost every night (which we never do!) The best was this salted caramel milk shake from Great Shakes!

We also did some shopping at night, I'm not gonna lie, I'm still a little bummed Noah and I didn't get these hats!

Noah was amazed with this phone at the hotel. I kept laughing because this is probably the only time he will ever use a phone with a cord!

Noah and I also hit up the pool while Dan was at his conference.

The views around the hotel were very cool. It's always amazing to me how different the other side of the country is. 

On the last day, Dan's conference was only a half day, so we got to go to the pool as a family. Noah loved splashing around in the water with Daddy, and I enjoyed some Mommy time in a lounge chair with a book!

The last meal we had in Palm Springs was probably the best! We ate at a place called Trio. The food was excellent and the waiters were incredible!

Then it was time to get on the plane and head back home. Noah did great on the way home too! 

Praise the Lord for good travel and a wonderful family vacation!

Palm Springs Part III - The Living Desert

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE giraffes! On Tuesday, we headed to The Living Desert Zoo. I got to check something off the bucket list: Feeding Giraffes! Oh my goodness - it was amazing! Here are Noah and I feeding and petting the giraffes (sorry it's sideways - but you still get the idea!)

It was amazing to be so close and we hung out there for quite some time!

I even got to take a selfie with the giraffe!!

There were other animals at the zoo too. I'm not even sure what kind of animal this guy is, but he had the biggest horns I have ever seen on an animal!

If you look closely, you can see a cheetah laying in the middle of the picture.

Noah wasn't too impressed by the animals, but he did love this warthog statue!

There were also Kudus in with the giraffes. They are really cool looking animals - love the antlers!

I think Dan was a little jealous of how cool it was for me to feed the giraffes, so at the end of our trip, we headed back for him and Noah to feed the giraffes too! This time, there was even a baby giraffe! Noah loves feeding him!

Definitely a day that I will never forget!!

Palm Springs Part II - San Jacinto Mountains

On Monday, we headed for The San Jacinto Mountains. San Jacinto Peak is the 6th highest mountain peak in the U.S. and we were taking a tram to the top (What were we thinking?!?) The tram is the world's largest rotating tram car. Yes...I said rotating! As you go up the mountain, the floor of the tram rotates two times around allowing you to get a 360 view of the mountains and the view! It was amazing and terrifying all at the same time!

See the tower in the next picture? These towers are NOT your friend! The worst part of the whole trip up (other than how terrifyingly high you are) was every time that you passed one of these towers, the tram car would rock back and forth. 

 Once again, the pictures don't really do it justice. But we were really high - 8,516 feet high to be exact!

Here we are at the top - a little dark and a lot freezing, but you get the idea!

I don't know why, but I just thought this tree was the coolest thing!

More beautiful views!

We were able to snap a few pictures at the top, but it really was freezing up there, so we didn't want to keep Noah out too long! This one of Noah and I is one of my favorites from our trip!

We hung out in the lodge for a little while and then heading back down as the sun was setting and the  moon was coming out. 

Another beautiful day in California!

Palm Springs Part I - Joshua Tree

We had a great time in Palm Springs - too many great pictures for just one post!! Here we are in beautiful California ready to start our adventure!

The first day there we drove to Joshua Tree National Park. Although its name makes you think that the trees will be the highlight of the park, they do not even compare to the rocks! 

The rocks were just calling our names begging us to do a little climbing!

As you can see, Dan was a little more adventurous than me!

Noah and I chose to stay at the bottom of this one!

We stopped several times along the main road just to take in the views and take some pictures too!

The rocks are truly amazing - like this one below - how does that big rock on top not tip and fall?

Daddy and Noah taking in the views - too hard to capture the glory in pictures!

Mommy and Noah with a famous Joshua Tree

We also got the stroller out and walked around a little bit. Noah loved taking in all the views!

Definitely an experience that I will never forget! It was a great Sunday where we truly got to worship God's creation in all of its glory! As we walked and explored we couldn't help but call to mind scripture and songs about the Rock of Ages. These lyrics: "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand" become very literal and meaningful when you are in the middle of the desert with all of these rocks. So grateful to serve a God who can remind us of his unshakable power and trustworthiness in the middle of such a beautiful park!

After driving through the park, we went to the Joshua Tree Visitors Center.

 

By far, Noah's favorite part of our trip was getting his new friend Kickapoo! It is a kangaroo rat stuffed animal that he loves - it has a really long tail and is very soft! Why the kangaroo rat? It was by far the cutest - desert animals are not very cute - snakes, owls, lizards, etc. And why the name? Kickapoo is the name of a street in Palm Springs that Dan and Noah both thought was pretty funny!

 On the way back we stopped to try to get a picture of all of the wind turbines, but it is impossible! They go on and on - like a sea of wind turbines! You can get a little bit of an idea from our pictures, but nothing compares to seeing them in real life - very cool!