Joshua Tree

Last Christmas, my sister and I decided to give our parents a weekend away with the entire family.  None of us had ever been to Joshua Tree, so it seemed like a fun idea to meet up there for a couple of nights.  Renee found a great house for rent that had a ton of fun things for the kids to do.  We went up a couple weeks ago during Jack's President's Day weekend break from school.

The best thing for Jack was all the rocks on the property.  He had so much fun climbing them.  We were beyond grateful that Uncle Adam was there to take him up, because I'm not sure I could have managed it myself.  I hate heights and I have incredibly bad balance.  Not a great combination for rock climbing.

These rocks were relatively easy to climb, though, from what I could tell - closely spaced together and not too slippery.  Still, I was impressed at how high they got.

Aside from the rocks, there was also a private cave on the property and a playhouse, which was Violet's favorite.  There was also a fire pit, hot tub, and a pool.  We availed ourselves of the fire pit and hot tub (or at least Renee, Adam, and the kids did), but it was too cold to use the pool.

The house itself was beautiful and cozy.  Jack especially really loved it, so much so that he had me take a picture of our bedroom before we left.  The kids and I were generously allowed to stay in the largest of the three rooms.  Jack and I slept together in the big bed, and we had Violet's pack and play at the foot of the bed.  I was a little worried about having the two kids sleeping in the same room, because Violet has a propensity toward chattiness when she should be going to sleep.  But it worked out great.

We spent a day at the nearby Joshua Tree National Park.  I'd heard so many wonderful things about it over the years, but I didn't know what to expect.  It was gorgeous and we picked a perfect weekend to go.  It was clear and sunny, but not too hot.  It was so amazing to be in this desert habitat, with all these spectacular rock formations and the eponymous joshua trees around and yet still see snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Naturally, Jack mostly wanted to climb rocks.  Aside from getting to spend so much time with our family, I think seeing him discover something that he really loved was probably my favorite thing about the entire trip.  The fact that it was something really physical and active made it even more wonderful.  Jack said, "This place is better than Disneyland!"

Thank you to my parents, Uncle Adam, and Auntie Renee for a wonderful family weekend.  An extra thanks to Renee for the idea, the venue suggestion, and for finding the house.  It warms my heart to know that this trip is going to be one of Jack's cherished childhood memories.