Vacationing with bebe

If you've kept up with my blog, you know our lives have changed quite a lot over the past six months. New baby, new jobs, new home, you get the drift. I have been dreaming of a family vacation ever since Olivia was born. I have the BEST memories of vacationing with my family growing up. We were so blessed to be able to vacation to all sorts of places in all sorts of ways: camping in San Diego, Yosemite, Oregon, San Luis Obispo, skiing in Whister, BC, cruises to the Bahamas and Mexico, and close trips to places like Palm Springs. Trust me, I know it was a blessing.

Now that I'm my very own adult with my very own baby, I realize the financial hardships vacationing can present. Not only can it be expensive, but it's time consuming to plan, pack, and execute, especially with a baby on your hip. Dave and I spent the last 12 years (I can't BELIEVE we've been together that long) going wherever we wanted: Europe, Bahamas for our honeymoon, San Francisco, Arizona, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Again, a huge blessing. We love being jet setters and will bring Olivia up traveling as much as we can. We already have a list going of our first big trips.

Because we are in the midst of just a few transitions, we decided to utilize the time off between Dave's two jobs to take a close vacation. I have to admit, I really wanted to go to Hawaii (one of the places we've actually never been together), but after our moving costs, etc., we didn't want to spend the extra dough. Plus, Dave was terrified to take a 6 month old on a plane. So, we used my father-in-laws time share connection and headed to Palm Springs this past week.

First off, I just want to give mad props to Marriott's Desert Spring Villa's. They MADE this vacation. We've stayed here before when we were young and careless, but having a baby and staying here was so much better. If you've ever stayed in a timeshare, you know it's set up more like a condo than a hotel room. Before kids, I thought that was cheesy: I am on vacation, I don't want/need a full kitchen, I'm going to eat out in the lap of luxury! Now, the thought of eating out all the time makes my stomach hurt and sets my nerves on edge. Taking a baby out to a restaurant all the time is a pain in the rear. Not to mention, I need a fridge for leftover baby food, a plug for a bottle warmer, sink for washing, etc.

This Marriott property is newly renovated, so not only is it beautiful, it has everything you need. The "basics" include full kitchen accessories like plates, cups, wineglasses, silverware, bake ware, pots & pans, full knife set, DISHWASHER, tea kettle, tupperware, toaster, oven/range, microwave, full size fridge, even dish soap and trash bags. The family room has a flat screen TV and Blu Ray player. And the best part of all is a washer and dryer! Even I don't have one of those yet since we moved! You pretty much only need to bring yourself, clothes and go grocery shopping once you're here. Although, if you were us, you'd also bring the Wii and a bunch of dorky, sci-fi Blu Rays ;)

Because our Villa had all the amenities of home, it really made our vacation relaxing. If we needed to do a load of laundry because Olivia spit up over everything, we could just do it. If we wanted to BBQ out by the pool instead of dragging a baby to Flemings, we did it. If we just wanted to sit out on the back patio with a beer and watch the golf course, done. I don't think I ever want to vacation another way again. At least not till LW's older.

This property also had some amazing pools. Since we vacationed after Labor Day, we nearly had the resort to ourselves. We went to the pool 6 days in a row, and also had access to the main JW Marriott amenities which we hit up on the last day. We took Ollie swimming, which she LOVED, and enjoyed Miller Lite's in the heat of the day.

Main Pool at the JW

We BBQ'd our fair share:

We gave Ollie quite a good first vacation, in my opinion ;)

 I really took the time to enjoy this time away with our little family. I didn't feel rushed and was truly sad when it came to a close. Most of the time I'm ready to go home, but I could easily have stayed another week. My Ollie has been a dream baby this entire time (even in the heat!) and I couldn't have asked for a better first vacation.