Since we were already in California for Disneyland, we decided to extend our trip for three extra nights in Palm Springs. Jeremy and I have spent a lot of time in Palm Springs over the past six years. It’s our special place. We love it because it’s so slow paced… it’s boring in a way that really appeals to us. And I love desert plants and 1960s homes… so it’s perfect.
I’ve looked forward to taking Nova for so long. We didn’t mind the changes in our routines… it was worth all the extra work and the early nights in the hotel room. We were just thrilled to be together in our favorite place.
(matching dresses from Doen)
I went a little crazy with the matching dresses. It was so much fun, though. I’ve had baby fever since I was nineteen years old… so I had a lot of pent up aspirations to match.
We stayed at The Saguaro. It was perfect for a child who is just learning her colors. We were there for one weekend night (it’s kind of a party hotel) and we were concerned the music (and drunk people) would be too loud, but it wasn’t bad at all. We loved it! I think they put people with children all in the same area of the hotel because there was a crying baby next door to us (which was comforting, not annoying at all). We loved our stay.
We did have this one HILARIOUSLY awkward interaction with some fashion bloggers who really wanted us to leave so they could take photo. But hey, it’s a rainbow hotel… I get it. We all need our photos.
(matching outfits from Rylee + Cru)
Nova had her first couple swimming experiences in California and she LOVED it. It made me so excited for next summer!
My friend Sam has this vintage app called Whurl. She finds the cutest tiny pieces for Nova. Nova’s bonnet is from this Etsy and her shoes are from this Etsy.
So! About the sun…
We got though our entire trip with zero sunburns for Nova… I was so proud. We were a little extreme with the sunscreen reapplication, but it paid off. We are doing our best to give her lots of options for hats, but she doesn’t keep any of them on for very long at this age. She does a little better keeping her sunnies on, but it’s a struggle as well. So since we couldn’t rely on hats we just kept our time in the sun not more than thirty minutes at a time. This was pretty easy to do in Palm Springs, we’d just move to another activity, but at Disney it was a lot more challenging. All in all, we just did our best and it turned out fine.
I know some people think it’s strange to take our toddler with albinism out into the desert for vacation, but our goal is to teach her to be able to do ANYTHING she wants in her life- include play in the sun. So we consider it more helpful to go out and do it (even though it’s way more work) than to stay indoors. She has to learn how to take care of herself, so every time we do something like this we plan to consider it “good practice” for her.
(matching outfits from Ultra Violet Kids)
This photo just kills me. I have to frame it.
(dresses from Rylee + Cru)
This was one of my favorite nights. We went to Birba (our fave!) for pizza all together and then we went to the ice cream shop.
Ugh… my heart.
Traveling with a little one is totally different from traveling alone. It’s much more work and it’s exhausting instead of relaxing, but at the end of the trip I looked back at all the photos and memories we had and it’s more than worth it.
A couple days before we headed home Nova started to ask to go home a LOT. We took this as a positive sign since the concept of home with us is new to her. We’ve always heard people say that toddlers need routines to thrive and I do think that was a big part of it too. When we got home Nova had the biggest smile I have ever seen when we laid her in her bed. She kept saying “we’re hooooome” over and over again. I love that.
Here’s a little video I made with my phone.
Nova’s first trip to Palm Springs from Jeremy & Elsie Larson on Vimeo.
