Please excuse my absence

I'm afraid I don't have a doctor's note but if I did, it certainly would look like this...

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Yes, we went on a holiday. After a brief stop in L.A....

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...Lethbridge, Alberta that is (we call in LA of the north) for a skate competition, we jetted off for a week-long holiday in a much sunnier climate.

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This was our second visit to Palm Springs and first time with Lizzie. We rented a house through VRBO (awesome way to travel as a family, BTW) this time instead of a hotel and it had our main requirement for accommodation --

A pool!

We logged many hours in or beside the pool.

Of course that's not all we did.

We smooched! -- celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary with a hike in Joshua Tree National Park.

We had a picnic at a lovely oasis at the end of the hike. Those tiny little figures are Lizzie and Javier and we made a few friends on the way back.

I've never seen a wild tortoise before. Some other hikers pointed him (her?) to us. It was so fascinating to watch him. He made some neat little noises and poised for some photos.

I almost jumped out of my skin when Lizzie came across this guy. I am so not a fan of snakes, but this guy had some spunk.

We also did an overnight trip to the real LA so we could go to Universal Studios.

And went on this ride.

One of the best rides I've ever been on, but I will confess I did toss my cookies at the end. Not for those prone to motion sickness.

We did a bunch of other things too. Go-karts, mini-golf, a bit of shopping, but the best part was just being able to spend time as a family and have a little downtime.

Here's a picture of me looking more relaxed than I have for a very, very, long time.

Ah, holidays. The best cure for anything.