[ sponsored by Vrbo ]

122F/50C degree weather in the desert?? We booked this beautiful home many weeks ago through Vrbo.com and had no idea it was going to get that hot! Thankfully it turned out great for us because we spent most of our time either inside our nicely cooled rental house or in the pool where it was perfectly shaded.

Isn’t it beautiful?? We were looking for a place with two bedrooms, an outdoor grill, a great location near downtown and most importantly a shaded heated pool. Vrbo (pronounced “ver-boh”) always made it easy to find homes that cater specifically to our needs. For instance, if you’re looking for a place that has a crib, a hot tub, and is pet-friendly, you’ll be able to find places very easily. We know this pandemic has taken a hit on everyone financially, but we found the places we booked through Vrbo were actually priced a lot lower and safer than staying at hotel rooms. We love the privacy of renting out a home especially because we have kids so we can be as loud as we want sometimes and not have to worry about anyone else.

We were determined to teach Joey how to swim so a pool was a MUST for us, especially in Palm Springs. Our place ended up having that iconic mid-century Palm Springs vibe and it transported us to what felt like a real vacation even though we weren’t too far from home. Go check out Vrbo.com and see what sort of listing they have available near you. Staycations are the best!

This beautiful home is one of 3 in this private resort. The pool is shared with the other two units (up to 6 other guests total) but everything else was separate, including entries into the pool area. We felt very comfortable and safe the entire time.

We have booked trips through Vrbo.com before and always had great experiences, like our last family vacation before Covid-19 hit. We really appreciated how the listing was so easy to navigate through and find specific descriptions of all amenities included. The fact that the listing had its own section describing safe & enhanced cleaning practices including use of disinfectants gave us a sense of relief. We were pleasantly surprised to see a hand sanitizer station in front of the entrance door.

Here’s a peek at how gorgeous the interior was! Allen and I are a fan of mid-century modern design so every corner was like eye-candy!

We finished the day with a refreshing shower, a cartoon on TV and a simple but delicious dinner.

Casey’s bedtime always includes reading at least 5 books so we brought her favorite ones to make her feel right at home.

This is how we set up the room. I was nervous about how Casey would do but she surprisingly slept right away. Joey of course passed out as usual. Probably exhausted from all that swimming we had done! The three things you’d might like to know that we always bring with us on our overnight trips are our Nest security camera, our Hatch Baby Rest (white noise machine) and our travel crib.

After the girls went down, Allen and I spent some time to enjoy…sweet sweet silence. 🙂

The next morning, we slept in, ate some breakfast and played with some toys we brought from home before we jumped into the pool again.

We were determined to teach Joey how to swim while we had access to a pool and guess what?! Watch the video below. (It may take a while to load but it’s worth waiting for!)

So proud of this brave girl!!

After some lunch, Casey went down for a nap while Joey did some crafts including some slime making. I didn’t get photos of that because our hands were sticky with slime!

We also brought with us a printable Vrbo Vacay Fun Pack, full of activities that were perfect for Joey. You can download it here.

Casey woke up from her nap and we explored the house before we started preparing our dinner.

Allen who has become a master at the grill, cooked up our favorite steaks which included this insanely delicious A4 Japanese Wagyu Ribeye from Pursuit Farms. Thank you Erik and Jeanne for this amazing gift!!

We had such a lovely time at this place that we actually booked it again with some of our best friends for later this year. If you have any questions about our trip, feel free to leave your question below! Hope many of you get a chance to go on a staycation. We highly recommend it!