A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went out to Indio for a visit with my sisters. My older sister had been telling me for months she wanted to take the boys to the Palm Springs Air Museum, so we of course made our way there during this visit.

My first thought upon entering the museum? “Wow, I want to go see Captain America now.” No, I kid, although that thought did cross my mind. No, the museum is full of WWI and WWII aircraft, and man, those aircraft had personality back in the day. I wonder if modern military aircraft is still this cool? Honestly, I really loved seeing the caricatures on each plane. So did the boys – in fact, they continue to fight over the die cast plane that looks like the shark, so I’ve had to take it away for the time being. Check out some of my pictures.

Besides the vintage military aircraft, there was also a small kids area, where the boys had a blast sending all my sister’s pennies down the vortex exhibit. Here’s my older sister blocking Chris from putting his hands in the vortex exhibit while the penny makes its way down — he kept interrupting its journey.

Apparently, when Chris first saw the exhibit, he observed, then said, “flush.” My sister was totally impressed that he made the connection with the toilet. So am I!

Mike had some fun playing pilot with my brother.

And even Elliott had a great time. My older sister kept trying to hold him, but he kept leaning back to look at the ceiling.

My sister said Elliott thought the museum had the best mobiles ever!

This was our first road trip with three kids and it was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. You would think with older kids, it would be easier, but no — older kids are potty trained and need (lengthy) breaks to use the toilet. So a two-hour drive ended up being a three-hour drive each way. (Actually, the drive there was much longer, since we left during rush hour on a Friday. Smart!)

We also didn’t realize our hotel, the Indian Palms Country Club & Resort, only had a shower stall and no bathtubs. The boys HATE showers with a passion — they think of showers as punishment — so we ended up not being able to bathe them while we were in Indio. Well, they did go swimming…

I also totally flubbed on packing pull-ups, and when we ran out, first we tried to improvise by using swim diapers when they went to sleep (super late, and Mike didn’t have a nap) — huge mistake! The swim diapers totally leaked, and Mike, who already has a tough time sleeping when he hasn’t had a nap, woke up at intervals — first because he’d soaked the bed and later because we were in a strange place. I ended up having to sleep with him and Chris for a portion of the night. We ended up having to buy pull-ups at a drug store the next morning, when we left Indio two hours after we were supposed to be in Pasadena for church.

Ugh. Lessons learned, I guess. Now we know to 1) set aside the entire weekend for a trip to Auntie’s house, 2) ask about a bath tub in our hotel room, 3) make sure to bring enough pull-ups (Mike doesn’t need them as much, only for sleeping, but we’re still training Chris, who treats pull-ups like diapers) and 4) make sure Mike gets a nap so he doesn’t have such a hard time sleeping in a strange place.