Newport Beach

Friday morning we packed up and headed to Newport Beach to begin our journey back down the coast to San Deigo. Newport Beach was only about 20 minutes from Anaheim, very easy to get to, and a gorgeous city.  Can you imagine living in Newport Beach, California?  Beautiful. 

It was pretty chilly when we arrived, around 70 degrees or so and pretty cloudy for about 45 minutes.  When the clouds finally burned off it was very comfortable on the beach.  The water however was freezing.  Many people were swimming in it, but we did not get very wet.  Just our feet and legs, maybe up to our knees. 

Mark and I absolutely love the sound of the ocean.  We could listen to that sound all day long. 

The girls knew that I wanted a picture of the day each morning, so they agreed first thing so they could go play on the beach. 

Lauren immediately started looking for sea shells, and found several. 

Addison started playing with the beach toys that we brought along (well bought from Target after we got got California.) 

Lauren decided she wanted to head towards the ocean.  I told Mark he had to go because I knew the water would be so cold. 

I LOVE this picture.  The water came up a little higher and totally caught Lauren off guard and she started running to get out of the COLD water. 

Addison decided she wanted to head towards the ocean, but only with me.  She did not like the water at all.  It was very cold and it scared her.  However, she wanted to let her toes dangle in the water just a little bit...so each time the waves started coming in I would pick her up into the air and she would laugh and laugh.  She loved it.  I love that Mark captured the moment.  Lauren was very brave standing next to me in the water and Addison just laughed and laughed each time I picked her up.  I loved it too! 

Lauren and Mark were busy building sand castles and a sand village.  Addison sat back a little ways and watched.  I made a special square for her to sit in and promised her that the water would not get to her.  She was very far away from the water, but knowing that if she sat in the square she would be OK seemed to make her happy. 

We ate lunch at the end of the Pier at Ruby's Diner.  It was a fun, fast burger joint.  Oh, and they serve a pretty good milk shake too. 

After lunch everyone got buried in the sand, except Mark.  I am still trying to figure out how we missed getting him buried. 

We stayed at the beach for almost 5 hours.  The girls were getting pretty tired and I knew we had a long drive back to San Deigo.  I expected about 1 1/2 hours...and it took us 3 HOURS.  We went 88 miles and it took 3 hours.  Man that was tough.  Addison fell asleep quickly and Lauren did too.  They did not sleep too long, but long enough for some peace and quite in the car. 

One of the things I love about California is if you look out one side of the car you see the ocean, but on the other side you see mountains.  It is such a beautiful area with such perfect weather.  I think Southern California will be a place that our family visits a lot. 

Next up, San Deigo Zoo, Sea World, and Coronado Beach.  We crammed a lot into the 3 days we had in San Deigo.