Newport Beach... Round 2

How lucky is it to have 2 trips to Newport Beach in one summer? Answer: VERY! So exactly 1 month after our first Newport Beach trip with the Freestone family, we did one with the Jones family! Melissa and Sara and their families rented a beach house, and Kirk found the rest of us an unbelievable resort to stay in down the coast. The whole time we felt so fancy staying at this high-end resort. I'm pretty sure we were like the Beverly Hillbillies though. But we sure enjoyed it!

Our first adventure was taking the ferry to Balboa island. That was a first! It was a little freaky to drive our car onto this little boat, hoping it wouldn't just topple over. Luckily, it didn't and we made it across just fine. One funny thing about taking the ferry was that 3 cars drive on first, then they just let all these people on bicycles and on foot get on, so your car is surrounded by strangers, like the nice boy looking on above. Would highly recommend doing this to anyone who goes there. It's only like 5 bucks for a van packed full of passengers!

Our excited ferry-riders

Once at Balboa, we splurged and rode the Ferris wheel. Well, Dad, Caleb and Amy did.

The view from the top with Brynn and Aly being so brave.

Another view from the top. Kev got there while we were on the Ferris Wheel, driving straight there from Mesa to join the fun.

Also down at Balboa: got hand-dipped corn dogs (not nearly as good as the kind from the frozen section of your grocery store), hand-dipped Balboa bars (amazing), fed french fries to seagulls, and people watched like nobody's business.

Later that day we hit the beach. Liz buried Amy which kind of made me claustrophobic, but Amy loved it.

This picture was so typical Chase. He's so transparent white that we have to keep him as covered up as possible. So he has this awesome hat that covers his eyes 90% of the time.

We built the second-coolest sand castle of the week.

Our "inner children" were having the time of their lives. Seriously, just romping in the ocean, building sandcastles for hours... it was heaven. And speaking of heaven, if you ever go to Newport Beach, you MUST go to Seaside Donuts. Honestly. Best glazed donuts EVER. For real. We can't stop thinking about them. When we we driving home, Amy said, "I'm so sad to be done with our vacation, because that means no more yummy donuts". It is very sad.

Kev riding it in.

Amy's cold tolerance does not exist. The water actually wasn't bad this time. But whenever Amy would go in the ocean, she would come out almost crying because she was cold. So she spent a lot of her time like this:

The kids also thought California was a great place to watch Disney Channel. I love Caleb and Amy's glazed-over expressions. Cable TV envy.

And since this was a Jones trip, naturally it included going to Costco. Because we really did need 8 more cans of black beans (to add to the other 8 at the hotel). Trust me. It seemed perfectly logical at Costco.

Chase and Sophia (or Macey as Chase called her) riding the cart. Poor Soph had to endure this kid being a booger on her finger the whole week!

The kids broke every rule of hot tub etiquette out there. To them, it was a really hot swimming pool. I'm sure the adults in there were really happy with all the splashing and horseplay. Nay.

So Chase just kept on going up to random people and becoming their friends. That kid has no concept of personal space. But for this little girl, it must have worked. He's just chillin in the hot tub and next thing I know, she's gettin' all handsy with him and tickling him! Smooth.

These kids could get used to this life!

This was the view from the pool. Incredible! It seriously felt like it should be illegal!

We could not get over the fact that people actually live there year round! 75-ish degrees at the end of July? And not much different in the winter! I'm sure they don't realize how good they have it. I'm sure they'd rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona (Arrested Development... anyone?)

So for this trip, Parker and Katie got to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa Freestone. We all had a better time with this arrangement. It was actually fun to smother Chase with all the attention he wanted and think he was cute again. Chase's favorite part was the Koi pond. He wanted to go every day. So we did.

We went back down to Newport Beach later in the week and found this very important building project going on. This was THE #1 sandcastle of the week. Possibly of all time.

Everybody labored intensely.

Pictures don't do it justice. The best part was when the tide (finally) came in and flowed through the tunnel and the canals. Engineering genius.

Chase played in the man-made reservoir and got a sandy crack.

And I snuck this shot of my parents that I thought was just cute. They are so good and kind. It was so much fun to all be together and have these wonderful memories. Thanks for making this happen!