SoCal | Day 4

Today we went to my second favorite beach town, Newport Beach.

We all went for a swim after breakfast (‘rainbow’ cereal was a hit for the week) then had a short drive to the Wedge.

Our hotel has an this cool vaulted ceiling space in the bedroom area :)

 We hiked the jetty...

I got to go for a barefoot run in the sand from the Balboa Pier to the Newport Pier...

We had lunch at The Dory Deli near the Newport Pier (more awesome tacos, awesome espresso, awesome beer). I loved the open air feel with the huge open doors to the boardwalk. 

We rented some bikes and put in about 7 miles on the boardwalk. The boys had to adjust from riding mountain and road bikes to upright cruisers, but actually found them quite comfy :)

We played at the beach again for hours...a favorite activity for everyone...

We enjoyed the crazy beautiful sunset near our van right in the lot on the beach...

After dark, we went to The Hub nearby. We had dinner, watched the Vikes game, and Breck slept most of the time :)

SoCal | Day 3

Once again, we woke up, had breakfast at our hotel and the boys all went swimming next door while I got ready and packed for the day.

We drove north to spend the day at Venice Beach and Santa Monica.

We watched talented skaters at the famous Venice skate park...

Ate at another Wahoos for lunch (tacos!)...

Wandered on the Santa Monica pier...

Played in the sand...

Walked the Promenade...

And sat in a ton of traffic on our way home, grabbing Subway and eating it in our hotel room while watching Sunday night football.

SoCal | Day 2

Brecken had a rough super fun night - up giggling, playing, and snacking from midnight to 3am. Must have been something about the time change or the extra naps from our travel day. Our hotel pool was under construction, so once the boys woke all woke up Shawn took the boys to a hotel next door to swim right after breakfast - giving me a couple hours of extra sleep.

Once I felt alive again, we packed up for the day and headed to Huntington Beach (my favorite spot in the country)!!

In classic HB fashion, we were welcomed to the beach by the sound of air horns from a surf comp. They also still had the surf shop sidewalk sales on Main and the craft market by the pier. Each time we visit it feels like we jumped right back into living there. 

The big kids hit the beach to watch the surfers while Breck and I browsed HSS and made a stop at Java Point. Being right down the street from our old apartment, I used to get up early, grab a coffee from here and walk the pier. I love early mornings by the water.

So that’s what Breck and I did. Then we met up wit the rest of the family to eatch the surfers and play in the sand.

And of course, every time we’re here we walk up and down Main to show the boys our old apartment.

We had lunch at the local Wahoos. The big kids did great. Brecken kept sprinting out of the restaurant and down the street. 

After lunch we walked [a fair distance] down to tower 14. So many favorites in this city. Tower 14 was where Shawn proposed (for the second time) while on a early morning run along the hard pack near the waves with an offshore wind. Even though we come back to HB often, this might be the first time we’ve gone back to this spot because it’s probably a mile down the boardwalk. 

We hung here for hours while Brecken napped and we watched our boys chase the waves and play in the sand. It was unusually calm and a warm 68 degrees out.

We spoiled our dinner with Ruby’s milkshakes on the pier before heading to the Block at Orange to watch the skaters at Vans and eat at Cafe Tutu Tango. The kids were pretty tired, so it was an easy dining experience (compared to most with 3 littles) and we loved being able to eat outside again.