Newport Beach

Friday was long work day for me.  I was gone to "my office" for good part of the day.  Needed to come back to use printer etc.  So Amy took kids to Newport area and dragged them through some of the shops she had been to in the fall.  They were supposed to go hiking, but no one was realyl into it.  So the big event was create your own frozen yogurt and pick your toppings.  Looks like at this stage - they can go hard one day and then like to chill the next.
Saturday - yea, the weekend for me.  We headed to Newport beach.  Have realized that with no school, baseball, softball, soccer, swim team, etc, that we are becoming horrible about getting out the door in a timely fashion.  Anyhow, packed everything up - including the bikes that we lugged 2500 miles - to spend a day at a more "happening" beach.   Having never been there and with our late arrival, was very happy to find decent parking that we could go back to van to get more stuff etc.

Newport was much busier than any other place we have been to.

This is much more of a hanging out and playing in the water beach, as opposed to the surfing beach where we are staying.   The weather being perfect, it was packed. Before I was back from renting an umbrella, Abby was already boogie boarding and Sophie was out in the water.  Sophie hasn't been a big fan of going in the water at the beaches because the waves are too strong and drop offs too steep.   She immediately liked this beach better because of the gentler waves and more gradual slope into the water.  Within minutes, we had her body surfing.  Very proud of her.

Sophie getting ready to catch a wave

There she goes !!!

This beach is set up with a boardwalk/bike path, so there are a lot shops/snack shacks, etc, so you can get anything you need.  I took bike ride along path for a couple of miles each way.  This is the bike ride that was the genesis for us taking this trip.   All along the bike path, there are houses that have patios that butt right up to the path - with only a small wall separating it from the path.  Obviously, we didn't end up staying here, but if one did, they could walk right off patio, across bike path and be on the beach.  I was quite jealous of the folks who were sitting on their patios firing down margaritas.   As I assume these houses are pretty expensive, This would be a real cool place to go with multiple families.  The only downside I see  is that since these are so close to each other, you could get stuck next to a houseful of college kids who party 24/7.

Leaving our mark - for a moment.

Evan and Abby going out to catch some waves on the boogie boards.

Evan and Abby had a ball jumping in the waves. Sophie and I body surfed one more time and then we called it a day.  Amazing how fast 7 or 8 hours can go by.  
Since we were in the neighborhood, we traveled the 10 minutes up to Huntington and had Sanchos Tacos again.  Mom's idea - it was a good one.