Newport Beach

While in Orange County, the guys went golfing one morning & after they got back, we hit up the beach. Newport beach to be exact. The topography in California is beautiful with the cliffs & the valleys, but my biggest complaint is the weather. Since it gets cooler there, the ocean is cool also. Too cold for me to swim, but that didn't stop the kids:

 

 

In case you are wondering where Sophie is, she was playing with Max:

 

 

For some reason, she did not want to get in the sand or the water but my mom set up this sheet for Max & she was happy playing with him. This was Zoe's first trip to the beach, so Sadie taught her our favorite thing to do:

 

 

Pick seashells! We have been to a lot of beaches but I will say, this beach had amazing shells! We collected some really good ones I was proud of :)

 

My mom surprised the kids & bought kites for each of them:

 

 

I'm embarrassed to say that this was the first time my girls have ever flown a kite! They looked so pretty flying up there. Sophie had a lady bug & Sadie had a butterfly:

 

 

As you can see, Sophie finally ventured in the sand to help with the kite, but it didn't last long. In fact, kites flying didn't last long with any of the kids - I looked up & it was mostly the adults flying them while the kids were off playing!

 

Sophie did enjoy being outside & seeing the water, as long as she wasn't touching it:

 

 

When we left this part of the beach, we drove farther down to a different pier off the boardwalk. All we literally did was walk to the end of the pier & back, but for some reason the kids were having a blast together & we had too much fun taking pictures of their craziness:

 

 

These pictures make me laugh looking at them now because poor Kason is always running around with a bunch of girls! For some reason I don't have a lot of pictures of Max & he was always there, but he was usually in his stroller being pushed by one of the grandparents while these 4 crazies ran around. The girls are precious though:

 

 

I don't know we could have planned it any better since Zoe is right in between my girls:

 

One second they are all best friends & the next they are all 3 fighting like sisters. Oh girls!

 

When we got to the end of the pier we saw a lot of people fishing so Sadie enjoyed getting to see the fish up close after they were caught. But our biggest surprise was what we saw swimming in the water along the side of the pier:

 

 

It was the biggest sea lion! Pretty awesome to see one up close & personal.

 

The next day we drove to Balboa Island & took the ferry. It was the smallest ferry I had ever been on which only held 3 cars & a few bicycles & pedestrians. Since we had a mini van, we got to open the side doors for the girls & they thought it was awesome:

 

 

Their first ferry experience was when we took them on one in Coronado Island in San Diego, but it didn't allow cars. Sadie was pretty blown away by the fact that our car was "driving" on the water!

 

We absolutely loved Newport Beach & staying in Orange County. Even though the weather is a little cooler than I like, it was still beautiful & always fun to explore some place new.