Newport Beach FTW

I wanted to give summer a proper send off and so I booked us a weekend in Newport Beach. It all seemed so promising when I made the arrangements. The drive would be easy (just and hour and a half away), the hotel was on the beach (so we could just park the car and not get back in it until it was time to head back home), and the weather was perfect.

Well. The hotel was a dump (ants in the bathroom and in the bed, an air conditioner that poured streams of water into a towel-lined trash can that housekeeping had thoughtfully placed underneath, chipped toilet seat, a two-inch gap between the front door & the floor, and a bewilderingly ignorant assortment of front desk staff that couldn't conjure a single recommendation for a breakfast place) and Dash was an unrelenting horror (he had me in literal tears twice in two days). We finally threw in the towel and left a day early. Pulling into our driveway that night was the very best part of the trip.

We did manage to snap a few pictures that make it look like we had an awesome time (there were actually moments of genuine fun in all the suffering, but they were short and rare)

We had a few hours to kill between our arrival and check in, so we threw Dash into his trunks & headed to the beach.

Building sand castles

Josh finally gave up trying to stay dry & just jumped in in his street clothes. He is a good sport.

Dash loved every minute in the water, even though the waves were big and scary.

I sat on the blanket and plucked seashells from the sand around me. Dash threw them all away, decreed them, "yucky."

The next day we took the ferry to Balboa Island. It's like a little make-believe village where everyone has a wee strip of private beach and no house costs less than two million dollars.

Private beach

House I would trade my pinky for.

Dash & I have this game where I blow up my (considerable) cheeks and Dash smushes them together so that the air coming back out sounds like farts. I'm pretty sure the people sitting behind us were THRILLED.

As we were walking back to the ferry we saw a small fire station. Dash was entranced and kinda knocked on the door in his enthusiasm. What he didn't count on was the real life fireman inside who opened the door and invited us in to check out the trucks. Dash was scared half to death but Josh was suddenly five again and enthusiastic enough for the both of them.

He perked up when he got the hat, though.