Surf's Up

Today we went to Newport Beach. We had a blast! We left around 10:00 am and got parked and organized by noon. It was a lovely 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. The kids had a lot of fun running into the surf, even though the water was freezing. I think Henry and his cousin Emily stayed in the water the entire time, just waiting for the waves to come in and playing in the surf. William loved the water and was much more adventurous than we thought he'd be. He would adopt a surfers stance in the sand and wait for the water to come in - that was his idea of surfing. Tessa found the water way too cold, so she spent most of the time on the beach with her me and her Aunt Carol. Tessa and William both had fun hunting for seashells. Before we left Jay and Philip took the kids for a walk on the pier. The kids say they saw a jellyfish (even though Philip says it might have just been a trash bag); William even saw a shark and a dolphin because "I can see through water so I know they were there." It's not worth bursting their bubbles, though, so we'll let them keep those delusions.

We left the beach around 3 pm and went to the famed In and Out Burger. Jay got his burger and fries "animal style", which looked fun. The kids all had burgers and fries and shakes. It was yummy and now we've had the In and Out experience. Honestly, we like Crown Burger in Salt Lake City a little better, but these were good too.

Tomorrow will be a little bittersweet, because we're ending our family visit but heading to Anaheim to start the Disneyland part of our vacation. We've had such a good time with Philip and Carol and Emily and Sydney. The kids have loved getting to know their cousins and they have played really well together. Hopefully we won't go another three years before we see them again.

The only bad thing today was that Jay lost his sunglasses in the ocean. They were a really nice pair that he got at a company retreat a while ago but they flew off when he got knocked over by a rogue wave. He's very distraught, as you can imagine. I consoled him by telling him that soon I'll be posting pictures of his awesome beach physique on the internet for all to see. Stay tuned!