Newport Beach

We went to Newport Beach again this year and this was our best trip so far!  The house we stayed in was so nice and just 1 house off the beach with a view of the ocean (I guess that's what we get when I'm in charge of finding the house!  Haha!)  We were so lucky to have amazing weather...it was warm and clear almost the whole time.  The Steeds came this year so besides the Riekena boys, Austin, G'ma & G'pa, my mom's whole family was there.  It was so fun to hang out with everyone!  We spent everyday at the beach (except for Disneyland day) all day.  It's so nice being right by the house so if anyone needs a snack or a break from the sun we have somewhere to go.  At night we would play games, go for a walk/bikeride down to the pier for ice cream, and just relax.  On the last night the boys went to the Angel's baseball game and the girls had a shopping/dinner night (which would have been much more fun without Paxton!) 

We drove this year to save money (although I'm not convinced it actually saved us anything).  We stayed in Mesquite on Friday night on our way down which was fun because the hotel we stayed at has a great pool so the kids got to swim. On the way back on Saturday we stayed in Vegas at the Treasure Island hotel.  We met up with our old neighbors that live there now for a huge (and expensive) buffet at the Rio.  We wished we would have made it to Vegas earlier in the day because by the time we ate and went to one place we were so tired we just went back to go to bed.  I had a lot of fun things I wanted to do with the kids while we were there so I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to do any of it.  The drive wasn't too bad altogether, though, and the kids did pretty well considering how long it is...I would do it again. 

Anyway, it was such a fun week...you know it's a good vacation when even after 10 days you still don't want to come home!  We miss the beach!

Warning: Picture overload...and I haven't posted the pictures of Disneyland and beach pics from my mom's camera yet so there will be more to come!  :)

Tony and Pax playing football in the beach house.

My cousin Nikki's darling little girl Allie...I love this sweet picture!

Playing in the ocean...of course Macie is the poser!

Tony trying to teach Macie how to body surf.

My little model neice Halle!

Macie and Allie being buried in the sand...they wanted to be mermaids!

These young (and hot!) guys came right in front of us and started throwing a football back & forth...Pax couldn't resist a football being thrown without him being included so he ran right over and demanded to play with them!  This guy was cute and threw it to him a few times!

The Steed Family

Mom & Dad

Sandy, Jason & Makenzie

The Duffys

The Shapiros

The Hutchins

Stephanie, Charli, Nancy, Mom & Sandy

Grandma Thelma with her "girls!"

Pax was an absolute MONSTER during pictures...this is the best I could get of him!

Tony is like a little kid when he's at the beach.  This was our last day and he was trying to build a sandcastle...within 5 minutes there were about 5 random kids that came to "help"...it was funny!