Last November, Sara and I talked about how much fun we had when we went to Newport Beach waaaaay back in 2007. And how we LOVE the beach. At that point, we decided that we should plan a trip for this summer! So our vacation idea baby grew for nine months finally became a reality last month! It was fantastic. Enough said.
We were in charge of the bikes this year since Sara and Jason took them last time, and seeing this set up the morning we left made me ridiculously happy, because doesn't it just scream, "VACATION!"?
CALIFORNIA OR BUST!
This is how Philip insists on doing road trips now. If we are ever not talking, or I am reading, then he gets to watch X-Files or a movie on the ipad. It's a really safe thing to do.
So we got there, and we rented the same beach house as last time, which we absolutely love. And then we just hung out for the next seven days. Our entire Jones family came, which was pretty much the best ever, and therefore, I now present pictures of random adorable children and siblings. Since most the time the caption of these pictures would just read, "Adorable!" I'm not going to narrate these, unless something specific comes to mind. Just know that I have the cutest nieces and nephews on the planet.
Someone thought he was quite tricky...
These boys LOVE Philip. And though this picture is crazy blurry, I love how hard they are laughing.
We roasted marshmallows every night. And Sara and Philip almost grounded me from the marshmallows because I couldn't stop eating them.
Roasted marshmallows = small piece of my soul.
Just messing with my camera trying to figure out settings, but isn't my ring pretty? 6 1/2 years later I still think it is prettier than any other.
We took the ferry to Balboa Island one day, and the twins were seriously concerned about the situation. When we rolled down Nate's window he yelled, "Noooo!"
"My name is Jake, and I like to work out." Seriously, what Jones does that?
I love this picture and everything that is going on in it. A bit of castle building, Amy's head only, Kev being skinny, Beth lifting Sophie out of the waves, and most likely some merciless teasing in there.
"I weigh 44 pounds!" says Amy.
"So do I!" says Natalie.
Stinkin' skinny minnies.
At one point my goal was to see how many of Caleb's bones I could get in one picture. After several attempts, I think this was the winner.
One night my mom played Don't Eat Pete with the little kids, and even after Sophie would get to Pete, she would still eat the rest of the Apple Jacks as fast as she could. Maybe someone hasn't had sugared cereal before. :)
When Reese's glasses turn to sunglasses in the sun, Sara always says he looks like a blind baby. But isn't he the cutest blind baby you've ever seen?
Remember that they love him? This was about the time that Nate started calling him "Daddy Philips," which was totally awesome. I got a video of him reading to them because they thought they were really funny and cracking themselves up.
Cutest. Thing. Ever.
These kids say hi to everything and everyone, and loved to just stand by the gate and wave and people watch and point.
Sara trying to help Jason with his shirt situation.
Love these next three...
Nail painting party!
Sara and Aly were such fun moms and took crafts for the kids to do and things to make. They made necklaces with bottle caps and the kids all wore them for the next two days straight.
Amy is such a little lover. She'll be a mom to anyone who needs cuddling.
Chasey is such a stinker but you can't help but TOTALLY love him.
Nielson girls being cute and crafting it up.
Bros before hos yo.
Pouting. Lol, life as a 9 year old is rough. I mean, someone took his seat, and that just wasn't cool.
BIKE RIDES!!!
Watching a 5 and 6 year old try to play smash ball is hilarious bordering on crazy frustrating.
The Tommy Bahama chairs might have been a Costco special this year and maybe everyone in our family bought a couple. We would go set up camp early so that we could stake out a spot big enough for all 95 of us.
This is the start of the greatest sand castle ever...which you'll see about a thousand more pictures of.
The boys had the brilliant idea of using that giant green tub as the base of the castle and it took all three of them to lift it, only for it to crumble almost immediately.
Brynn's buns. Now that's just cute.
Caleb's scapulas, also cute, but kind of hilarious.
This picture is going to resurface in about five years when these girls are 13 and think they are super hot.
Okay, at this point our castle is totally awesome and we built a tunnel and wanted to see the water go through it when the tide came up.
Noelle was the master of the stairs and built stairways everywhere on the castle, as well as the small roads to the surrounding suburban communities.
Jake telling Chase about how important this bedroom community is. And that track homes are the way to go.
TA-FREAKIN-DA!
So after it was finished, the goal was then to get the tide to go through the tunnel, as well as the moats on either side. We were waiting for the trifecta. We all sat and watched the tide for like 20 minutes.
And it finally happened! But unfortunately my camera was zoomed in and I didn't realize it so I missed the actual shot of all three moats being filled with water. Lame.
And then right after the trifecta, it collapsed, which was the perfect way to end our week at the beach.
We love Newport, and love our little beach house.
Maybe again in 2013 we'll get to come to our Newport home and once again have the most relaxing week of our entire year. Sighhh, who wants to go back with me?
And of course we had to make sure that the Hula Pie didn't go to waste before we left...
I can't believe that our vacation is already over and I am already trying to decide where to go next. It was such a fun week to have absolutely no plans and just be completely relaxed and spend time with my favorite people in the world! Beach, books, Joneses, my babe, Sugar Shack, and shopping, there really is nothing better!
