Ahh...Newport Beach

Each trip to Southern California, Newport Beach is a definite must-stop. Not just because it's a beautiful town with great weather, but because we are lucky enough that our favorite So Cal family lives there...just a hop, skip and a jump away from the beach! Baby Mike's namesake and Shawn's best friend since childhood, Mike, his wife, Nicole, and their new baby girl, Madeleine, are our reason for constant visit.

The view from their beach home balcony. We like to think of their house as our own beachside family getaway. ;)

Pretty little Madeleine. Thank you, baby girl. Now we have an even better reason to come visit more often.

According to Nicole, we were fortunate enough to arrive on the only day of sunshine they've had in many days. Newport must really love us, because we had the same good luck with great weather the last time we visited in April.'Til we meet again, Newport. We will miss you dearly!

From Newport, we headed down to San Diego and arrived at our hotel just in perfect time for some cocktails (mocktails, for me and the boys) and appetizers. Yes, we bring our kids to cocktail hour. They are actually exceptionally well-behaved in this situation...must be from our training them early on. ;)

Isaiah's nose glued to his DS and Mikey's nose buried in the Legoland map.
Spent the remainder of the evening relaxing by the pool. Mikey, you really gotta do something about that hair of yours!Huge fire pits were a nice touch.
Me and my little vacation-loving boys.