we're here!

After a slightly teary-eyed goodbye (I kept it together better than I had thought...for the kids, for the kids) to our two sweet children, Ryan and I made it to Southern California this afternoon. The flight was good and fast and of course, with our luck we sat across from a mom with 2 children close in age to Mikayla & Austin. Part of it made me want my kids with me, but the "trying to keep them entertained and not fussy" part made me thankful I was sitting and reading my magazine in peace.

Our rental car ended up being a white PT Cruiser. Can you imagine us driving around in this? It's a far cry from our mini van.


We grabbed a bite to eat at this nice little restaurant called Baja Fresh. Yea, we didn't quite get out of the box for that one. Someone suggested a nice steak house, but after hearing "dress code" we figured we were out since jeans and sneakers were pretty much the staples in our suitcase.


After lunch, we checked into the Newport Coast Marriott Vacation Resort. And, let me tell you, we can't say thank you enough to my in-laws for the FREE 1 week time share (which we were given for our 1st anniversary and finally "cashed in" on our fifth anniversary). Can you say $385 a night?! For free?! We are blessed. Spoiled, actually. We aren't travelers and when we are, it's usually in a budget hotel, so this is like a 2nd honeymoon for us. The view from our room is pretty. A little of the beach, a little of the golf course (and I do mean little), but we love those palm trees, which are so beautifully decorated with pretty white lights. Love it!


We hit the grocery store to stock up a bit for some of our meals, but after that we weren't sure what to do with ourselves. What did we do before kids? Not sure. This is when I got a little teary-eyed again thinking about the kiddos and wishing they were with us. I'm sure I'll go through that at least a few times this week.

After thinking it was at least 7:00, we realized it was only 5:00 and decided to find a movie theater close by. I've been wanting to watch the movie Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. It was cute and funny. The theater was inside an outdoor mall. Yea, they have those in places where it's warm. I was captured by the giant tree in the middle of the mall and had to get a picture...mostly for Mikayla.

We're enjoying some downtime and will probably hit the hay pretty soon so we can be well rested for our trip to Disneyland tomorrow. We figured we would make it a lazy morning and then later in the morning, we would head to Disneyland and stay through the evening to see the fireworks and enjoy Disney at Night.

If I have time, I would love to post each night or every other night. I figure this will be a good way to journal our fun times so we won't forget!