Top That!

Last week Kevin had a Google TV Ads Conference in Newport Beach. Instead of staying home and missing out on all the fun, Caitlin, Andrew and I decided to tag along.

We drove to Newport Beach on Monday afternoon. Kevin recently installed a video screen on the ceiling of y Highlander, so Andrew was in heaven watching Dino Train and The Cat in the Hat the entire way there. We arrived around 10pm and both kids were happily asleep in the car.

We woke everyone up and went to check out our suite at the Marriott Bayview in Newport's Back Bay. Kevin and I stayed there for our anniversary trip a few years ago and love it! It is also less than a mile away from the Google office. Andrew was really excited about the sofa bed he got to sleep (and jump) on.

On Tuesday morning Kevin headed to work and Caitlin, Andrew and I started our vacation! We had so much fun the first day that I was worried we wouldn't be able to top it the rest of the week.

First stop was a morning run along the Back Bay and up the hill to Eastbluff Park. We did this 4 mile run every day and made friends with all the kids and nannies at the park.

This little girl was Andrew's playground bouncer. She stood guard while he played and when the littler kids came over she would tell them to go away and "leave him alone!"

After our run we headed to Balboa Island for some exploring and treats from Dad's Banana Stand (cue Kevin's favorite line from Arrested Development- "There's always money in the Banana stand").

I had my first Balboa bar. I was a little disappointed. The chocolate wasn't chocolatey enough for me... so I shared it with Andrew and Caitlin.

Andrew thought it was DELISH! and devoured every last bite.

Next we contemplated walking to the ferry... and then I realized that was insane since we were probably a mile away and I was picturing carrying a tantruming toddler while pushing a screaming baby. No thanks! Instead we went and checked out all the pretty houses and piers around Balboa Island.

Can anyone guess why I liked this picture?

After tiring Andrew out, we drove our car to the ferry and went across the water to the Balboa Peninsula.

Andrew was in awe.

Caitlin- not so much. She screamed both times we went across.

Next stop was the Balboa Fun Zone. It was empty so we got our pick of rides. Andrew chose the carousel. Both kiddos loved it.

After that we got a late lunch at Pete's Pizza. The main attraction was the arcade in the back. The pizza was sub par... but Andrew put on a dancing show for everyone in the place which livened things up a bit.

Once we were full we went to the Balboa Pier Playground. I could've stayed there all day. It was GORGEOUS... and what could be better than playing on the beach AND a playground at the same time.

We also ran along the pier and pretended like we were fisherman.

Andrew gave himself a time out, just for fun? weirdo!

Caitlin was stoked not to be looking at the back of the car for a little bit.

We took the ferry back to Balboa Island once it started getting darker...

and the kiddos took a short nap on the 10 minute ride to Fashion Island. We still had an hour to kill before Kevin was done with work around 6pm.

We did a fountain tour of Fashion Island. I have a ginormous baggie full of coins... so we threw them in all the fountains and ran around.

Man were we exhausted by the end of the day!!... and it still wasn't over yet! We had to make sure that Kevin got some fun in... so next up we headed to Surf City Nights in Huntington Beach to end the night.