Newport Coast

Monday

Quiet day, but we did manage a walk down to the local beach, where Luca headed straight for the rocks:

This is what he was after:

We walked the length of the beach to Ruby's Shake Shack at Crystal Cove and had shakes there before walking back.

Gary sampled Scott's excellent BBQ skills in the evening - ribs this time.

Tuesday

Universal Studios was the target for the day. We spent about 8 hours there and had a great time, although Braeden was a little disappointed that their Harry Potter section doesn't open until next year.

Here's some of the (non-Facebook) photos:

The Lesinas ate out but the rest of us went back to Marriott and finished off the leftover ribs from last night.

Wednesday

Quiet morning - although Jo did finally get in the lovely warm pool adjacent to our villa:

The Lesinas took the boys to the basketball courts late morning whilst the Stewarts had lunch at the Vista Bar and Grill, admiring the lovely sea view. They were handing out free ice-pops to kids and Luca had one, but wanted more so he and I chased the girl who was handing them out and got another couple, after which he posed for a photo:

Gary was not yet aware of American meal sizes and ordered two appetisers - one conventional fries and the other sweet potato fries:

Needless to say, a couple of boxes had to be requested. They took them back to the apartment whilst Jo and I finished our beers and lunch:

After lunch we caught the shuttle bus down to nearby Laguna Beach. Luca again sought out the rock pools:

Luca then enrolled - no, ordered - Jo to help build a sand eagle:

Scott's BBQ tonight was chicken - excellent again.

Thursday

Everyone had enjoyed the beach on Wednesday - especially Cade and Braeden who rolled around in the surf for almost 3 hours - so we decided it would be the beach again today. This time we headed to the famous Huntington Beach, the original home of Surfing USA.

Gary had to experience the walk out to the end of the pier for lunch at Ruby's first of all, but then we hit the beach. Jo and Lucy posed on the pier:

The above was Gary's second attempt to sleep on the beach - the first was rudely interrupted when a tidal surge soaked the lower half of his body, causing him to leap up and yell.

Luca was soon directing again. This time, it was building sea defences with a hole dug to trap the water that came up:

Tri-tip steak was Scott's choice for BBQ tonight.

Friday

It was time for Jo and I to head back and for Gary and Luca to move in with the Lesinas for 2 extra days. Our "halfway" point was Lake Tahoe again - Incline Village this time. Two nights here with a day's rest in between for me, the poor old driver, before meeting up with the others back in Grants Pass on Sunday. We were a bit sad to leave this lovely resort (below) and the rest of the family behind, but I couldn't do what Scott is planning on Sunday - an 11 hour slog up the I-5:

On the way down we had spotted a popular local bakery in the town of Bishop and we stopped there on the way back for a sandwich and apple pie:

We re-fuelled at the small town of Bridgeport where there had been a rodeo on the previous week, but it was all quiet this week:

We ate in tonight - large prawns and ciabatta bread - lovely.

So that's me up to date at last.