these are the best days

Last weekend, we had the nicest weekend. Nothing incredible, just a nice, hang out with the family, watch lots of kids ball games, play in the park, straighten up the house kind of weekends. Oh, with a trip to the beach thrown in. I love those kind of weekends - the unexpected trip weekends. Usually we're so booked, and this particular weekend we weren't, so being spontaneous and doing whatever we wanted felt really good.

Jack had a teeball game Saturday morning. So did my niece Annie, and my nephew Jeremiah. When all of those were finished, we came home, but decided it was such a nice day out, we wanted to go back outside. So we did. We watched some guys practicing with their gas powered RC cars for an upcoming race event (which we all really enjoy watching, and it helps that it's down the street from our house). We also had our dog Lucky with us and let the kids bring him into the dog park by themselves, without us hovering. It's hard for me not to hover. But we didn't. Bobby and I just hung out on the grass on a blanket, let the kids and dog do their thing, and when they came back to us, we played in the grass for about two hours - playing tag until we were winded and had to sit down, and then teaching the kids how to play Red Rover. Such a nice Saturday.
Sunday morning after church we headed down to Crystal Cove Beach. But first we stopped to get some gelato. My friends have been telling me about Salted Caramel gelato and how they get it often down in Orange County but I didn't know where. Instead of calling them and asking, I googled "salted caramel gelato Newport Beach" and the place that came up the most was the place we went! Whimsical Italian Gelato in Newport was where we ended up. It was SOOOO good. Best to try a spoonful of lots of things first, but you should probably end up with the salted caramel. Words cannot describe.

Of course we found Whimsical Italian Gelato information on Yelp - thanks for the help, Yelp. http://www.yelp.com/biz/whimsical-italian-gelato-newport-beach

 We then headed a few miles south on PCH and stopped at Roger's Gardens for a look around. I had been there MANY years ago as a kid, but I didn't remember much, other than I wanted my kids to enjoy it. We all loved it. Bobby's parents met us there and we walked around for at least an hour.

Roger's Gardens, Newport Beach, California. http://www.rogersgardens.com/

 Okay, so what is Roger's Gardens? Think nursery, with LOTS of outdoor space to walk around lovely flowers and plants. Add to that nursery a huge section of outdoor living furniture, special succulent areas, rose areas, and lots of buildings with great shopping inside - it's just very pretty, very "high-end" feeling and beautiful to walk around. Our day happened to be perfect. It was about 65 degrees, and we'd just had Italian Gelato, so things were really smooth. I'd highly recommend this stop for ANYONE with kids, or without kids. It is just a lovely place. No admission fee or anything, just a fun place to shop around mostly outdoors.

The bunnies I wish I'd bought at Roger's Gardens.

 I loved these five bunnies at Roger's Gardens. Reminded me of my family of five.

Adorable bird houses at Roger's Gardens.

I had to snap a shot of these cute bird houses for my mom - they used drawer pulls and furniture hardware for the bird's "stoops" on the bird houses. So very cute.

From Roger's Gardens, we headed about 3.5 miles south to Crystal Cove Beach, parked for $15 and spent hours at the beach just in front of the Crystal Cove Beach Cottages. I LOVE IT HERE, and it was so fun for the kids and me to finally share this special spot with anyone else! Bobby had never been. I'd told him about it, but it's just one of those places you have to see in person to understand the charm of it. My kids and I get it. We want a cottage. Yes, please. But showing it to Bobby and Bob and Mary was really fun. It's always nice when someone else thinks something's cool when you do!
Here are a few of my favorite shots from Crystal Cove:

Crystal Cove Beach Cottages: http://www.crystalcovebeachcottages.com/html/index.php



This is the Crystal Cove Beach Cottage they used for a scene in Beaches (you remember, the Bette Midler/Barbara Hershey movie that made your eyes swell up like grapefruits? Maybe that was just me)
http://www.crystalcovebeachcottages.com/html/index.php



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 Love when Sid comes up with some random bundle of stuff she found on the beach. Scared of nothin' in the realm of wildlife, this one.

Alyssa in the water - which was cold, or else she'd be IN the water. I'm very fortunate to have water babies.

Sidney's Pet Shop animals took a little trip to the beach with us, too. That's a pretty nice set up, I thought as I took a picture. I'll probably never have a jeep and a trialer. Those Littlest Pet Shop animals better appreciate their Chevron cars and trailers. They just don't realize how good they have it.

 Bobby with his mom, Mary.

 Bobby and me. Someone just told Bobby that he and I look SO MUCH ALIKE. I have said this for years - I think it's why people just swear that our kids looks like Bobby when they're with Bobby, and he looks like me when they're with me. We must confuse people.

Okay, whatever...they probably look more alike.

I loved it when Sid brought me this - I didn't get it at first, but she told me to look hard. She was showing me that it was a mom with three babies. Just like me.  Look at those little baby shells, clingin' on for dear life - almost like they're attached with umbilicals! I'm now noticing that little barnacle on mom's body, too. What's that all about? Okay back to the mom shell with three babies...pretty cute.

 I'm glad Mary grabbed my camera for a while, it allowed us to try for this family shot. Hey, it takes a lot to make sure people are doing what they're supposed to be doing in a picture.....looking.

 If they're looking, I'm happy. I can't control the smiles. I may be smiling here for both myself AND Sidney, that's an intense smile, but hey - it's the closest we got to the perfect family beach picture, so I'll treasure it whether you can tell I'm yelling at my kids through my smile or not!

We topped off the day by having dinner at Ruby's Diner right by Fashion Island in Newport, and we had the best waitress ever. And we had lots of fries and shakes to add our calories back from all the sand walking and beach play.

So in a nutshell, our day trip looked like this:

Whimsical Italian Gelato
Roger's Gardens
Crystal Cove Beach
Ruby's Diner

One thing I'd add to make the day even better would have been an additional trip to Whimsical Italian Gelato for some more salted caramel gelato on the way home.