The Beach

Since Nate was born we’ve spent our 4th of July’s at the cabin.  We were planning on going up right after the 4th this year to celebrate the rest of the weekend with the Fireman’s pancake breakfast & Duck Creek Parade.

And then a fire started 4 miles away from my parent’s cabin.  And it’s still burning. [cabin will be fine – luckily winds blew fire the other way]

I had in  my head we were going to do something fun so I thought – “lets go to the beach!”  Luckily my family was on board.  Unfortunately Ali and Tripp were still going to Cedar and Salt Lake so we missed them on this beach trip.

After asking around for hotel recommendations – 2 people recommended the Newport Marriott Coastal Villas. It was PERFECT.  It was a 2 bedroom villa that held all of us perfectly.  Since we don’t have a beach in Vegas but plenty of pools we didn’t spend very much time in the hotel pools or on the grounds – but I am sure we will be back there.   For the sake of remembering, Nate was on the pull-out couch in our room and he fell off the bed twice in one night!  He’s the craziest sleeper ever.  And Ryan got a cough while we were there and sounded like a seal the entire last night we were there.  Poor guy.

On Friday morning, my dad and Wes had a tee time at Pelican Hill.  That got the wheels spinning in my head - what to do with a Mr. Ryan at 7am when it’s still pretty chilly out?  Disneyland, of course!  That’s the best part about having an annual pass.  Sam & I and the boys went for 3 hours that morning and the sun came out right as we were getting back.  And the park wasn’t busy at all while we were there!  It was Ryan’s first visit and Nate got to meet Peter Pan for the first time.

The weather was only in the 70’s . . . which usually isn’t my ideal beach temperature because I like to be in the water but it was a nice break from our desert heat!  We loved it.  On our last day, Sam’s dear friend and Nate’s idol [she was his hip hop teacher] Natalie and her boys Reed and Dean-o met us at the beach.  They recently moved to California so it was fun to see them.

We had a nice time enjoying some pure fun, relaxation & just doing something different.  I’m glad everyone was up for a little spontaneity!  We heart the beach.