Newport, CA

Jesse and Kristen invited our family to Newport!

We are Oceanside goers, so this was a whole new ballgame for us.

Let me explain better.

If you are a Mesa native, this analogy will make sense.

Your loyalty is to either Mattas, or El Charro mexican restaurant. 

Same goes for Oceanside and Newport.
Most people favor one over the other.

But when you get invited to the beach, you go!
I was excited to see what Newport was all about.

May we first take a moment of silence for these sandwiches right here. 

On the drive over, we were told NOT to miss out on a sandwich shop, TKB Bakery & Deli.
It is in the middle of nowhere in Indio CA. 
It was ranked #1 restaurant in America on yelp in 2018.

I felt like Joey from Friends.

The BEST sandwiches of our lives!

Words cannot even describe how delicious in every way they were.

I guess I was automatically signed up for their weekly newsletter and it was CRUEL

having to see their sandwich specials, I had to quickly unsubscribe! 

Meet The Trump Card, and the Mexican Marilyn Monroe.

Their homemade jalapeno focaccia bread... we are tempted on the daily to drive 4 hours for

this goodness. 

We made it!
Our cute little condo.
Jesse and Kristen had the bottom unit with Grammy, we had the top. 

There are big houses on the sand like we are used to in Oceanside.
Then there are hundreds of condos that run vertically from the ocean.
Even though we are not right on the beach, it's an easy walk to the beach. 

After unpacking we walked to Chronic Tacos for dinner!
I guess this is THE place for take out.
It was good, but nothing I craved later on. 
In fact, we only got it once while the others got it a few times more. 

Had to check out the beach, of course!

I brought a few things to decorate for the 4th of July!

I feel like a couple of holidays are landing on a Sunday this year.
We watched church via zoom and had 
festive pancakes for breakfast.

I was sad the gates were closed to the temple.
The grounds looked beautiful and lush.
And looked totally different in person than what I was imagining. 

Hi, my name is Shelley and I like to stalk reality tv celebrities.
Yep, totally googled and found Shannon Beadors house in Newport!
She is on the Real Houswives.
It wasn't far from the temple. 
Newport is more posh and swanky than Oceanside for sure!!

And I swoon over this house she rents. 

We watched some shows and walked to the beach for a bit.

I loved how into the 4th everyone got!
Every house had some type of Americana decorations out.

They warned us how the streets will turn into a party that night!
They weren't wrong.

Late afternoon the music began and crowds started to form. 

We BBQed.

I made dessert.

Then got wild and crazy!

We somehow peeled ourselves out of bed for an overcast morning run to the pier. 

We have hit a new high in life with kids who can take care of themselves while we are gone!

It's the best.

Our first full beach day.
I was wondering how our kids would do since they are used to being at the beach
with their Lindblom cousins.

The girls didn't have anyone their age to entertain them.

Sweet Grammy was a trooper and filled that role wonderfully. 

Teenagers boogie boarding all day. 

Walking back to the beach from a pit stop at the condo.
You can see the beach is right past that stop sign, so not much of a walk at all. 

I made the huge mistake of thinking I would be fine without sunscreen.

By the end of the day, I remembered I forgot to apply some after an hour. 

I was feeling it.

I got all the towels and covered myself up.

Kristen looked over and said she couldn't find me, lol!

Do you spy waldo? 

I'm under that striped towel next to Della. 

The girls were better helpers than the boys to help haul everything back!

The one thing I loved about Newport is that you can ride bikes!
They have a great path where you wont get hit by cars or have to dodge
a bazillion people.

We could fit the boys scooters in the car, which was perfect.
There are bike rentals everywhere, so rented some for us and the girls
for the whole week.

Heading to the pier for dinner!

I guess a hot spot in the area was called TK Burger.

Nothing life changing, but fun to try non the less.

We were happy to see Handel's close by!

Heading back home.

It was nice putting the girls to bed in a quiet house,
then go down to play games in the bottom unit.

We loved learning how to play a new domino game, Spinners!