Day 1- Sophia and I flew into LAX airport after a full day already. I hosted Sophia's school Xmas party. I had to cut out lots of stuff for the crafts, make little party favor bags and I made them each a little stocking with their name on it. After the party, we rushed home and Wendy came to pick us up to take us to the airport. Wendy was flying out to Vegas shortly after our flight, so she was nice enough to give us chauffeur service. She came and sat with us as we waited for our flights. Did I mention that we had so much luggage that we could barely fit it in her SUV! When Sophia and I got to LA, Charlie was there to pick us up. We went to dinner on the way back to Irvine at Red Robin. Sophie was so tired that she barely made it through dinner. We went to the room where Charlie has been staying while he is out here working. We pretty much went to bed.

Day 2- We got up and took Charlie to work so we would have the car. On the way back to the hotel, Sophia and I stopped at the Coffee Bean Tea Leaf and got Chai and chocolate milk. We went back to the room and hung out and got ready. We packed the bags and drove out to the Hyatt Newport Beach that we are to stay at for the remaining 12 days! It was better than expected. A beautiful property of 26 acres backing to the Bird Sanctuary and Natural area. There is a beach, huge boat storage area and then wetlands with the snow capped mountains in the background. They upgraded our room to poolside. It is really beautiful view out the window to the pool with palm trees hanging overhead. The entrance to our building has fine furniture but the patio doors are all left open. I remember this from Hawaii and just love the ability to let the outside air freely flow indoors! We unpacked the bags and settled in and then left to get some lunch. I asked the bellman where I should go and he said to just go to the next light and Fashion Island is around the corner. It is a huge outdoor shopping area and has lots to choose from for eating and things for children. We got some pasta, salad and fruit and went to a courtyard area to eat outdoors. It was right next to the Koi pond, so Sophia loved watching the huge 18" fish. We rode the carousel, one of Sophia's fascinations. I went to the Apple store to buy a charger since I didn't have a car charger and my phone was really low. I found some really neat phone covers. One for Charlie and a cute red wallet phone cover for me. We left and picked up Charlie at work and came back to the hotel. We walked all around the property. I didn't mention that there is a huge tennis facility here, ping pong by the pool, and shuffleboard right out our patio. When we were walking back by the boats, I stopped some men riding bikes to ask about the Christmas Boat Parade. They told us where we should watch it from and when it would go by there. One man was the captain of the lead boat in the parade! So, we had an excellent spot to watch from behind the Coast Guard Station. They came out and welcomed us to watch and gave us chairs to sit in. It was an amazing display of lights and festivities. We got a few good pictures even though it is tough to get moving lights in the dark! Afterwards, we went to Mario's Italian and got the best pizza ever. Sophia fell asleep, so we carried her in to bed!

Day 3-
Got up and worked out and Charlie brought me a Chai on the patio while we waited for Sophia to wake up. We got ready and went to eat breakfast along the Coast Hwy at Zinc's. It was a cute California place with nice patios and open air. I got Waffles with Orange Butter and fresh fruit. Afterwards, we walked up the sidewalk a ways and a guy riding a bike in a peloton going by yelled "Charlie!". It was someone that works with him at the new job. We drove on up the Coast Hwy to check out Laguna Beach. We walked along the beautiful vistas above the Pacific Ocean. We ate a mid-day meal at Las Brisas overlooking the water and beach. We headed back to the hotel since Sophia was begging to go swimming. We suited up and I touched the water with my toe and decided I would just lay out. Charlie and Sophia swam. A really nice lady, Patty, was swimming here even though she is a local. She told us places we needed to eat. She also took Sophia around in the pool until she was shivering and asked to get out. We decided to go to dinner at one of her suggestions, Canaletto, at Fashion Island. It was very nice. We walked around the shopping area with the nice outdoor couches all around and beautiful Christmas decorations.

Day 4- We got up and I worked out for a half hour. We tried to call Kelvin and Julie Baker, but they didn't answer. That was the only number we had got for meeting, so we had our own. We got ready and went to eat lunch at Marmalade's. I had pasta with Chicken Parm on top. It was really good. We headed off to Disney for the afternoon. We rode Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Mad Hatter's Teacups, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and Circus Train. Then we went to eat and get our jackets since the evening was getting cool. We saw the holiday parade with all the characters. We went back to Toon Town and toured the character's houses and got to see Mickey!! It was the highlight of Sophia's day. On the way back to the hotel, Sophia fell asleep again in the car!

Day 5- Monday morning, so Charlie had to get up to go to work. We took him to work, then ran clothes to the cleaners, and went to Target. We found some Mother/ Daughter matching jammies! We came back to the room and I worked out. Then I attempted something I had never done before! I colored my hair! I can't decide if it is ok or not. It might just need some getting used to. Good thing I did it here, so no one else can see it until I get it the way I like it!
Sophia and I hung out at the hotel because it was overcast and cool. We went to pick up Charlie at work and headed to South Coast Plaza shopping center to eat at a place called Claim Jumper. It is fashioned around the 1849 Gold Rush era and the food was excellent. Once again, Sophia fell asleep on the way back to the hotel!

Day 6- I went to work out for 30 minutes while Charlie got ready and then we went to take Charlie to work. We came back to the hotel and I worked on this blog! We meet Charlie for lunch and Sophia fell asleep and slept through lunch. She had got up at 6:30 when Charlie's alarm went off and played all morning. We ate at a place down near the college in Irvine. After dropping Charlie off, Sophia and I went to South Coast Plaza, a huge shopping mall. We got some Godiva chocolates for the people Charlie works with for Christmas and did some final Christmas shopping. We rode yet another carousel. This one was reindeer and sleighs! We were exhausted by the time we picked up Charlie at work. We ate dinner at Wahoo's Fish Tacos. It reminds me some of Tin Star. We drove around looking for Charlie some Christmas cards for work, and they were very hard to find. He bought some and when he went to sign them once we were back at the hotel, he realized they were extremely religious. So, I sent him out on his own to find more while Sophia went to bed.

Day 7- Sunny beautiful day! Took Charlie to work and came back to work out. There were 10 people in the usually empty work out room. It was hard to have Sophia with me since the treadmills face the windows and I couldn't really watch her without turning around. So, we decided to go out to the hot tub. We got ready and went to meet Charlie for lunch. He wasn't done with a meeting, so we drove across the street to Balboa. We drove down the main drag and he called that he was done. We went to the Daily Grill for lunch right by his office. After lunch Sophia and I came back to the hotel and packed a bag with swimsuits and shorts. We drove down the coast to Laguna Beach. There is a great park and beach there with public access. I thought it might be too cold to have on just a swimsuit, but Sophia insisted. I changed her in the car into her swimsuit with her long sleeved shirt over it! I put on some shorts and got the camera. We took a walk and put our toes in the very cold water. Sophia fed some Doritos to the seagulls. She had tons of birds all around her very quickly. I told her to show them her empty hands and say that she didn't have anymore. As soon as she did, they all flew away at once! Sophia took my new camera and took some pictures of me and she did a good job. We headed back to the hotel and rinsed off and went to pick Charlie up at work. That evening, we went to Pei Wei in the The District shopping center. We walked around the outdoor shopping where there is fireplaces and couches sitting in the courtyard areas. We went to Best Buy to get a charger for Sophia's DS. Sophia fell asleep in the car again!

Day 8- I talked on the phone with Mom for an hour trying to get Skype to work. She didn't know her password, so we never got to let Sophia and her talk. Charlie had off from work, so we got up and went out to the hot tub. Sophia went underwater swimming! We got ready and went to San Diego for the afternoon. I took a nap in the car on the hour long drive down there. We got to the zoo around 1:30. We took the bus tour first off. We got to see a lot of things fairly quickly that way. Then we got off and walked. We saw lots of bears, lions, and of course their famous pandas! They brought one out while we were watching and feed it. I got some great photos. He was only 10' away from me. We made our way up to the tram and rode it over to take Sophia to the Children's Zoo area. We looked at the bugs and the snakes too. It started to get chilly in the early evening and we had covered a lot. We decided to go look around at Downtown San Diego. We drove through the Gaslamp District and watched the sunset from on top of a hill (Olive St.) above the airport. It was a fabulous sunset. We talked to Charlie's family while we were there and they told us about the TONS of snow that they were having in Texas. I can honestly say that I don't miss it at all! We went back down to the Seaside Village down on the waterfront in front of the Hyatt San Diego. We ate at the Harbor House and had a very nice Christmas Eve dinner! Afterwards, we drove back to Newport Beach to the hotel. Sophia was asleep of course!

Day 9- Christmas Day! Santa found us in Newport Beach! He brought Sophia the Baby Bath from American Girl that she had been asking that he bring her. She also got a DS game, Dora's Puppy, jammies and a sparkly ball she had wanted. I got a new jacket and boots and Charlie a couple of new sweaters and his early gift of the phone cover. Charlie and Sophia went down and got scones and muffins with Chai for our breakfast. We are hoping to have a relaxing Christmas Day!

We went to the pool for a good part of the afternoon. After cleaning up, I read a little and Charlie went to do some laundry. That night we went to dinner here at the hotel. It was a really good and relaxing day.

Day 10- We got up and swam for a while. Then we went up to Huntington Beach and ate at Duke's on the waterfront. From our window seat, we watched them play volleyball and surf in the big waves. Then we drove up to Seal Beach and Long Beach. We saw some really nice marinas and waterfronts. We drove back and took a nap. When we woke up, we had just enough time to make it to see ALVIN! After the movie, we had dinner at the Daily Grill at Fashion Island next to the theater.

Day 11- Went to meeting at Sydney Greenlee's home. There were several little girls Sophia's age, so she loved playing with them all. After meeting, we went to tour Charlie's office. We had a fantastic lunch at Gulfstream. After lunch, we came back and took a nap. When we got up, we drove down to Crystal Cove area to the Crystal Cove Promenade. We went to this shopping center a year and a half ago when we drove through this area. We ate at Pacific Whey, not so good. Then we drove to Irvine Spectrum via Laguna Canyon Rd. At Irvine Spectrum, we rode the Ferris Wheel. It was 110 ft tall. We shopped around the center, another huge outdoor shopping mall. Sophia fell asleep on the way back to the hotel!

Day 12- We got up and took Charlie to work. On the way back, we went to get a drink at the Starbucks on Balboa Island. Balboa is walking distance from the hotel. We sat in the Starbucks and watched the locals congregate on the sidewalks with their kids and dogs. There are benches all along Marine Ave. They were full with neighbors visiting. We went to a cute kids store, Magnolia Charlie's. Sophia got a cute new outfit. Then we went to the bird sanctuary behind the hotel. We walked a couple of miles and saw lots of birds and ducks in the wetland area. Then we came back to the hotel and went swimming. It was warm and sunny, so we stayed by the pool for several hours. We came in and took a nap, got ready and went to get Charlie from work. We ate dinner on Balboa Island at a little Italian restaurant called Ciao. It was really good. We went to the Balboa Candy store and got saltwater taffy. We came back to the room and Sophia played.

Waskey

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