NEWPORT...a good time was had by all...

we missed tod this trip to the beach! poor guy, he spent the week doing final projects and papers and tests in completing his summer semester. way to "be a man", son:).

the rest of us??? rest, relaxation, reading, body surfing, boogie boarding, sun, suckers, cooler temperatures, movies, shopping, the gym - and food, glorious food!

monday and tuesday mike, kristen and lauren joined us. that was FUN! mike always adds another dimension to the beach fun. kristen couldn't be quite as crazy in the water, because of her delicate condition, but she totally enjoyed the beach in every other way possible! lauren continues to surprise and amaze me with her unbelievably happy, patient 2 year old disposition. give her a tootsie roll pop and she is totally satisfied! i NEVER had a child like her!!!

hailey was in the water ALL the time. mikey decided she had earned a set of her own fins! she is very good with the waves! her poor eyes are just starting to recover though. the salt water did a number on them.

wednesday, we tried a new activity. mid-week we find we usually need a day out of the sun and this year we went to the del mar race track! jon worried (a little) about teaching megan and hailey the fine art of betting on horses, (win, place, show) but i assured him it would be just fine. my father and his brothers owned some race horses back in the day, and my uncle neal finally named one of them after me, SUSAN'S PROMISE! so, once when she was racing, my dad took me to see her. i vividly remember making bets on the races that day with michelle, my sister in law. i can't remember where we were or even if susan's promise won. i don't think she did. anyway, since it didn't corrupt me, i figured we could have a little fun with m & h, right? megan had her camera and made a little video of the 2nd race. it is her that starts yelling so loudly towards the finish :).


turns out megan picked the WINNER for the first three races!!! un.be.liev.a.ble. she turned to me after the second race, and with a totally serious face said, "i think i'm a horse whisperer." i think she is too! we ended up leaving after the fourth race (i lost that one by a little snot that was on the other horses nose...it was sooooo close) and drove on in to san diego for dinner. then we took the ferry over to coronado for ice cream and then back for a little shopping. walking around down town was so nice, the weather was cool, it was beautiful.

thursday, the life guard thought jon and megan needed to be rescued. up comes the boat, and then the life guard yelling at him to see if he was ok. he was standing on the bottom at the time, no problems...but it brought back memories of many years ago and a rescue of brett slade during a red flag day!

friday and saturday sadie came to join us. she was so excited to be there, she brought some new animo to the week-end. we went to see a movie friday night that didn't get out until about 11:45 and since there was a barnes 'n noble right there, megan wanted to see if we could pick up the new stephanie myers book. we heard the count down to midnight as we walked in, and the line didn't look too bad, so i asked if i could just stand in line and buy one. the sales girl told me i needed a bracelet, so i got one, and then i thought i could get in line. she told me i needed to wait upstairs, those were the A people in line. my bracelet was HH. oooohhhhh! (we left.)

saturday morning we stopped and grabbed one on the way to the beach and there was NO line. she has read 400 pages in about eighteen hours. there were quite a few women reading breaking dawn at the beach that day.

all in all, a great vacation, a very fun tradition! can't wait for next time!