Our Family Holiday to California - Part 2 - Newport Beach - Southern California

Today I'm continuing to share details of our recent family holiday to California.......

You can read Part 1 here if you need to catch up :)

Day 4 - Huntington Beach/ Laguna Beach / Newport Beach

After checking out of our L.A hotel we jumped in the car and headed south to our destination of Newport Beach. Along the way we drove via the famous surfing town Huntington Beach and stopped to check out the beach and walk the pier. At the end of the pier is a diner called Ruby's where we had the best shakes and ice cream. We then sat on a bench and watched the surfers catch a few waves.

We then drove up to Laguna Beach for a browse through the town before checking into our hotel in Newport Beach. We stayed at the Marriott Newport Beach.
(When booking the hotels for this trip the location was my main priority. I knew we wouldn't be spending much time in the room so as long as it was clean and the hotel had the amenities we needed that was enough.)

The Marriott was great for us as it was close to shops and restaurants as the big Fashion Island complex was just across the road. We had dinner and a late night browse around the shops before calling it a day.

Day 5 - Balboa Island / The Wedge - Newport Beach

This day we drove to Balboa Island which has the cutest little houses and neighbourhood and looks like the movie version of America. There are quaint little shops to explore and apparently the frozen bananas and ice cream sandwiches are a must try but we didn't get around to it.

You can drive your car onto a ferry and cross the water to the Fun Zone. This was a bit of a novelty and only takes about 5 minutes. If you look closely you can sometimes see sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks. The Fun Zone has a couple of rides for the kids and an arcade to waste your money on ;) We gave the kids a few quarters to play a few games before heading off.

After the Fun Zone we drove a couple of streets away to check out The Wedge. The Wedge is situated in a beautiful neighbourhood and is a famous surf break known for one of Southern California's gnarliest waves because of how the water bounces off the rocks and "wedges up" 

It wasn't really suitable for the younger kids to swim so we sat and watched Finn and Simon catch a few waves. They found it fun but one of the most powerful waves they've been in and only stayed in for half an hour or so.

As the kids wanted to have a swim we headed back to the hotel and hung around the pool for the afternoon. Noah definitely knows how to relax!

Later that night we had another wander around Fashion Island. I loved checking out Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Forever 21 and we found this fun shop that sold supersized candy. 

The boys were in heaven!

Day 6 - Laguna/ 3 Arch Bay Beach / Shopping

We had a sleep in then decided to spend a few hours at the beach. One of my friends from Instagram got in touch and organised for us to have access to a private beach called 3 Arch Bay in Laguna.

The boys loved running on the sand and had a quick swim. We couldn't believe how cold the water was though!

On the way back to Newport Beach we stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping at the Irvine Spectrum Centre which was huge. We were happy to have a few relaxing days in Southern California as we knew we had a busy time coming up as Disneyland was our next destination.

Some places I had on my list.......

Balboa Island - car ferry to Fun Zone

Wilma's Fish n Chips

Frozen bananas/ ice cream sandwiches

The Wedge

Fashion Island

Nick's Restaurant

Thalia Beach

Thousand Steps Beach

Montage Beach

More to come tomorrow!