This weekend we flew down to Newport Beach to meet up with some of Brian's family - it was a quick trip but so much fun. Brian went with his Dad to his 50th High School Reunion to meet his old friends and hear about his dad in his wild days :) We stayed at the Balboa Bay Club with cousin Kevin and his girls Emily and Ashley who were down for the weekend giving their mom Jana a mom's weekend :) and Aunt Francy, Opa Bob (who went to the reunion with his brother too) and Oma too!

Three kids in three carseats - this is traveling light

Of course we get to the airport in plenty of time only to realize at the gate the flight is delayed an hour - time to kill running around with Jamba Juice

waiting to spot our plane. JJ was running bakc and forth every time one flew by to tell Heff and I "A-pan!!"

my stylish lap baby - this one is a CHALLENGE to keep happy on a plane ride!

We arrived at 11ish and Aunt Barbara and Grant picked us up at the airport (even waiting for us at baggage - not easy these days to pull off!) and then we had lunch with everyone at their house before going to the hotel. Didn;t take the girls long to hit the beach

and that's Francie slip sliding into the bay! No fear and she's got swimming down pat now. Maisie looked at the slide for a long time but is still thinking about it :)

the girls had SO much fun with their big cousins Emily 10 and Ashley 8 - it was great for them to get some one-on-one time with these girls before Black Butte. They were SO sweet to Francie, Maisie and Janie (Ashley even let Francie win at their swim races every time)

evening Duffy boat ride with Duffy himself! (Aunt Francy's brother Duffy invented the very popular Duffy boat :)

Kevin here driving with Francie

Cheesy Baby J in her patriotic hand-me-downs

and Maisie way into taking photos with the shockproof underwater cam

Lala Francy and Francie

Girls on a boat ride in Duffy's beautiful boat (he took them to his shop first thing so the girls could raid the ice cream fridge - we had a good 10 minutes of wiping ice cream drips on sticky faces and hands after every bite to keep this boat from getting kid-smeared!)

Sunday morning Uncle John and Aunt Barbara brought donuts, bagels, OJ and the works for breakfast on the beach

Cousins and donuts - pretty good morning

and the girls were back in the water for kayaking

hitting the hotel candy shop after lunch

Big smiles for candy bags :) saying bye to cousins before we went back to the airport to head home

those lollipops lasted awhile (well not as long as the "days and DAYS" Francie predicted)- sharing with J before an easy flight home

2 days of swimming = passed out the whole flight and Dad gets an award for keeping Janie occupied on his lap behind us while I got the easy sleepers on my lap.