Sightseeing

Over the few days that my family was here, we did some sightseeing of our area.  On Monday, we took everyone over to Laguna Beach and walked around the beautiful sights of the Montage Hotel.  It was right where we took pictures of the kids this year.  My parents and Jane and Joe had never been, so it was a great place to see.

We paused along our walk and got some pictures of all of us.  Love this one!

John and I.

My parents.

There's Piper!

Trying to get another one.

This was the beautiful view that we saw even though it was cold and cloudy.

Daddy and Piper.

Brody

We saw a bunch of baby birds down by the shore. 

They would run up the beach every time the waves would come in so they didn't get wet.  It was cute to watch.

The grounds of the hotel are just beautiful.

Brody took a few shots with the camera of the things he liked too.

After our walk, we drove to downtown to go to dinner at BJ's.  It wasn't a second later from when we parked and got out that Brody lost it on the sidewalk.  It shocked us all since he really had no other signs of being sick prior to barfing.  He was sitting in the very back of the van with Mom and Jane, which could have made him car sick.  We all could only imagine the damage if we were all still in the car.  Ew. . .

So, being forced to change our plans, we took Brody home and John stayed with him.  We have a newly opened BJ's right by our house, so we went there and had a nice time.  After dinner, I took everyone to see some light show at a house we had heard about in Nellie Gail.  It was advertised in the newspaper and a friend of mine went and loved it.  The owners open their home for the public to walk through and see all their holiday decor every night from Thanksgiving to New Years, 5 to 10pm.  We thought they had to be insane to do this, but then you realize that they just want to spread the holiday cheer and this was their way to share with everyone.  They're still crazy, though.

Here is the front of the house.  The lights are synchronized to music and you can set your car radio to listen or can listen on the street.  You can also send text to a number and it will appear on a neon sign in front of the house.  We went twice to this place, once this night, and once closer to Christmas to take John and Brody.  On this night, it wasn't as packed with cars and people lining the streets as it was closer to Christmas.  They also had free warm apple cider and brownies to enjoy and lounge chairs to sit and enjoy from across the street.

Here is the entrance to the house.

Inside, they have all sorts of little villages set up.  They have to start getting things out and set up as early as August.  That's crazy!  Here is the Disney village.

An Ice Palace.

Whoville with lots of little Grinch's around.

Another village with a train that passes through.  All the snow work is made out of styrofoam and carved by hand.  They are the back drops to most of the scenes.  Pretty amazing.

One of their decorated trees.  Right next to this tree, they had playing on the TV "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with little seats for the kids to sit in.

Literally, their whole main living space was occupied with people.  The kitchen, upstairs, and the lower level from the main was all roped off.  It was amazing house to look at.  I would go nuts with all those decorations and all the people.  Their neighbors have got to hate them.  Good for them though for doing their huge part in spreading the Christmas cheer.

We had a crazy night that night as John turned 2nd victim to the nasty bug.  Brody was almost all better by morning, so we took the kids with everyone to the lake.  It was a perfect morning and we had a great time walking around, seeing the turtles, and feeding the ducks.

Brody was having a blast feeding the ducks.  They were going crazy too, much more than usual, it seemed.

 

It was the seagulls that were really going nuts, though.  Brody would throw bread up in the air and they would hover over us and catch it in their breaks.  I really have never seen anything like it or so many all above us.

Later that afternoon, we left a recovering John and a passed out Piper at home and took everyone to Newport Beach to walk around.  We first took our car on the ferry to Balboa Island before the sun went down.  It made Brody's day being on that boat.

Balboa Island

Newport Beach

Once we got on the island, we parked, walked around the homes, looked at lights, and shopped a little in the shops in downtown, and then it was back home for some warm chicken and rice soup.  It was a great night and a wonderful time with everyone here.  My parents and Jane and Joe all left that next morning, so we said our goodbyes for now.  Thank you everyone for coming and making Christmas that much more special!