We took off early Friday morning and were able to get to Newport by about 5 that night.  We stayed the night at a travel lodge up by the airport.  Camille drove in from Arizona with the kids that night.  She was so brave to drive by herself!  The hotel had a nice pool so we stayed and swam in the morning.  Olivia is a good swimmer and could pretty much beat me every time in our races across the pool. Ha! 

We headed down to the condo later in the afternoon and got all settled in.  Candice and Curtis drove down with Benny and Leila and got there later Saturday night.  It was really cozy, but between blow up mattresses and Kate sleeping at landon's, we all fit.

 Emily went to dinner with us that first night we were there.  She is such a neat girl and a great friend to Katie. 

The beach was so fun this year.  The kids were happy to play in the sand all day and Olivia loved boogie boarding.  She would stay out there in the waves all day and still hadn't had enough when it was time to call it a day.  She has gotten pretty good at catching a wave and it would carry her  all the way into shore.  Then she would hop up off her board and head back out into the water, smiling from ear to ear.

Kelley and KC borrowed Jimmy's surf boards again this year and would go out early in the morning to try to learn how to get up.  KC got to be pretty good at it and Kelley got up a few times too.

 Emily loved eating the sand, just like Sam.

 Catching sand crabs.

 Camille brought this cool tent of Brittneys that was so easy to pop up and would get the kids out of the sun and wind.  It was great for nap time!

 Some great paddle ball went on here.  Kate and I were  pretty confident of our championship after  91 continuous hits, but then KC and Candice wouldn't have that and moved ahead of us with 107 hits! We will be taking the lead back as soon as we get back to the beach  Ha! 

 Emily is taking a few steps now, but can crawl much faster so thats how she usually gets around.  She is such a little joy...so happy and pleasant to be with.  She wasn't one bit afraid of the water.

 It was Curtis's birthday on Monday.  Candice baked him a cake and they went out to dinner. I hope he had a happy day. 

 Landon and his girlfriend came over  for fun dinner one night.  He is a great guy and so funny!  I can see why Kate had so much fun staying with him.  They remain really good friends and she stays there when she visits California.

 Kelley brought me sunflowers one day (he is a peach!)  and we all enjoyed them all week...they are so pretty!

 I will have to carry on with the rest of our trip in my next post....so many pictures!