weekend getaway

Two weeks ago Dave and I were lucky to have a 2 day get-away. My dad watched our kids for the 2 days which was super nice! We are so thankful.

We debated and debated about what to do with our time alone. Our last weekend get away was to the Rose Bowl to see the Parade and watch Ohio State beat Oregon. We both remember this fondly as quite possibly the best date of all time. So, we were anxious to try to find something close by that would be just as great.

In the end we rented a hotel in Newport Beach and then decided to spend one day going to Magic Mountain trying out all the roller coasters. One of our other previous favorite dates was to Cedar Point in Ohio where there are some of the worlds best roller coasters. There was a little bit of traffic on the way through LA and we arrived at Magic Mountain around 1pm, a little later than planned. However, it was a very low crowd day so we were able to get on every ride we wanted to try and had a great time.  My favorite was the Lex Luther Drop of Doom - the worlds tallest free fall at 400 ft. and reaching speeds of 85 mph. I also liked Goliath, which was Dave's favorite. The new ride X2 was so crazy you didn't know which was up/down and around. Super fun though!  Overall, it was a great day to be there. We got a kick out of the type of people that were there with us. Most were teenagers. I enjoy chatting with the people we meet in line.

(all those pics are on dave's phone so I'll add those later)

Saturday night after Magic Mountain we drove down to Newport Beach and stayed the night there. Our hotel (we got on Priceline) was right next to Fashion Valley Mall. Dave was not super excited to see that his hotel window looked out upon a great big mall! However, on the plus side, it was nice to have a Cheesecake Factory nearby so we could have good dessert.

This is Dave showing his displeasure at having a view of the mall out our hotel window!

Sunday morning we drove to the beach at Newport Beach and rented bikes -$10/day. We rode up the boardwalk, stopped for breakfast and looked at all the beautiful houses.  Amazing water front homes! We went over to Balboa Island and rode around there as well.  The beach cruisers were good bikes.

This area was really neat. It was the boat passageway from the Newport area into the open ocean. Tons of boats out and about on a gorgeous day!

After a few hours, we were done with the bikes and looking for something else to do for the afternoon. I had previously looked up opera, music and other events in the area and remembered that there was a Sunday afternoon symphony in Dana Point.  One of my old high school friends, Elliott Moreau was in the orchestra so I facebook messaged him and luckily he called back in just a few minutes. He was kind enough to comp us some tickets. It was fun to see him and hear about life as a professional musician. Last time we saw him was at our wedding reception 12 years ago.

Newport beach pier in the morning! So dreamy!

Sunset from the pier.

 

Since we were coming from the beach we were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. We changed into jeans (still not great, but at least pants) and then stopped in sears to get dave a collared shirt. I was wearing a jacket so I didn't need to change on top!  The program was called Mozart's Requiem unplugged, which meant there was a little extra talking by the conductor to explain the music we were hearing. It was very nice. We heard Mozart's Requiem (beautiful) and and amazing organ piece Fantasy in F minor. The cords in that song will stick with me forever. We also heard one of the most famous pieces of music Mozart wrote and also perhaps the most beautiful - Ave Verum Corpus.  We really enjoyed hearing the conductor introduce each piece and tell us a little about Mozart's life as the composer. It was a pleasant concert.

After the concert we stopped for some dinner at the Crab cooker - ate some clam chowder and then hit the road for home. Since all we ate was a bowl of soup and the super bowl was nearing the dramatic finish we also stopped at a BBQ place in San Marcos when we were pretty close to home to see the end of the game and enjoy one last meal without the kiddos!

When we got home around 8pm the 3 older kids were awake. We were greeted with lots of hugs and smiles. It was sweet. In the morning when Jo woke up I went in to get her. She was happy to see me as usual, but no more than usual. However, when she saw Dave she was beside herself with excitement! Such a cute little girl!


 

One more pic from the pier - after our morning ride!