Editor’s note: Part 2 of our family trip to Southern California! See our Los Angeles & Venice favorites in Part 1.
ORANGE COUNTY WITH KIDS
On Monday, we packed up our things and drove an hour south to Orange County where we’d be staying at the Waterfront Beach Resort (part of the Hilton group – more on the hotel in a bit). I love this whole area; the vibe is much more relaxed and less scene-y than LA and there’s some spectacular real estalking from Huntington all the way down to Dana Point.
One of my favorite things we did the whole week was to rent an electric boat in Newport Beach at Lido Marina Village. It’s kind of like driving a golf cart; not super fast, but still fun and allows you to enjoy the scenery. And they’re crazy cute, right? I mean those colors!
Cracking up at Captain Jude’s serious face.
Newport Beach is crazy gorgeous and we LOVED the entire Lido Marina Village. (The hotel looks incredible, too, btw.) We ate lunch and hopped on the eboat for a couple of hours before coming back and cruising through all the cute shops (OMG THE SERENA & LILY FABULOUSNESS.
This photo makes me laugh. Somebody was DONE.
ARCHER’S FIRST DISNEYLAND TRIP
On Tuesday we had planned to hit up Disneyland and as luck would have it, the forecast called for 95 degree temps. NO NO NO NO NO.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACH RESORT
I wish I’d gotten more photos of the hotel because it was lovely. We stayed at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort (undoubtedly a mouthful). Relatively brand new and snappily decorated in happy beachy tones, it was within walking distance of the expansive Huntington Beach and plenty of shops and cool restaurants. The hotel property itself had a giant pool complete with slide and its own sandy beach area. So fun and cute.
Finally, a quick note to say that traveling with kids is NEVER easy and it NEVER turns out 100% like you anticipate. But I am absolutely certain that it’s worth the sacrifices made to be there, together. The memories made (often under stress haha) make for the best stories and I’m convinced of the importance in showing our kids that life is different outside of our little bubble. There’s an enormous world out there, and they are the ones I want to see it all with.
