more huntington beach fun

the rest of our fabulous beach getaway went by in a flash, especially since we spent saturday pretty much hunkered down in our room sucking up the AC and taking naps.  it's pretty fantastic knowing that you don't have anything that you have to do, no schedule, no commitments, just time to hang out and relax.  it's not something we do often, really.

we did get out of the hotel to grab some lunch, though.

and then while the hub went to grab a cigar with his friend the bean decided she wanted to go upstairs and chill in the room while i went to the forever 21 that was literally right next door to the hotel.  while i didn't find much for myself, i did score a bunch of stuff for her.  after all, their clothing is sized for small people.  i made her try it all on when i got back and it all fit her perfectly.  like, how cute is this?

she ended up wearing that outfit when we headed outside and walked over to nearby duke's to meet up with the hub for dinner.

on sunday morning, the hub headed out for an early morning meet-up with his buddy out on the beach.  the bean and i were more than happy to stay in bed.

and since the hub isn't a huge fan of bruxie, i decided it was the perfect time to call in an order and run across the street to pick up some breakfast for us.  the bean happily waved to me from the balcony.

we'd decided to split a couple of items - the bacon and egg sandwich and a liege waffle with nutella.  super tasty.

when the hub got back, we decided to get dressed and make an appearance at the beach.  after all, we had to go at least once, right?

it was overcast and breezy, while still being pretty warm but not uncomfortably so.  a perfect day.

we lost her to the water almost as soon as we put our stuff down on the sand.

these flip flops have taken me everywhere - rome, vatican city, florida, the bahamas, disney world and disneyland.  they have a lot of sentimental value, but they're pretty beat up and the hub was all "dude, i think you need some new sandals."  heh.

quick family selfie and then we were outta there.

i decided to walk back over to pacific city to do a little window shopping and finally got to stop at philz coffee for a little afternoon pick-me-up.

and then when i got back, i found the two of them hanging out on a couple of chairs in front of the hotel, enjoying a milkshake from the shop across the street.  we went up stairs to change and then got in the car for the first time all weekend to head over to newport beach for dinner at our favorite place, the crab cooker.  while he parked the car, the bean and i went inside to put our names down for a table and were pleasantly surprised to hear that the wait was only 10 minutes.  being a sunday of a holiday weekend, that definitely wasn't what we were expecting.

while we waited for our food, the bean flipped her place mat over to do some drawing.  she likes to ask us to draw some sort of little squiggle and then she has to figure out how to incorporate it into a work of art.  something like this:

turns into this:

and this one:

became this.

i know she's my kid and all, but i really find this talent of hers to be so impressive and creative.  i sure couldn't do that.

the food was delicious, of course.  you can't go wrong with crab and shrimp.

the next morning, we did another bruxie run for breakfast.

and on our way back up to our room, we came across this fun little set-up.  why yes, i think i will, thank you very much.

and then it was time to pack up, check out and head home.  always the saddest part of any getaway, yes?

one last look at our view of the ocean, and then we walked out of the room for the last time.

back at home, we reunited with the old lady after a four-day separation and were happily surprised to find that we'd managed to escape the worst of that weekend's heat wave.  while it was still in the mid-90s, there was a bit of a cloud cover and a pretty nice breeze that did a decent job of cooling off the house.  with all the windows open, it was nice to air it out a little after being on lockdown for awhile.

hands down probably one of the best labor day weekends we've had in a long time.  and now i really want to move to the beach one day.  heh.

turning lemons into lemonade, or something like that

you know what sucks?  when your AC goes out in the middle of a heat wave.  even worse?  when it's the friday before a holiday weekend.

by the grace of god, we somehow managed to get someone to come out to take a look at our AC unit to see if it was something easily fixable.  but as luck would have it, a new motor was required to get it going again, and that was something that couldn't be obtained until the day after the holiday.  YARG.

the hub did some quick thinking, made a few phone calls and after dropping mollydog off at the doggie hotel for some R&R of her own, we packed up and headed down to to the beach.

the shorebreak is one of those super cool, super hip places where old people like me probably shouldn't be hanging out.  even just sitting in the lobby as the hub checked us in i felt like a fish out of water as impeccably dressed people strolled past.  even in beach attire these folks looked fab...and it turned out to be a pet-friendly hotel as we watched dogs of all shapes and sizes walk past.  the dogs looked more chic than me.  oh well.  the bean was excited as she ooh'ed and aah'ed over them all and sat in a fun fluffy chair.

our room was really nice - and cold, because they didn't have any AC problems.

the bean got all googly-eyed over the tray of snacks until i told her to check the price list.

the bathroom had one of those really cool no-curtain, no-door showers with two separate shower heads.  i may or may not have used them both at the same time at least once.

the tub got no love though.  i'm not a fan of sitting in bathwater anyway, but this tub looked like it would hurt with all those sharp corners.  heh.

the bean kept laughing at the artwork on the wall.  "mom, why did they paint her with her butt crack showing?"  why, indeed.

while we didn't get the full ocean view that the hub was promised over the phone, we could still see it from our balcony.

and right across the street i knew we'd end up grabbing breakfast at least once, because the bean and i love bruxie.

we decided to take a walk and see if we could find some dinner, and the bean found another fun chair to sit in as we waited for the elevator.

lots of fun stuff to do in the hotel, although the bean was a little bummed at the lack of a pool.  yeah, i know the ocean's right there...but i personally really hate sand.

pacific city was just a couple of blocks away, and there were lots of dining and shopping options there.  it took us all of maybe five minutes to get there on foot.

i was pretty excited when the hub suggested having dinner here, because i'd eyed this place the last time we came to pacific city a couple of months ago.  i think you can see why:

the menu had lots and lots of delicious-sounding things on it.

and loooooooook.

our server came by to introduce himself, take our drink order and drop off an iPad that we could use to place orders at our leisure if we didn't want to wait for him to come back.  plus, it offered pictures and more details on the menu items.  the bean had a blast clicking through it and placing our orders for us.

and while she doesn't like soda, she liked pouring it from the bottle into my glass of ice.  fanta grape, of course.

the cheesy biscuits with honey butter were okay.  nothing special, really.

we chose several flavors of bacon slices from the bar, and they were all delivered in their own individual bags.  the apple pie was the best, by the way.  so good.

the bean opted for some buttery noodles with grilled shrimp off of the kids' menu:

this was the "sprouts & snouts" - caramelized brussels sprouts, bacon lardons, butternut squash, a sunny side-up egg and honey-mustard vinaigrette.  really good.

and the hub went for the meatloaf - made with bacon of course, and topped with a really rich bleu cheese sauce.  it was delicious, and i don't even like meatloaf

and i can't resist burrata when it's on the menu.

we opted out of dessert because we were stuffed, and the bean was excited to get to sign off on the check using the iPad.  she even filled out the survey at the end.

back at the hotel, the bean got comfy in her bed while the hub went to meet up with a friend who lives right down the street.  as for me - well, i had work to do.  believe it or not, i'd packed up all the supplies for decorating four dozen cookies that i needed to deliver the next morning.  i'd never worked on cookies outside of my own kitchen before, so this was really funny to me.

but it must've been a good thing, because i was actually done faster than i would've at home.  must be that lovely beach air.

we should totally move to the beach!  yesssssssss.