Who Said It Never Rains In Southern California?

Well, they were wrong. I would still take a rainy day over a snow storm that dumps inches and created a traffic hazard (over 200 accidents according to the Utah news--suckers!) The rain may have put a damper on our bike riding and hiking adventures, but we still managed to make our own fun. With a quick Google search of fun things to do in the Newport Beach area we found ourselves on a short drive to Balboa to the pier where we dined at Ruby's Diner at the edge of the pier. The combination of comfort food and hanging out watching the storm over the ocean was quite a treat. Romney was thrilled to find a pelican who agreed and was also hanging out on the pier just outside of the diner and they had quite a game of hide and seek going. Who found who first is still up for debate.



After Ruby's we hunted down the entrance for the Balboa Ferry and rode across as pedestrians. The boys walked for over an hour looking in all kinds of fun shops with the bribe of an arcade and a family run candy store serving to keep them moving happily through the drizzle. Watching three boys choose just the right candy was quite entertaining.



Romney took at least 30 minutes making up his mind about his important candy decision. (He settled on a small candy with a toy airplane attached, in case you were wondering.) Bill was first to decide (chocolate covered Oreo) and William came in an impressive second place with 5 smaller candy options.





We wandered around the island exploring for a while when we ran into an orangutan in a tree. Orangutans hanging out in trees is not a sight we see everyday, so we had to stop and let Romney have his photo taken with his new friend. (He was popular with the animals today for some reason. Maybe not the cow he tipped in the video at the bottom of this post).




After a very short ferry ride back to the Balboa peninsula, we played in the promise arcade for a while and then ran out of ideas of indoor options. The boys were dying to go back to the hotel room for a movie, so that is what we did until dinner, when we met with Anne and Q.

It may not have been the sunniest or warmest day of the trip, but when I checked the Utah weather this evening, I appreciated every minute just a little bit more!