Newport Beach Family Vacation 2020 RECAP!

HAPPY TUESDAY! I’m typing this out LITERALLY today so I can get it up – but I wanted to share a little bit about how we spent our weekend in Newport Beach, CA this past Labor Day. We booked a spontaneous trip a couple weeks ago after our original plans fell through and it honestly couldn’t have been more wonderful. We stayed in my aunt’s beach house so we didn’t have to worry about lodging or finding a place to stay – huge blessing. ANYWAYS – let’s jump into what you can do at Newport Beach over a weekend stay! I want to note: every place we went (restaurant or shop) required social distancing and masks. It was highly enforced in each location.

Newport Beach Family Vacation 2020 RECAP!

DAY ONE:

Uber from John Wayne Airport

This was super easy and quick. Our driver arrived in less than 5 minutes to get us to the beach house!

Grocery shopping at the Pavilion

HIGHLY recommend so you don’t have to eat out all the time and you can snag some snacks. It’s walking distance from most of the beach rentals on the strip (and from my aunt’s house). We grabbed a little cart from the house and took it with us so we didn’t have to carry bags back!

Lunch at Fly ‘N’ Fish on the boardwalk

This is right at the beginning of the boardwalk! I highly recommend the burger – SO GOOD and the fries were fantastic. Outdoor seating had a beautiful view of the palm trees and beach!

Boogie Boarding

We grabbed boogie boards and jumped in the ocean during Jack’s afternoon nap! My parents stayed up in or near the house to listen for him while me, Adam, my sister and her fiancé all went to ride the waves. The water was freezing but it was SO much fun. We also ventured over to the rocks to climb and look for crabs.

Grilled hot dogs + chips for dinner

We grabbed hot dogs + chips at the grocery store and grilled for dinner! We ate on the porch with an ocean view.

Bike ride to pier

Adam and I ditched the fam after Jack went down for bed and took a bike ride to the pier. It was gorgeous out and gave us a great overview of the area.

Virgin Mojitos + sunset watch

We all spread out on the porch to watch the sunset and sip on virgin mojitos at the end of the night.

DAY TWO:

Seaside Donuts

These donuts are AMAZING. I highly recommend the old fashioned and Adam’s vote is the maple bar. If you want what the locals love – try the cronut!! My sister also votes for their mango smoothie if you are feeling tropical.

Boogie Boarding / Beach

Another boogie boarding and beach day!! During Jack’s morning nap, we all bummed out at the beach catching waves and soaking up the sun.

Lunch – sandwiches

Lunch on day 2 was sandwiches, chips and fresh fruit. So easy and we could eat whenever we wanted to.

Pier + shopping

Everyone went out after lunch to go shopping on the pier and check out the shops. We also grabbed smoothies at a local ice cream shop to eat while we walked.

Sanchos Tacos

HIGHLY recommend the Sanchos nachos if you are here – absolutely delicious. We ordered take out so we could eat at the house and we ate while we watched the waves!

Gina’s Pizza / Game Night

We decided to do second dinner after Jack went down for bed while we played card games in the kitchen. LOL. Gina’s pizza is phenomenal and they delivered to our door.

Hot Tub

Post-pizza and games, we all piled into the hot tub on the roof. It was the perfect ending to our day.

DAY THREE:

Seaside Donuts

This donut shop is literally so close we walked there each morning around 6am to snag donuts for the whole fam.

Boogie Boarding / Beach

This day, we actually set up a big tent and claimed our beach spot early on so we could get close to the ocean without being near anyone else on the beach. We boogie boarded, Jack played in the sand and near the littler waves and we ate snacks in the sun!

Sandwiches + leftovers for lunch

We did a quick lunch of sandwiches and leftovers before all showering and getting ready for our afternoon family photos.

Family pictures

We got family pictures done down on the beach so that we could remember our trip and for Christmas cards!

Dory’s Deli

This was our last dinner at the house so we did Dory’s Deli and got take out! We ALL highly recommend their chicken & waffles – seriously you won’t regret that. YUM.

Ice Cream / Game Night

We bought tubs of ice cream at the Pavilion the first day and cracked them open the last night during our game night.

Hot Tub

Obviously, we couldn’t end the evening without jumping the hot tub to watch the waves and listen to the ocean.

DAY FOUR:

Seasides Donuts

We got up extra early to grab another round of donuts for all and their strawberry smoothie.

Lyft to John Wayne Airport

Be sure to check both Lyft and Uber when catching a ride back to the airport because Lyft was 1/2 the price of the Uber going back!

All in all, this trip was MUCH needed. The airport did a good job sanitizing and keeping us as separated as possible. They sanitized the planes before and after departure, there was no food service and we were all given additional sanitizing wipes upon enter the aircraft. Masks were required AND enforced the entire time. Obviously, we all need to be traveling with care but I never felt unsafe during this time.

Newport Beach was wonderful and I cannot wait to go back!