The OC

We spent the morning exploring the San Marcos area and doing some laundry. Yes, laundry. I cannot deal with having dirty flying clothes touching everything else in my bag so we found a laundromat and sipped coffee in the sun while our clothes got clean. Jackson is such a champ for dealing with my cleanliness issues. I love him for it.

We packed up mid-morning (loving the time difference!) and headed up the PCH to our new home for the evening in Orange County.
We loved the PCH. We stopped at a fancy grocery store for a picnic lunch before getting to Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach to go hiking.
The views were insane. As was the hike. I was dying at .86 miles in.
Jackson had to go ahead to see if the uphill climb ever ended before I agreed to keep going. He swore it did. I told him to "smell me" because I was sweating in an ugly way. You guys, he did. He smelled me. How could I not keep going for such a man? I sucked it up and kept going.
This view made me glad that I did. Wow. Just wow. We completed the strenuous 5 mile hike and made our way to the beach.
I loved this shoreline.
This was the hill we'd just climbed.

Yep. This is a real beach. I couldn't deal with its beauty.
The water wasn't warm.
That didn't stop my water baby from getting in.
He loves the ocean no matter the temperature.
I prefer to get my toes wet and then run but my feet were swollen from the hike and I thought the cold water would help. It did.
A kid was out standup paddleboarding without a wetsuit. Clearly he had lost his mind.
I love the look of all the houses on the hills.
We hiked up from the beach to catch the sunset.
Isn't my sunset date handsome?
It was a gorgeous evening.
Seriously. It was still 70 degrees at this point so I was certain I'd found paradise.
I made Jackson take a "senior photo" because I loved this tree.

We were famished at this point so we headed to our hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We wanted to go to the fancy shopping area we'd passed the day before for dinner so we couldn't go straight from the hike. Darn. ;) Traffic was a bit insane but we made it to the hotel, showered and got back out into the madness. The Newport Center did not disappoint. It was amazing. We got right into Cheesecake Factory (don't hate. It is my favorite place.) and had a booth. Unheard of! Dinner was awesome and then we went out to shop.
Jackson even met Santa. ;)
The tree at Newport Center was the most beautiful I've seen. This photo doesn't do it justice. I stood there and admired it for a good 10 minutes. We shopped at Neiman Marcus before remembering that we can't afford that place and left empty handed. Whoops. ;) The weather was so mice and the sky so clear that I kept having to remind myself that we were outdoors! This place makes City Place in West Palm Beach look cheap. Yep. I said it.

We came back to the hotel (God bless Google maps for helping us find our way back!) and crashed out for the night. I don't think I've slept harder ever. That hike was no joke. I loved our day, though. Jackson said it best when he said, "it is too bad that it took getting to December 23rd to have our best day of the year!"