12.08.2013

Sunday Share ~ Newport Beach

Last week my husband and I celebrated our anniversary.  <3  Every year I fall more in love with this man I am blessed to be married to.  He says he loves me today than he did the day we married.  awe, what woman doesn't want to hear that?  It's so true though.  The years of shared joys & sorrows, hopes & dreams, tears & lots of laughter have brought us closer through the years.



For our anniversary we decided to go to the ocean.  (We go almost every year for our anniversary because it's our favorite place to be.)  When we walked into our Suite at Hallmark Resorts this is the view we found.


We immediately decided to stay an extra night.  When I reserved the room I told them it was our anniversary so they had a bottle chilling for us in our room.  They also had a message in a bottle with sand in it.  The note inside was wishing us a happy anniversary and had little seashells and a picture of the beach on the outsid.  It's going on our mantle in our bedroom right beside our wedding picture.


Not only was there a fireplace in our room, but we had a hot tub for two in our suite as well.   Check out the view from the window above the hot tub.  It took my breath away.  I could certainly live here.  They had 2 flat screen TV's but we didn't watch much TV.  Why would we when we had views like this?


Here's a view of our sunset the first night.  I love the "God Rays" coming out of the clouds.  Only the Lord could make something so beautiful out of light and water and sand and air.  


On our first morning I woke to find this little guy on our balcony.  I think someone had left some cracker crumbs out there.




We had a couple of birds visit our balcony.  This seagull got close enough to eat out of our hands. We called it the Michael bird because both of them love Cheez-Its.


I've never seen a wild bird get this close without getting skidish, but he took that cracker right out of Scott's hand!


We were so busy taking pictures of the bird that we almost missed the second sunset.  Almost.  ;) 


After we went inside the seagull stayed perched on our balcony for at least an hour until it was completely dark outside.  It was so cold outside that we couldn't stay out there any longer.


Did I mention it was cold?  Thank goodness for the awesome view from our room because the one time we did brave walking on the beach we found ice had formed on the sand.  


The nice thing about frozen sand is that it is easier to walk on.   You don't sink in with every step and the sand stays out of your shoes.  BUT, the breeze coming off the ocean is bitter cold.  How do sailors and fishermen do it?  



It was such a nice trip and always so hard to leave the ocean, but we missed our kids.   Someday when we retire I want a house on the ocean with views like this.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

5 comments:

Kristie Goulet said...

Breathtaking for sure! I can totally see why you decided to stay an extra night. I would have too! You are truly blessed! xo

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a lovely place that is! I'm guessing with ice on the beach, that it's off-season there. They still treated you so well and what views you had. Happy anniversary, some days late! I love what you said about your husband.

Heather North said...

Yes I am blessed beyond measure and yes, it is off season. We got a great rate, the beach wasn't crowded. We had window seats at the restaurants and 90% of the business were closed. You can't win them all. It saved us some money though because we were in the mood to shop. ;)

It doesn't normally get that cold there. They rarely, if ever get snow on the beach, but it snowed the day after we left. I would like to have seen it snowing on the beach and over the ocean.

JD/ Jill said...

Beautiful Wedding photo! and a lovely place to stay...I can only dream...smile...but never say never right?

Heather North said...

Thank you. One day you will go. It's so worth the trip. :)