Ryan and I are beginning our holiday in Laguna Niguel right now. It’s very festive here with Christmas trees decorated and surfboards as well. The waves here have been nice the past few days and there are a few hundred surfers on the water. We’ve got a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and have been totally relaxed since arriving. 

 

The first thing we did when we arrived was get our rental car which was supposed to be a small sedan from Hertz. Our car wasn’t in its designated area and was MIA. Ryan returned to the counter and either out of haste or incredibly good customer service, we were upgraded to an Escalade. I think we fit into California right away driving this monster SUV. I’m trying not to think about the gas consumption of this thirsty beast.  We hurried over to In and Out Burger right away for our first meal and then drove to our hotel.

For some strange reason Ryan wanted to go shopping on Christmas Eve so we went over to not one but TWO malls: Fashion Island and South Coast Center mall. It wasn’t as busy as we had expected. Christmas also came early for me…in the form of shoes… 😉

We had dinner at our hotel last night. Instead of the standard menu we decided to eat what we really wanted which was the childrens menu: Chicken strips, fries, grilled cheese (on white no less) and zoo sticks … with wine and champagne! A perfect meal.