Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade

This year was the 100th year for the Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade. That is one long tradition. We've been a few times, but it's been a while so we thought we would try it again and this time, we made a weekend out of it. The kids and I met Ryan Friday after Maylan got out of school (for two long weeks - yay!). Friday night, we were joined by Ryan's parents and Diane and Marty. After they went home, we spent a cold but cozy night on the boat.

The good thing about a cold night, is it turns into kind of a big snuggle-fest the next morning when everyone is tired and not quite ready to get up.

The most popular one for morning cuddles of course was Miss Marissa.

After it warmed up enough for us to venture out of our sleeping bags, we took a long boat ride in the harbor where the kids entertained themselves by making silly faces.

Then we blew a few bucks at the arcade where Brandon got his fabulous vampire fangs.

Marissa enjoyed the view from daddy's shoulders.

Saturday night, some friends came down and joined us to watch the parade again. We all had a good time eating cookies and cupcakes and hot chocolate as the fabulous boats rolled by.

These are just a few of my favorites. That's Santa sleeping in a hammock being towed along by a big boat and down below is a sailboat that they turned into a giant Christmas tree. It turned out to be a great weekend, despite some chilly temperatures.