COUNTYWIDE : Sun Shines on Spring Breakers

The first full day of spring break brought blessedly warm temperatures Monday, drawing school-weary youngsters outdoors.

With warm, rain-free weather expected this week, it appears that parents all over Orange County will escape their spring-break nightmare: being cooped up with whining, antsy children.

After a little morning fog, most areas in Orange County were clear and warm Monday, with highs ranging from 60 degrees at Huntington Beach and 67 at Newport Beach, to 70 in Santa Ana and 73 in El Toro, Anaheim and Fullerton.

Rick Dittmann, a forecaster with WeatherData Inc., which provides weather forecasts for The Times, said the rest of the week should be a few degrees warmer as a weak low pressure system brings northwest winds that will thin out the cloud layer and let more sunshine through.

That was good news to Bob Lewis, social recreation director at the Huntington Beach Branch of the Boys and Girls Club, where a Spring Olympics is in progress this week.

The event includes such Easter-theme activities as egg blowing (where participants pretend a Ping-Pong ball is an egg and push it with their breath) and an egg toss (using a sponge ball).

At the Boys and Girls Club in Fountain Valley, Lisa Grimm’s charges were looking forward to their fishing trip to Irvine Lake later this week. Monday, they soaked up the sun playing basketball and whiffle ball.

The beaches also drew a good crowd Monday. Newport Beach lifeguard Robert Williams estimated that 50,000 hit the sand, including a lot of children obviously happy not to be in school.

“It looked almost like a summer day,” Williams said. “The water was warm and lots of people were in it.”

A summer day. For the schoolchildren who have to hit the books again Monday, that’s something that still seems eons away.