A gig at THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS has Vincent Irizarry (David) working in Los Angeles and commuting to New Jersey to see the family, so there was little question about where his crew would spend Spring Break '07.

"My wife came out with my youngest kids (Aria, 9, and Elias, 5)," Irizarry reveals. And life’s been a beach. "Their first day, we drove up the coast past Malibu. We ate at Malibu Seafood (malibuseafood.com), then went to Paradise Cove. The kids had a great time exploring on the beach. My son was picking up rocks and filled the back of the car with them. He wanted to take them [East] with us!"

Another day found them shopping and catching a movie at the Third Street Promenade. "We did one thing after the next," Irizarry says with an exhausted sigh. But there were some weather issues the first week. "We were thinking of going to my friend's pool in The Marina, but then the winds started picking up. It wasn't swimming weather. We were also going to go to Universal Studios one day, because my kids have never been, but we were too wiped out. "

Still, nothing could keep him from two idyllic father/daughter outings. "Tuesday and Wednesday, I surprised my daughter and took her to AMERICAN IDOL," shares Irizarry, who scored tickets to the rehearsal show and the results show. "My wife, my daughter and I watch IDOL together every week. When it's time for Aria to go to bed, she gives me the list of people she wants me to vote for. That's been a tradition of ours for years."

Needless to say, meeting family fave Melinda Doolittle backstage was a treat and, he relates, "We got to be there when Sanjaya went down! Aria wanted him to be voted off, because it was obvious he wasn't in the same league, and people who were more worthy were being voted off. I told her, '20 years from now, people are going to remember where they were when he got voted off.'"

Not that Irizarry had no sympathy. "Being there in the audience, you can't help but feel sorry for them when they get voted off," he admits. "Sanjaya's a sweet kid. He has a lot of charm and a career ahead of him, but he's just not the singer [the others] are and he's young. He'll be interesting to watch."