Ten Days of Summer: Part One
We arrived in San Diego Thursday for our home-away-from-home summer vacation, sadly minus Hal who is still working as I type this on a Saturday night because that’s how he rolls and we all cry because we miss him like mad.
We traveled south to my parent’s house because it’s summer and we don’t quite have the funds to hop a plane to Hawaii or Amalfi or anywhere that isn’t free. Archer has ten days off between the last day of “junior preschool” and the first day of summer school which meant HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO ENTERTAIN TWO KIDS FOR TEN DAYS ALL BY MYSELF? VACATION TO GOOEY AND PAPA’S HOUSE!
So here we are. And it is lovely. I thought it might be kind of fun to blog our to-do every couple days here on SFTB as kind of an impromptu what-do-do-in-San-Diego list I decided to put together in the last two minutes of writing this sentence.
As you may or may not know, I grew up in north county San Diego and regularly spend time down here with my family and old friends. I’ve written lists of my favorite things to do in Los Angeles, my home of ten years, but never written a cohesive list or reference guide to my favorite San Diego activities. So here is a calendar of awesome summer to-dos in real time.
Day One: Friday: SeaWorld
SeaWorld was kind enough to comp a trip for the kids, my parents and me, and it was awesome. It was also the first time I’d been to SeaWorld since I was fourteen. We went all the time as kids but it was especially fun returning as a parent. And a trip to watch Archer scurry down the rabbit holes of my childhood.
Whereas, I always loved Seaworld for its sea creatures (specifically petting sea cucumbers in the tidepools so fun) Archer was more interested in rolling down grassy knolls with my dad:
… Dancing around picnic tables for an hour:
…and of course, riding the “boxes in the sky” over the bay:
He also enjoyed dining with shamu…
…and OF COURSE the kid’s play area formerly known as Captain Kid’s World:
So much fun and yet… the “boxes” were BY FAR the high point of Archer’s afternoon:
(In fact I’m pretty sure shamu was the only animal Archer cared about
and he cared for all of three minutes. Needless to say he’s not the
animal person his mother is…)
All in all, SeaWorld was pretty badass but the crowds were kind of annoying. Also can we please talk about how many bad tattoos exist in theme parks? Seriously, people. The Calvin and Hobbs pissing on a Chevrolet sign on your shoulder? Might want to wear a shirt sleeve on that arm no offense.
Day Two: Saturday: Quail Botanical Gardens and its NEW TREEHOUSE HOLY AMAZINGNESS!
Located in my hometown of Encinitas, this is by far the coolest place I’ve ever seen, maybe in my whole life. I grew up going to Quail Gardens and have probably been there a total of 6787329273891 times. At least. But the Hamilton Children’s Garden is BRAND new. Just opened and might just be the greatest outdoor kid’s space in the entire world. I’m not kidding. It’s completely unbelievable. A fairy land in paradise complete with Swiss Family Robinsonesque treehouse, maze, stream, musical garden, butterfly garden, art gallery, area for building so your kids can engineer their own forts and playhouses and a thousand little game areas (Archer loved the giant tic tac toe game) and gardens (including one boasting veggies.)
We spent four hours there today and will likely be there every day for the rest of our stay. It’s THAT amazing. Why go anywhere else amazing. No lie. The only thing that sucks? Very little shade so bring lots of hats and perhaps even a parasol? Also highly recommend purchasing the year-long family membership pass. Most bang for your buckage.
(this list to be continued. In the meantime, what are YOU doing with your summer?)
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I have many fond memories of family vacations in San Diego.
Westley and I are spending as much time outside as possible. In Seattle, you have to take your sun when you get it, and we’ve been getting lots. Parks, parks, and more parks. We’re also going to the pool as much as possible. I have an 18-month-old who puts his face in the water and blows bubbles. That seems crazy to me, but he was born in water, so maybe…?
What are we doing this summer? Wishing we were in San Diego. Actually, I think I am going to save this list and put it on our wish list of summer places we would like to go.
Sounds like fun, especially the treehouses.
It has rained EVERY DAY in June. Our summer has been MISERABLE. Your post made me want to leave New England and move to Southern California!
Thank you! Heading down to SD for a freecation with my 2y/o for the month of August. Just started researching kid places today and look what you happpen to post, yay! Will def checkout the botanical gardens, rad!
The San Diego Playhouse Cafe appears to be closed down.
It’s been raining the past month, so we’ve been inside hiding, going to museums, and having momma daughter lunch dates galore
The past few days however, have been okay so we have spent our time in the pool, or farting around in the yard. Going to do a beach trip, NJ children’s gardens, bug museum, state fair, and other fun things like that.
Husband and I are going on our own vacation [no kid! no kid!] in July.
We head south an hour’s drive to Monterey/Pacific Grove, CA pretty much every other weekend because
a) Mom lives there and it’s free lodging
b) It’s cool and foggy at the moment, whereas Silicon Valley is 100 friggin degrees and poor Adeline is melting into a puddle of babygoo,
c) free babysitting with lodging!
d) So many great places to hang out in the area; picnic at Carmel Beach, hiking Pt Lobos or Big Sur, seeing the the newest seahorse exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or just walking around our neighborhood and eating great local food in downtown PG.
Head an hour’s drive north and we have San Francisco as our playground!
When we’re at home, we go to a lot of farmer’s markets, drive over to Santa Cruz for beachdays, or like this weekend, hole up in our apartment with the AC on and lounge around in our skivvies!
Who wants to go to the Amalfi Coast or Chile when there’s so much to do here? (ok, me, but we’re broke so I’ll keep telling myself that)
Great blog and photos by the way–just discovered it and enjoying reading about you and your really, really, really, really, good-looking babies.
I have fond memories of SeaWorld as well, never went to Quail Gardens though-when Addie gets older, we’ll hit it up!
Ahh Seaworld. One day we will visit San Diego and will be sure to check it out!
Summer so far has been dreadfully hot 41 C with the humidex! Today it rained which was nice as it cooled things off. Summer is our busy season at the motel so not much going on other than playground and beach visits with my girlies. My family comes up in a couple of days which will be fun.
Love, love your blog, momversation episodes and writing. Just stumbled upon it recently and I’m hooked!
Thanks for posting this! We are moving to San Diego this fall and your list will be a great starting point for project “keep the twins occupied”! Thanks
I heart San Diego so much, and am VERY jealous that you grew up there. I love this list – I can’t wait to bring my daughter there (I live in CT) when she is older, so keep the ideas coming!
I just finished my post on our vacation to where I grew up. It is so fun to go do things with your kids that you did as a kid!
Glad you are having fun & looking forward to hearing what Hal adds to the mix. Congrats on the fun times!
Thanks for the tip about Quail Gardens. I’ve lived in North County SD for almost 6 years now, and have never been to Sea World. Although my kid just turned 2 and I know he’d love it, I am just too cheap! We are zoo members though, if anyone reading comes down to SD, you have to hit up the zoo! The Wild Animal Park is great too, it is just VERY HOT, like surface of the sun hot, like Africa hot, they pipe it in (I kid).
GGC, If you see a crazy girl running up to you with a copy of Rockabye, please do not be afraid, I will not hurt you.
OMG, the Wild Animal Park!!!! So much cooler than the zoo! Yeah, I loved San Diego when I was there.
And Fable and Archer? Adorable as always …
i’m homeless for a month while we transition from st. louis to phoenix. the guy who bought our house wanted it before our place was ready in arizona. we’ll take it, though.
in the meantime, i’m visiting my family & best friend & spending our days playing with cousins & friends. mucho pool time
This summer I am getting married. It’s quite the adventure!! For our honeymoon (as early-pregnancy badness has made it not possible for flight) my hubby-to-be and I are going to the Ontario side of Niagara Falls (so what if we live in Ontario it’ll be fun! WE have all the wax museums!) We also plan on going to the zoo and the beach a few towns over. Oh yeah I’m also planning on getting good and baby-bumpified!
My gal pals and I have made Monday night mandatory picnic night in Fort Worth’s Trinity Park. I look forward to Monday all week now! My artistic culinary restraint is that I have to bring a different meal within one jar for each person. Its like painting with a limited pallette. So fun!
Wow! Thanks for the info on Quail Botanical Gardens. we’re visiting San Diego in October (and we’ll be very near Encinitas!), and we have an open day. My son is ten–but I think he’d find this really fun.
He will LOVE it! Also you must explore the gardens. They are so beautiful – lovely waterfalls… its really heavenly there. Lots of fun!