San Diego with Kids: the best activities and food

After going on our first ever post-school year trip to Cincinnati and the Ark last year (and loving it) we decided this is a great time of year for us to vacation and celebrate another homeschool year completion! This actually marks our 5th year. For this trip we chose the San Diego area! We flew down early morning and returned home 6 days later on an evening flight to maximize our time. Getting home late was a bit tough on Griffy especially but all in all a good choice to get to do a bit more! San Diego with kids was a fun choice and we enjoyed some of the best activities and delicious food. Our week included seeing the USS Midway Museum, Legoland, SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo and also having two days to just hang at the beach and have no agenda (Tim’s favorite)!

Here’s a recap and breakdown of our highlights

USS Midway Museum

The Midway was our first stop after landing. I thought it really wouldn’t be that engaging for the boys but I was wrong. A great place to start is the theater right near the entrance. This helped the boys with perspective and understanding what an aircraft carrier is all about. The highlight was the free audio tour. The boys loved running up to the different areas, pressing their tour devices and hearing stories and history. There is SO much to see and learn.

Total time we spent:

4 hours but could have easily been there longer.

Tips:

We purchased ahead the CityPass online for each of us: the one I chose had all the attractions we wanted to see and saved us just under $100/person from buying each admission separately.

Eat lunch there-it was cafeteria style, moderate prices and super easy.

We watched the movie in the theater first thing. Really helped give the boys perspective and an idea what an aircraft carrier is and also the role the Midway played in the history of the USA.

Do the audio tour. There is also a little scavenger hunt for kids they can complete to earn a small prize. Our boys loved it.

Legoland

Heading here was actually the main goal of this trip. We wanted to get here before Jude (10.5) was too old. He is one of our big Lego builders. He said he didn’t feel it was too young for him, but we felt he was definitely the upper age limit for maximum enjoyment! I would say it’s best geared for ages 6-10 to enjoy everything fully.

It was a fun amusement park and starting from the moment you walk up to the entrance. There is plenty to see and so many amazing Lego builds to see and touch.

Total time we spent:

8 hours is what the park was open for when we went and we really had to keep moving to see most everything. We actually skipped a lot of the rides for younger kids just to keep moving. Plan for a full day.

Tips:

Crew and Beck (age 5 and 3) could do most rides but almost always had to have an adult each with them. Beck couldn’t do the roller coasters.

The boys all agreed that Emmett’s Flying Adventure Ride was a hit and their favorite! If you get motion sickness, don’t do it.

Driving the little Lego cars in drive school was a blast but the older kids ride lasted maybe 1 minute total. Still worth it they felt!

Try the Apple Fries-that was our treat of choice.

The Submarine ride was a big hit-reminded me of my earlier days riding the one at Disneyland.

SeaWorld

Day 3 was a long day at Sea World but we all really loved our day there! One thing we appreciated here was if the older kids were on a ride there was always something close by for the little kids to see or touch while they waited. Be prepared for big roller coasters (a blast), LOTS to see, and overpriced food.

Total time we spent:

9-10 hours for us. We probably saw 3/4 of the park.

Tips:

Look ahead at the schedules for shows and plan out when you want to do each. Maybe write down the times so you don’t miss them. A couple shows only happen twice daily.

Upon entering the park, turning right you will get 4 of the 5 big rollercoasters done right away. Our older boys, Chase on up, absolutely loved them. Crew couldn’t ride as many and when he could, he always needed an adult to ride with him.

Food was very, very expensive. Halfway through the day we got the refillable cups for the 4 oldest to get ICEE’s and they had fun with that-filling them up several times. They could have filled them with sodas also had we wanted that. We should’ve bought those at the beginning of the day!

San Diego Zoo

Our last day here we didn’t fly out until 7:30p so it was really easy to visit the Zoo, which was about 10 minutes from the airport.

We had the best day here! Animals were very easy to see and enjoy with multiple viewing areas and angles. The zoo is extremely large (maybe the largest in the US) and the map is a bit hard to read since it has so much, but staff people are located everywhere and very helpful with directions of how to get where we wanted to go. This zoo is also a botanical garden and the flowers and trees were stunning! Nana was snapping pics of flowers all throughout the day!

Total time we spent:

7 hours and even though we didn’t see everything we still had an amazing day!

Tips:

Take the narrated double decker bus tour at the start. Be sure to sit on the right side for better viewing. This gives you a good layout of the zoo.

Walk left from the entrance and you do way more walking downhill than uphill.

Our lunch was great and average priced. We ate at Hui Mei Cafe near the rear of the zoo.

We did have these ice cream sundae cups located underneath the big green bridge that were so yummy! Papa and Nana got chocolate caramel w/ churros and we got strawberry and they were big enough for all of us to enjoy!

Our 2 other days

We stayed the whole week at a condo in Oceanside on what they call “The Strand” which is just a beautiful walkway down along the beach and ocean. So on our “no agenda days”, we walked the strand and the boys played in the sand and ocean down by the pier near mission street. The day was cooler and the water was 55 degrees but that didn’t stop the boys and Tim! We walked to the end of the pier which was fun and unique then had lunch in town. Tim and I headed to Carlsbad for a date dinner in the evening and wow is that a happening place with restaurants etc! There is a whole area made up of several blocks called Carlsbad Village.

For our date we ate at Nick’s on State and highly recommend it. Don’t forget to order their signature butter cake for dessert.

Sunday we followed a recommendation from a gal in line at one of the parks and hiked Annie’s Canyon Trail in Encinitas. We debated the last part of the hike-one way was moderate and one way was difficult-called Slot Canyon. Tim ‘pushed’ us the direction of Slot Canyon and it was so, so awesome! Definitely unlike anything I’ve ever done and the boys especially were having the best time going through the narrow, steep path. There were even these cool metal stairs and ladders you climbed to go up to the view point. From there we took the moderate path down and hiked back. Highly recommend this and it’s doable for all ages. Tim back-packed Griffy and I front-packed Lucy.

FOOD ON OUR TRIP

Day 1 dinner was in Oceanside at LTH-Local Tap House. Amazing food and service with comfortable seating. We sat at a table outside that held all 11 of us! Jude and Hudson split the Seafood Stew and said it was delish. Tim had an ahi tuna dish and I had the fish of the day with risotto. Best I’ve ever tasted. Papa had the Short Ribs French Dip-said it was the best ever. Nana had a salad she is still talking about!

I already mentioned Nick’s on State but make sure you make a reservation!

Cafe Topes

We went to Cafe Topes on Sunday morning…a bit of a line but the wait is a lot faster than you think. And the wait was WELL WORTH it for the awesome breakfasts we had! Make sure to get the freshly squeezed orange juice. Every single thing we tried from the huge cinnamon rolls to Nana’s “The Goods” toast to Tim’s Smoked Tri Tip & Eggs Benedict to Papa’s country fried steak was delicious!

Handel’s Ice Cream

We had Handel’s Ice cream for dessert one day. Fun and delicious. Reasonably priced. You guys recommended this place. Thanks! We tried everything from a malt for Tim to sorbets to several different chocolates-not me of course….haha. And they were ALL delicious.

Herb and Sea in Encinitas

This was our second date night and again- so worth going. Fresh fresh food and great flavors!

Parlor Donuts

Last but not least of the fun food places was this highly recommended donut shop. No wait on a Monday morning for these ‘layered’ donuts. Incredible!!! Don’t hesitate- just GO!

Hope this recap has been helpful and helps inspire you whenever you plan a trip to this area! If you have any questions, let me know in comments.

xo, Sarah