Saturday Evening at Waterfront Park

Few areas in San Diego are as picturesque as the bay located in Downtown. The sparkling water is decorated with the ships of the Maritime Museum (including the Star of India) while the costline consists of high-rises new and old. This is the place that reminds me time and time again why I love living here.

We set out this evening on a family adventure to the newly constructed Waterfront Park. The park includes an open grass area, an urban style playground, and interactive 'splash' fountains, We brought along a blanket to sit on, some snacks, and a kite. We were lucky enough to find street parking right in front of the park, and easily walked to our picnic spot. Clara quickly ran to the playground equipment, and enjoyed some of the activities that were age appropriate for her little two-year-old-self. After some time playing, we walked about a block over to the County Building where a live band was rocking out for their lawn-seated patrons. To our surprise, large lawn blocks and games were set up for children to play with.

While the kids and I were enjoying the music of this local band, Alen was busy getting the kit into the air... and up up up it went! I made a comment that he had better watch out for the airport; the landing path goes right through the downtown high rises. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the strolling SDPD suggested that Alen lower the kite to tree level, as the Cost Guard may ticket him for interfering with their landing space! See that little spec at the top of the picture? Yup... that's a kite. In the Coast Guard's landing path. 

This park's location is prime: right across the street from the water and Maritime Museum, walking distance to Anthony's Grotto (fish tacos!), a short cab ride from the airport, and adjacent to many hotels. It was an amazing evening activity. This is our second trip to Waterfront Park, and I will be excited to come again and again. Good job SD, you built a winner. 

Some tips for visiting San Diego's Waterfront Park:

1. Weekends and holidays can be quite crowded. It may be helpful to dress your mobile children in a bright shirt so you can easily track them as they weave in and out of the playground equipment. 

2. Kids of all ages are playing on the equipment. If you have a toddler, some of the activities may not be age appropriate for them. The slides have signs that they are restricted to ages 5-12. 

3. Go in the evening to avoid a crowd and to catch the photo-worthy sunset over the bay. 

4. If you don't have the patients for street parking, a garage is located below the park. Check online for pricing, as it can be quite expensive. 

5..... don't bring a kite?

Basically, this park is part of the reason San Diego is amazing.

 Have you visited Waterfront Park? If so, what advice do you have to ensure an enjoyable trip with the family?

Family Friendly Downtown Day- The New Children's Museum

Even though we were well into September, the forecast predicted 106 degrees and sunny for the upcoming weekend. We were in the middle of a heatwave, and wanted to head west to escape a few degrees of of this typical early Fall weather. Destination: Downtown San Diego. Only blocks away from the ocean, downtown can provide an alternative to the beach when the idea of packing hats, sunscreen, towels, and umbrellas just seems like too much.

According to redtri.com, The New Children's Museum was offering their Target Free Second Sunday admission. Entrance to this amazing museum is free once a month. This very urban building is filled with hands on activities that give it more of a science center feeling. Get ready to climb, paint, draw, and read your way into a learning experience. Hands-on does not come close to describing the types of activities provided. A better description would be hands and feet on. In addition to offering amazing activities to educate and engage your children, friendly staff were extremely helpful and were more than willing to get down on the children's level to help with an apron or a paint brush. Although we decided to bring our own snacks, a cafe was onsite for food and drinks. The area in which the museum is located also has other restaurant options available.

One reason to avoid downtown is the parking situation. Street parking is often difficult to find, and parking lots and structures can be quite expensive. This is just one more reason why the Second Sunday trip is amazing: street parking is mostly free on Sundays. Always double check the signs, but in general meters are not enforced on Sundays and certain holidays. We were able to easily find free street parking one block from the museum. The museum is also stroller friendly. Our toddler walked in holding our hands, while our infant enjoyed his spot in the stroller. This made the street parking situation much easier as we were able to keep our children safely with us and away from cars while walking in.

The museum is in a perfect location: close to the trolley stop, next door to a children's park, and within walking distance to many restaurants. It offers amazing activities for children with all types of interests. It even has a reading area in the basement for quiet reading time with plenty of books and comfy floor pillows. The museum would be great for the nursing mom, as chairs are located throughout.

A few notes to keep in mind when planning on visiting the museum:

1. The building is very raw-industrial, and has open balconies on every floor, allowing children to explore inside as well as in the fresh air. Because of this, there was no air conditioning in the building. A few floor fans were set up, but we were all sweating by the time we left. Dress appropriately, and bring water to stay hydrated as you would if you were outside.

2. Painting, clay, bubbles, etc were available to play with when we went. Make sure your children's clothing can take a stain or two.

3. A few of the play areas were shoe-free. If being barefoot grosses you out, bring some socks for yourself and your littles as you play in these areas.

4. Children's Park caddy-corner to the museum was a nice area to spend some time in. There is a fountain area that from far away looked like an awesome place for toddlers to play... it's a duck pond, and not clean water. There were also a few homeless persons around, so if that bothers you, you may want to walk elsewhere. It is very pretty though, and a nice place to wait and watch the trolley roll by.

Mark your calendars for the second Sunday of the month, and come downtown to The New Children's Museum. Chances are, you will have just as much fun as your little ones.

Camping with Kids in San Diego County

I have explored San Diego from many view points: from the air when landing at Lindbergh Field, from the underground cave in La Jolla, from a high rise in Down Town, and I can finally say I've seen it through the mesh of a tent. Our family attempted and succeeded at our first camping trip with a toddler and an infant.

It was amazing.

We picked the Observatory Campground, which included amenities such as flushing toilets, coin showers, and, most importantly, a breathtaking view of the San Diego night sky. The stars at night were so numerous it seemed as if the whole sky was glowing in bright patches. It is easy to forget the amount of stars that exist beyond the light and air pollution in the city.

The trip must have been blessed by all of our guardian angels, because nothing seemed to go wrong. I prepared for the trip like any other major life event: finding list-based camping blogs on Pintrest, and creating my own spreadsheet to keep organized. The amount of stuff we brought for one over night trip seemed ridiculous both in theory and in practice, but once we arrived at our campsite it all seemed to fit together to make the whole camping in comfort or 'glamping' experience go as smooth as possible when caring for two young children (one recently potty trained).  Among the stuffs brought was a small potty for the toddler, a pack-n-play for the baby, plenty of glow jewelry for night time fun and safety, and lots of food capable of cooking over a fire. Wipes also. Did I mention wipes? Baby wipes. Bring baby wipes.

After reading three or four articles with titles such as, "Surviving Camping with Kids," the suggestions of items to pack started to overlap, and at that time I felt as though my research was coming to a natural end. Thank goodness for those articles. I would have never thought to have lollipops in my pockets during hikes to instantly end meltdowns. Sometimes the "we are going to sit here until you decide to listen to us" method just does not work in certain situations.

Although the research I did was irreplaceably helpful, almost all blogs and articles seemed to leave out what I think are two extremely valuable tips. The first is to have a goal for your camping adventure. Why are you going on this trip? Is it to disconnect from your phone and internet? Maybe you are looking for a way to spend quality time with your family, or even just to test your limits. Whatever the goal is, keep it in mind as a motivator to have a great camping experience. We went camping because we wanted to have fun together. We all came together to have a good time, and made decisions to keep that goal alive. Flexibility and a good attitude are key here. I'm not ashamed to say an iPad was among the stuffs we brought and used. I'm also quite OK that our breakfast ended with some s'mores. Once all safety issues were secured, we relaxed and just enjoyed each other and our surroundings.

My second suggestion would be to have a plan for re-entry. On the drive back to civilization, we stopped for some barista-served coffee and discussed how we were all going to get showered, dressed, and unpacked. I think it is necessary to take a well deserved hot shower and put on some nice, clean cloths after a camping trip. Even my toddler, who only hours before declared she was ready to make the tent her new home, agreed with a smile that her warm bubble bath was pretty nice. Within an hour we had all persons washed and dressed. We were also tossing load after load of laundry into the wash and getting gear wiped down and ready for storage. It was the icing on the camping cake to be able to relax that night knowing the house was clean and all of our things put away.

Our weekend was so successful we are already planning our next trip. What other part of San Diego will we venture to? As long as it has a spot for a tent... as well as a toddler potty... we are good to go.