War and Peace in San Diego
March 28th, 2008 by Treena Shapiro 
“War and Peace” by Kwadwo Ani
When I saw this painting by Kwadwo Ani at the San Diego Museum of Man, I thought, “This is my life!”
Hanging out with two kids for eight days straight isn’t really peaceful, but I have to say that the ceasefire was pretty calming.
The kids had a blast!
My daughter got along with everyone:
My son was totally engrossed with this Mayan exhibit:
Seriously, though, San Diego is a great place to take kids. It looked like it would also be a pretty fun place to be an adult, too, but I couldn’t say for sure. The trip was all about spending time with my children.
I packed a lot of activity into six full days. We went to Legoland. We went to SeaWorld. We visited both the zoo and the wild animal park, and checked out real wild seals, sea lions and pelicans in La Jolla. We resisted the temptation to cross the border, but we took a photo of it, then drove up to Old Town for dinner.
One of the best things about the trip was that I learned things about my kids that I might not have discovered otherwise.
For example, who knew that my son would like this hat:
It didn’t surprise me that he liked this slingshot nor did it surprise him that I refused to buy it. He did get the hat, though!
I wouldn’t have guessed that he’d be more excited about trying a grapple as he would about trying guacamole for the first time.
It’s an apple that tastes like a grape!
Both kids raved about Alta Dena milk, incidentally.
Since I traveling with a four-year-old, there was lots of giggling over butts… even bony ones.
On our last day, my daughter was looking like this for a bit:
But these zebra butts cheered her right up:
I loved that after seeing a dolphin show…
… and a Shamu show…
…my daughter decided that she wanted to be a Beluga whale trainer, even though they didn’t do anything but spin around a little.
Then again, even though we got to feed dolphins…
…my daughter said her favorite thing at SeaWorld was the Sesame Street show!!!
Of course, that review comes from a kid who fell asleep in the panda exhibit!
I love pandas!
My daughter was too young to go on any of the deluxe tours at the Wild Animal Park, but we still got pretty close to some of the animals. I’m not sure how well the exhibits replicated their natural environments, though:
There are cubs in the sleeping in the back.
You gotta love geese who want to shop!
One of the best things about the Wild Animal Park is that it has more baby animals than you see at the regular zoos. This baby elephant was adorable:
I think what we’ll remember most are the seals and sea lions, which we saw at Legoland…
… at SeaWorld…
… in La Jolla…
… and even at the zoo!
Mostly, though, I just hope the kids remember that we had eight days of relative peace.
Tags: Legoland, San Diego, San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, vacationing with kids
March 28th, 2008 at 8:59 am
WOW! You guys packed a lot of sight seeing into your trip. The kids must have had a blast and memories to keep for a lifetime. Your an awsome mom for that. Who would have thought that there was things to do in San Diego. I hope you brought home some grapples cause they sound cool to eat. BTW, sorry if I made any grammatical errors but i have no idea what I’m writing due to the small font that this new system uses. AAARRRRHHG!
March 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am
COOL PIX!! its neat to see how Legoland changes stuff around! you folks really did do alot…we took a family trip to CA about a year and a half ago and was able to go down to Legoland and Sea World…but I was thinking that I wanted to take a trip just to San Diego!! you have re-ignited my wish!! what a great time!!
March 28th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Welcome back!
Looks like you folks had a great trip…..especially the kids. They will have stories to tell and memories to cherish and a hat that will collect dust in a coupla weeks. heh
Ho da habut face your daughter can make eh. Spooky.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
thanks for the great pics! looks like you guys had a lot of fun. i give you credit taking them to all those places on such an aggressive schedule! any tips for traveling/touring around the parks with children? we are taking our 3 year old to legoland, the zoo and seaworld this summer…….
March 28th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hopefully the font size will be adjusted soon. In the meantime, I just increased the text size in my browser.
San Diego is definitely worth a trip on its own. I wish I’d planned a longer stay, but I had to save some vacation days for later in the year.
Makana: Part of the reason our schedule was so aggressive is because I was trying to please an 11-year-old and a 4-year-old. If you just have a 3-year-old, it might be easier. Make sure to bring sunscreen and hats. My nose is still peeling because I didn’t.
We bought a disposable stroller while we were there so that my daughter wouldn’t run around the museums, but it also came in handy at the zoo and the wild animal park, where you end up doing a lot of walking. Bring comfortable shoes for everyone.
We also prioritized what we wanted to do, since there was no way we’d be able to do everything. For instance, at the zoo, we started out with a bus tour that covers about 70 percent of the zoo, then made our way to the specific animals everyone wanted to see: pandas, polar bears, grizzlies and koalas. If your 3-year-old likes giraffes and zebras, make sure to see the okapi, which ended up being my 4-year-old’s favorite.
As for Legoland, the kids didn’t really like the rides, but they liked all the stuff that got them wet — so bring a bathing suit and/or a change of clothes. There’s also a giant hideout that my daughter hid out in forever. The real draw is the Minilands, which are amazing. It’s expensive though, so make sure to look for coupons.
SeaWorld is just awesome. If you go when it’s open at night, there’s an evening sea lion show that spoofs all the other shows and it’s really funny if you’ve already seen the Shamu, dolphin and pet shows. The only real tip I have is to make sure you have lots of plastic bags with you, since you’re bound to get wet.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Great pixs, thanks for sharing your trip and family with us. Looks like you had a wonderful time, but tiring yeah?… got exhausted just looking at your pixs. This was many years ago but at San Diego Zoo, I remember the walrus made this humongous #2 in the tank…grossed me out and quickly stepped away from tank, didn’t want to get splashed from that water.