Last week, we enjoyed a family vacation in San Diego! We are growing to a family of five in October, and Kevin and I knew we wanted to take a special trip with the boys before we add a new baby. Also, Easton turns 2 in December, which means we will need to start buying a plane ticket for him when we travel. Lleyton got to experience the ocean for the first time on a trip to Destin, Florida when he was about the age Easton is now, so we knew it would be the perfect age to take him to the beach.
We typically plan our family vacations pretty far in advance, 
generally around Christmas for the following year. We’ll pick where we are going to go and then I’ll scour Airbnb and VRBO to find the perfect place to stay. Closer to the trip we’ll look at flights and rental cars if needed, but thankfully living in the Pacific Northwest we have a lot of wonderful places to visit that are driving distance from us. We love going to Canada and have been to both Vancouver and Victoria in British Colombia, the Oregon Coast, Oregon wine country in the Willamette Valley, and Bend, Oregon are all favorite locations that we’ve been to. When I’m looking for a place to stay, I want to make sure there are two bedrooms, an open living area for the boys to play, and a kitchen. As I mentioned in my post about our family vacation to Bend, Oregon last year, we generally only eat out for one meal a day and have the other meals where we are staying. It’s easier, cheaper, and typically more convenient as well.
This vacation required more planning than others because we needed to fly there, book a rental car, and reserve carseats through the rental company so we didn’t have to fly with them. We were initially going to bring the boys’ carseats with us, but for $9/day to rent them with our rental car it was absolutely worth it to not have to hassle with them in the airport or reinstall them in our car after landing. Thankfully we have friends who live just outside San Diego and we were able to borrow a pack and play for Easton as well as a stroller, beach toys, etc.
Ok! Now into this vacation specifically. We ended up staying in Carlsbad instead of in San Diego and this is where we stayed. I had a hard time finding a place that had two bedrooms in an area of San Diego that we really liked, and Carlsbad seemed like such a great place to stay. We loved being in Carlsbad! It’s such a great little town with easy beach access and great restaurants and shops. When we booked our trip we planned to have four full days in California and two travel days. There is SO much to do in the area, but this was the right length of time for the kids to be away from home and for Kevin to take off of work.
When we got to California, we landed at 12:45 p.m. and assumed we would have some time to explore
that day. By the time we got our bags, rental car, and drove to Carlsbad, we just did a grocery store run and unpacked, it was already 4:30. We then went over to our friends’ house for dinner and it was so nice to not have to cook and let the boys run around with their new friends. It was the perfect way to start the trip after a busy day of travelling. It’s a little over a 2 hour flight from Seattle, but with two little kids it still felt like a busy travel day!
Our plan was to have the boys share a bedroom with Lleyton in the bed and Easton in the pack and play but we quickly learned that this wasn’t going to work. The boys love each other and are truly best friends, which meant that they just wanted to play and talk to each other all night. By 9 p.m. we decided to separate them and moved Easton’s pack and play to the main living area. Thank goodness our plan after baby #3 is born wasn’t for the boys to share a room because I do not think it would work out!
The next morning we planned to go to Legoland! It was only 5 miles from where we were staying and we planned to get there at 10 a.m. when it opened. This gave us a nice, relaxing morning before we headed out. Even on a weekday, Legoland was crazy. In retrospect, I should have researched the park a little more thoroughly because at 3 1/2, there were a lot of rides that Lleyton wasn’t big enough for. Our plan was to have the boys skip naps this day so we could spend the whole day at Legoland, but by 1:30 is was clear that they were done. They did have fun with what they were able to do, but if we could do it again we would probably scratch Legoland from our itinerary until the boys were old enough to enjoy all of it since it isn’t cheap. So we called it a day a bit earlier than planned, stopped at In and Out for a late lunch, and got the kids home for naps.
That evening we went to Park 101 for dinner. It was super casual with fast service and outdoor lawn games for kids. Kevin and I could have easily shared a meal because the portions were huge! We got the kids back for their 7 p.m. bedtime because they were exhausted after a long day. 
Day two was a planned beach day, and we drove to Coronado Beach. We got there around 9 a.m. which was perfect because it got crowded quickly! Coronado is a really cute island with a great beach and lots of shops and restaurants. We spent the entire morning at the beach and the boys had such a blast splashing in the waves and playing in the sand. We took the boys back in time for lunch and naps but could have easily spent the whole day exploring.
We made sure we were back for naps because we knew that the next day we would be at the San Diego Zoo through naptime. Every kid is different, but Easton is definitely at an age where he is very overtired and unhappy if he misses naps. If we had planned for him to miss multiple naps in a row, it would have made the vacation less fun for all of us. Our kids won’t be this age forever, and eventually we will be able to take them on vacations where they can be on the go all day. For now though, this is the phase of life we’re in and that’s perfectly ok! After naps we went to a splash pad with our friends and headed to Landon’s Gourmet Kitchen for dinner. This restaurant was amazing because it had CHILDCARE right in the restaurant. We both dropped off our kids, and enjoyed a dinner together without them. We could order food from our table to send to the kids and they would eat it there. This concept is genius and I wish it existed more places! Easton only made it through half of the dinner before he missed me too much and had to be brought out, but still, we had such a great time enjoying a kid-free dinner.
Day three was zoo day! I had heard so many great things about the San Diego Zoo, but it exceeded my expectations. It has a great layout, and so many animals. Elephants, giraffes, koalas, hippos, pandas, gorillas, cheetahs, tigers, and jaguars are just a few of the animals that we saw. There were plenty of 
animals that I had never even heard of! It was definitely worth it to plan the entire day here, and we were there from when the zoo opened until about 2 p.m. If you are going to go, the pandas and the gorillas were the most crowded exhibits, so definitely see the pandas first. While we were there, people were also feeding the giraffes. I’m not sure if they offer this all 
the time or just when we were there, but there was a long line so if it interests you be sure to plan ahead! The kids obviously loved the zoo, but Kevin and I had a great time too. There is also the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which is at a different location. If we had more time we probably would have squeezed that in at some point, but you can’t do everything! I’ve heard great things about the safari park as well. After the boys picked out their souvenirs (a stuffed giraffe for Lleyton and a stuffed koala for Easton), we headed out. Easton had fallen asleep in the stroller and I knew he wouldn’t fall back asleep in the car, so we headed to Ocean Beach for an afternoon treat. A friend of mine
recommended Pirate’s Cove Tiki Port for their acai bowls and they were so refreshing after a day of exploring the zoo. We thought we would also head to the beach from here, but had a hard time finding parking on a Saturday and decided to head back to Carlsbad.
We walked around Carlsbad for a while before stopping at Pizza Port for dinner. My goodness this pizza was good! Even at 4:45 p.m. there was quite a long wait for pizza, so we placed our order and Kevin went back later to pick it up. We ordered the bressi ranch pizza, which had buffalo sauce and pulled pork on it. It was so, so good. I think I’m a bit of a pizza snob after being raised on Chicago-style deep dish, going to college in New York, and honeymooning in Italy, but this pizza is definitely up there. It was a perfect casual dinner!
On our last full day, we went to Carlsbad State Beach. Just a few minutes from where we were staying, it was the perfect place to meet our friends and let our boys run around and play together. There are obviously beaches all over the coastline and I’m sure they are all beautiful. If you are going to San Diego I’m sure you can’t go wrong no matter where you end up. The waves were huge here
and we had a ton of fun splashing around. We called it a day a bit early because Kevin was taking Lleyton to his first baseball game that afternoon! I took Easton back for a nap and Lleyton had so much fun at the game. I was happy that they got to spend an afternoon together and enjoy a fun experience seeing the Padres. They took the train back to Carlsbad and we picked them up before heading to dinner at Norte’s. It seemed fitting that our last dinner in San Diego was Mexican food! Fast 
service, good food, and a casual vibe were perfect. After dinner we walked to a souvenir shop for Kevin and I to get shirts before we called it a night.
Our flight the next day was at 11:30 a.m., which meant we could eat
breakfast and Kevin could drop off the gear we borrowed from our friends before heading to the airport. It was a smooth flight back and we got home quickly. This was the first time that we have flown with the boys to somewhere other than Chicago or Atlanta to see our families. It was nice to have a shorter flight and to be in the same time zone! It made travelling with the kids a lot easier.
Taking a vacation like this with two kids ages 3 and under definitely has its challenges and will not be free of meltdowns. But I’m so glad we did it. Even if the boys won’t remember this trip, or will just remember parts of it, Kevin and I will remember it. I’ll remember seeing the joy on Lleyton’s face when a wave crashed into him, or Easton giggle as his toes touched the ocean for the first time. I’ll remember the awe on Easton’s face as a polar bear swam right by him or how excited Lleyton was to see a giraffe. We are taking so many memories home with us from San Diego and I’m so happy that we took this trip with our sweet kiddos before we grow to a family of five in October. Whether you are looking for family vacation, a romantic getaway, or a vacation with friends, San Diego is such a great place to go.
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