Hi friends! I know blogging has been super sporadic lately; recipe content is coming, I swear! New recipes and requested posts are coming, but it’s going to be sporadic friends. I’ve got something big in the works I will share when I can! In the meantime, I wanted to pop in and share a bit about our recent trip to Oceanside, CA.
If you’ve been following for a while, you may have caught on that San Diego and the surrounding area is are preferred place to vacation, we just love it there.
Some of our past trips:
- Babymoon/Anniversary Trip San Diego 2022
- Oceanside/Carlsbad 2o21
- Del Mar, CA Anniversary Trip 2016 (pre-kids)
We rescheduled this trip so many times during baby girls first year of life, I’m so glad we finally did it! We decided to drive and luckily only had to make three really quick stops along the way, so I call that a win!
The last time we visited the area, we did an Airbnb with Mr. Hungry’s parents. This time, we opted to use some Marriott points we had racked up and stay at a Marriott just steps away from the beach.
While there are a lot of pros and cons to staying in an Airbnb vs. a hotel. But overall, this hotel had a lot of amenities I liked, and overall I would stay there again for the following:
- breakfast daily
- check out for beach equipment such as wagons, chairs, umbrellas, towels, bikes, and more (there is a 35-dollar amenity fee each day that you have to pay either way, checkouts are for 3 hours only, but this policy seemed pretty lenient at least when we were there. When KJ sprained his ankle, they even let us take the wagon to Seaworld the next day.)
- half a block from the beach, half a block from the playground, a block from the pier
- microwaves and fridges in the room
- allow a family of five to stay (hard to find)
- a terrace connected to a restaurant, a great place to grab drinks and apps
- a rooftop pool and spa, which the kids loved
Some things I didn’t love:
- the front desk staff was overall not that great, they were not very helpful at all. They didn’t let us know anything about the hotel, never fulfilled requests for more towels, and generally were pretty unhelpful. However, the cleaning staff and the rental area were amazing.
- no yard to hang out in, like if you stayed in an Airbnb
We got in around 7 pm, just in time to go to bed!
We were so happy most of the pier was open to walk! The end was still closed from the fire that happened a couple of weeks ago, but 80% of it was open!
But of course, we spent most of the time on the beach! KJ LOVED playing the waves and going in really deep with Daddy. KK preferred to stay on the beach and run along/away from the waves as they came in.
And PS, my BEST tip for traveling with kids is to bring grandparents. When we moved our trip last minute to mid-May from the end of May, Mr. Hungry’s parents were able to join us for two days, which was such a blessing!
Babies on a beach, so cute and so messy haha
PS Our giant beach blanket is actually Mr. Hungry’s parents. We gifted it to them for a cruise they went on, and it’s amazing, hands down, one of the best things ever! It has steaks to stick it in and keep it stuck, and it is very sand-resistant. Honestly I don’t know how we ever went to the beach without it.
The boys spent equal parts time in the water and time playing in the sand!
PS The wagon behind me in the photo is a “rental” from the hotel, and so is the Boogey board.
Baby girl napped just 2 out of the five days in the hotel. One of those days, Mr. Hungry and I ate lunch in the dark really fast while we were switching off being nap-trapped. I just figured I’d throw that photo in here to show the reality of taking kids under 5 on vacation. It’s not all cute sand pics and smiles. It’s sandy babies and napping babies, and someone being nap trapped sometimes.
What the boys looked like every night we got back to the hotel. Absolutely exhausted from watching Shark Dog on Netflix, haha. KK is my mac and cheese-obsessed kid, so we grabbed him Annie’s cups in the market in the lobby, which I’m sure were overpriced, but he loved them. It was also the only thing Nora would eat when she got overstimulated and overtired.
Absolutely, the worst part about traveling was eating with the baby in the hotel. We didn’t bring a high chair (fail on our part) so she would try to crawl around all over the floor while eating. It was genuinely pretty miserable, so if I ever traveled with a one-year-old like that again, I would bring a portable chair to lock them in while they were eating.
KJ hurt his ankle while playing to hard on the beach and in the water and was limping around the second day. The hotel graciously let us keep the wagon well over extended hours since the stroller we brought had been checked in valet parking.
Nora hung in there pretty good the first couple of days, but by day three she was pooped.
She spent a lot of time in the ergo baby carrier. Mostly front carrying, but some naps on my back as well.
On Mother’s Day we made sure to go to Handel’s, our favorite ice cream parlor of all time. As usual, there was a huge line, but it was totally worth the wait!
After a long day at the beach and doing a few loads of laundry, my MIL and I stumbled on the rooftop terrace where we treated ourselves to some drinks and apps!
We called everyone else to join us on the rooftop patio, which was mostly deserted! Perfect for letting the kids run rampant.
After the grandparents were gone (they only stayed the weekend), we went to Sea World the next day!
Seaworld is one of my favorite places in the world. It wasn’t my favorite place with kids, though. Even on a Monday it was very crowded at the exhibits. And I did not like that you had to pull your kids out of the stroller for every single exhibit. Even KJ was too short for all but one ride. And the fact that the number of gift shops equaled the number of exhibits was very annoying. Plus, Nora was next level done with being confined or carried, so that made for a less-than-desirable Seaworld experience. The boys did love it, though, so that makes it all worth it. But I’m glad we got the cheapest tickets possible (KK was still 2, so free, and we picked the day of attendance vs doing any day, so that saved us money.)
Kids picked one thing each from the Orca themed gift shop (one of a million gift shops in the park.)
KJ wanted to go down and get splashed with the teenagers sitting in front of us. But, unfortunately KK came down to see us right when the Orcas splashed us, he wasn’t super happy about that. It was weird to see the new safety measures in place, the trainers standing way away from the Orca and, of course, not swimming with them. But the show as still really cool, I forgot how high the Orcas can jump out of the water and that they are technically members of the dolphin family.
The last couple of days we found an awesome donut shop near the hotel called Parlor Donuts. I’m not a donut person, but they were still the best donuts I’ve ever had.
I love the Oceanside/Carlsbad area for the cute tourist shopping and laid back atmosphere, without the insane crowds.
And luckily, 90% of the pier was open for walking down on our last day.
We had to end with pictures of the pelican in the same spot we had from two years ago. Funny because KK is wearing KJs old sweatshirt that KJ is wearing in the 2021 photos below.
Baby KK at only two months old!
Some other places we enjoyed while visiting we recommend checking out:
- Pierview Coffee
- Tin Fish Oceanside Pier
- Leucadia Pizza
That’s a wrap! It was a fantastic way to kick off the summer!
Leave a Reply