San Diego Family Vacation Itinerary (Very Toddler-Friendly!)

My husband and I took our daughter on a week-long vacation to San Diego just before she turned 2 years old. We like to have some kind of getaway planned during the colder months of Idaho to have something to look forward to when winters start to drag on! We’ve gone to Mexico & Arizona the past couple of years, but this year I wanted to pick a destination that would be especially active for our toddler. I’m sharing our entire itinerary below, along with our vacation recap.

Another preference of mine was that our destination had a direct flight from the Boise airport. As you might know, that takes down our options to just a handful of choices 😁

San Diego has direct flights from Boise, reasonably warm weather (compared to Idaho) in winter, and tons for us to do as a family so I booked us a vacation for February 2024! After comparing prices between hotels and AirBnBs, it made more sense to rent a townhome and give us a separate bedroom for Brynnley and a full kitchen. I found a cute little rental townhome right on the beach in Mission Bay. The proximity to the ocean meant sacrificing size so it was a little cramped in the townhome.

We purchased CityPass tickets online before arriving in San Diego. A CityPass gets you into your choice of the San Diego Zoo or San Diego Safari Park plus Sea World and two other attractions. We picked the Zoo, Sea World, the Birch Aquarium, and the USS Midway Museum. You could have used them for a harbor boat tour, a hop-on/hop-off trolley pass, and a couple other museums. Price-wise, it was a huge savings to purchase the CityPass versus paying the entry fee at each location and we had no issues with anyone accepting it. They simply scanned the QR code at the entry of each attraction and that was that. We did not have to pay for a pass or admission anywhere for Brynnley since most places are free for anyone 2 and under.

San Diego had some pretty gnarly storms up until the day we arrived, even flooding some of the coastal streets. We were lucky that this didn’t impact our trip and we were still able to enjoy mostly amazing weather! We only had one rainy day, so we scheduled the Birch Aquarium for that day since it was our only indoor attraction.

DAY ONE:

Technically our first day was our travel and arrival day. We picked up our rental car, checked into our AirBnB, explored the area around us, stocked up on groceries for the week, unpacked and cooked dinner at home. So I’ll consider “Day One” the first full day we actually woke up in San Diego and had some fun things on the itinerary!

• Drive through La Jolla and find a cute local coffee shop. We picked BETTER BUZZ Coffee.
• Birch Aquarium at Scripps using the CityPass. We arrived right when they opened. They have a penguin feeding at 10:30am that we watched, and we were able to tour the entire aquarium and play in the touch pools by noon.
• Check out Children’s Pool in La Jolla – this is a specific stretch of beach that had a wall built to minimize waves and make it safer for young children. However it ended up attracting seals, and we were there during “pupping” season! To protect the seals, the actual beach is closed to humans, but you can watch the seals and enjoy the views from a look-out just above them.
• Back to our townhome in Mission Beach for Brynnley’s nap time. While she slept, we both took turns walking down the boardwalk and checking out Belmont Park, which is full of shops and restaurants plus a roller coaster, rides and arcade games.

• Explore Old Town San Diego – we loved this area! So many cool historical-looking buildings and fun museums. Lots of places that look like western saloons. Tons of shops and restaurants, mostly Mexican food. Beautiful landscaping and very vibrant decor. Plenty of room for Brynnley to run around.
• Dinner at Casa De Reyes. This is an outdoor Mexican restaurant with umbrellas and heating lamps throughout. There was a stage and seating for live music, which Brynnley danced her little heart out to. We really enjoyed our entrees and drinks here!

DAY TWO:

• Our daughter woke up at 7am, but Sea World doesn’t open until 10am so we killed some time with breakfast. We walked to Blue Palm Coffee Shop, which was my favorite coffee shop and cafe of the trip.

• Sea World: We arrived right when they opened and used our CityPass. Parking is not free, and is not included in the CityPass. It was $30. Their website also says they do not allow you to bring in food or water. However we brought Brynnley’s snacks in her diaper bag and no one checked or said anything through the little “security” station. We also brought our own stroller.
• We planned our Sea World exploration around the showtimes. There are 3 shows – dolphin show, orca show, and sea lion show – with different times for each throughout the day. We saw the dolphin show at 11am, which was only about 15-20 minutes. We made the orca show at noon, which was a little longer and the best show of the day. We picked the 4pm showing of the sea lion show.
• Our daughter is stubborn when it comes to sleep and NEEDS to nap, but won’t let herself sleep in her stroller. She really naps best in her comfortable crib, so to make sure we all had a great day on the vacation we left Sea World around 12:30 to allow Brynnley to nap in her crib at our townhome. Luckily you can re-enter the park as long as you get a handstamp, and we did not have to repay for parking. We just showed the parking attendant our receipt from that morning when we returned after nap.
• We arrived back at Sea World refreshed after Brynnley’s nap around 3:30pm and toured everything left that we hadn’t seen yet.
• Sea World is VERY toddler friendly and Brynnley had a blast! The shark exhibit is really cool and the sea turtles are massive. There was plenty to see and do to fill our day here and keep Brynnley engaged and entertained all day long!

DAY THREE:

• It’s now just our vacation theme to start off each day with a different cute local coffee shop! I found Communal Coffee and I loved it! I wish we had one in Boise!

• Communal Coffee was right next to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. We used our CityPass to enter the Zoo as soon as they opened at 9am.
• Parking is FREE here (yay!), and you are welcome to bring in your own food and drink. We also brought our own stroller. There is a lot of ground to cover so wear comfortable shoes.
• WOW this zoo is incredible and there is so much to see and do. Very exciting even for Brynnley’s age. Because of our previously-mentioned nap situation, we just made it our mission to see as much as possible before she melted down and needed to head back for a nap. This meant we skipped a lot of the bird exhibits because they just weren’t that exciting to us.
• By 2pm, we covered everything we needed to see and headed back to our townhome. Again Zeb and I took turns walking the Mission Beach area while she slept.
• When Brynnley woke up, we took our beach chairs and toys down to the water and properly played in the sand for her first time ever! Yes, it was chilly but we still made the most of it. We stayed until sunset and then Brynnley started shivering so we walked back to our townhome to cook dinner. This also happened to be Super Bowl Sunday, so we just opted to stay in and cook another dinner for ourselves. We loved shopping at Sprouts (OG readers will know all about my love for Sprouts) since we don’t have them in Idaho!

DAY FOUR:

• This was my birthday!
• Obviously I had to start my birthday off with a really fun coffee…

• I picked a super cute and very pink brunch spot right in downtown San Diego called Morning Glory. I would definitely recommend this place for their food, drinks (coffee and morning cocktails) and atmosphere! Even the bathroom was decorated to the 9’s! I got a hot oatmilk maple latte and souffle pancakes with berry compote.

• From breakfast we drove to Balboa Park. Even though the Zoo is located within the park, there was so much left to see. You can spend an entire day in Balboa Park because it’s full of museums, gardens, playgrounds, eateries and stunning picnic areas.

• We met with a friend who lives locally and I’ve known since elementary school (Hi Johnna!) and enjoyed walking around the Japanese Friendship Garden. We found a playground for Brynnley, and walked around the many beautiful mission-style buildings and museums until again, time to get Brynnley back for naptime. (Brynnley’s sleep schedule was the biggest challenge of planning a vacation. If that little girl would sleep in her car seat or stroller, life would be so much more open right now!)
• At 5pm, we arrived at Windansea Beach in La Jolla for family photos. I’ll share the family photos in my next blog post! We had beautiful weather and the photos only took about 30 minutes. It was a bit too chilly to stay and continue playing at the beach so we just headed straight to dinner.
• I wanted sushi for my birthday dinner and heard good reviews for URBN Sushi. It was great!
• After Brynnley went to bed, Zeb and I had some ice cream and played some cards back at our AirBnB to wrap up my birthday celebration.

Day Five

Our last full day here! Again, I won’t bore you with including the travel day since it most likely won’t apply for you unless you’re also an Idahoan with a toddler!

• We left our AirBnB around 8am and headed to a waterfront area of San Diego called Embarcadero. There were parking areas but they all seemed to have 3 hour max limits, so we did have to move our car once.
• Zeb picked our coffee shop of the day and he did a great job! Portside Coffee has a little walk-up order window right along the harbor next to a huge pirate-looking ship. Then the seating area is in a glass sphere looking out onto the harbor and cruise ship dock. Great coffees here too.

• We used our CityPass to enter the USS Midway Museum, an enormous naval aircraft carrier ship. We spent a little over 2.5 hours exploring this ship and we probably could have spent even more time if we didn’t have Brynnley with us. Although, most of it is very toddler-friendly. She LOVED getting to sit in each of the aircrafts and push all the buttons. There were dozens of military airplanes, helicopters and tugs that guests were welcome to tour and sit in.

• You can grab an audio device when you enter and wear it around your neck. At various points throughout the ship, there are places to hold up your device and listen to a narration of what’s going on to learn more about when the ship was in active military use.
• We really liked checking out the bunk and dining section of the ship below deck. I could easily have gotten lost, it has so many different rooms and passageways!
• We continued walking along the Embarcadero to Seaport Village. I love this area! It’s so nautically-themed and charming. Seaport Village and Old Town are two areas of San Diego you must see.
• We grabbed lunch at Crack Tacos and enjoyed it at some picnic tables right next to the water. Again, great for toddlers because there’s plenty of grassy area for them to run and play. Brynnley even found another 2 year old girl from Germany to dance with for a good 10 minutes!
• There’s an iconic Carousel in Seaport village that costs $5 per person.
• We attempted a car nap for Brynnley this day, because she seemed VERY tired after such an eventful morning. I dropped Zeb off at the Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park while I drove around until her eyes finally closed. I did have success in her falling asleep in the car, but she woke up about 15 minutes later as soon as I put the car in park back in the museum parking lot and that was as much sleep as she got that day. Crazy girl!

Some other trip details:

• I’ve rented plenty of cars over the years, usually through Expedia, and I’ve never had an issue. This was our first time using Payless car rental and it was my worst car rental experience ever. I would not recommend this company. When we booked the car, we plugged in our estimated pick-up time and were quoted about $250 for an SUV for the week. We arrived about 2 hours after our pick-up time, but with flight delays and travel issues nowadays I would assume that is very common and there would be a grace period. We were told that because we missed our pick-up window, our car was given away and the next option was going to be $800 for the week. However when we walked to the car lot, we saw many other basic options like the KIA Soul we ended up with. After back and forth for over an hour, they finally (grumpily!) agreed to charge us $280 for the Soul which I’m not sure why that wasn’t an option from the start.
• Our AirBnB did not have a crib available but I was able to rent one through a company called Baby’s Away. They worked with the rental property to have the crib delivered and set-up before we arrived. We also rented a high chair from them. This was pretty affordable and convenient.
• Another consideration when booking a hotel vs. rental home at a coastal location – most of the rental home properties I looked through all included beach chairs, umbrellas, beach toys and coolers. As far as I know, that’s not the case with most hotels. This makes your beach trip so much more convenient!
• CityPass was definitely worth it, in our experience. You can purchase the CityPass in advance and you just need to use it within a year of purchase. However you must visit your attractions within 7 days of each other.

Let me know if you have any questions about anything I covered in the comments and I’ll get back to you! If you are also travelling with a toddler, I have a video and blog post I put together with my best flight & vacation tips here!

See you next time! Love,

Kenz

Brynnley Turns 2!

Somehow, my tiny little baby is now two years old! Brynnley Alyse celebrated her second birthday on Friday, February 23rd and we had such a fun family day.

This little girl is one Chatty Cathy. She always impresses me with her vocabulary and memory! She has been able to spell her eight-letter name and recite the alphabet (plus or minus a few letters haha) since she was 18-months old.

For the past couple of months, she’s been narrating our day. “Mommy make coffee,” “Brynnley read a book,” “Puppy so cute.” She’s recently starting asking “What’s that?” and “Whatcha doin’, Mommy?” She loves to talk and talk, and becomes a little performer when she’s in the bathtub, making up her own songs and melodies. She keeps me entertained constantly!

Brynnley has also grown quite a collection of stuffed animals that she’s attached to. We can usually persuade her to leave most of them at home, but she can take a quick inventory and spot a missing turtle or bunny within seconds of being in her crib. It’s like Brynnley’s bedtime roll call, making sure all her furry friends are accounted for before hitting the pillow!

Earlier in the month, we went on a family vacation to San Diego (which will be recapped in my next blog post!) and had a very toddler-friendly and Brynnley-focused itinerary. She got to explore Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, the beach, Birch Aquarium, and some parks. After all of that excitement, we decided to skip a big birthday party and just have a family day celebrating together on her actual birthday.

My parents always had the house decorated for all of our birthdays, and I want to do the same for my kids. After she went to sleep last Thursday night, Zeb and I stayed up to hang balloons and decorate our dining room with some “party animals.” I found adorable miniature party hats with adjustable straps on Amazon, perfect for all of her stuffed animals. I also made Brynnley a pink strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting and used a “2” cookie cutter as a stencil to pour sprinkles into. It was simple but Brynnley loved it! Well, mostly the sprinkles. I think I could have skipped the cake entirely and just gave her a bowl of sprinkles.

On her birthday morning, Zeb and I took Brynnley to the Children’s Museum in Meridian, Idaho for the first time. I think it is PERFECT for her age. I would say 2-4 years old would be about the sweet spot for this interactive play place. It has a variety of rooms, themed with different occupations and lots of hands-on props for the kids to play with. There’s a farm, where they can fish with a magnetic pole. They can even milk the large cow.

Another section had a doctor’s office with an X-Ray machine and a life-size game of operation, complete with scrubs for the little kids to wear. There was an airplane with a cockpit full of buttons, a pizzeria, and even a Trader Joe’s full shopping experience. They could be a customer or a cashier, which of course included a Hawaiian shirt.

There was even some outdoor exhibits, like a car mechanic garage and a garden. Brynnley had a blast and it was a great concept for little ones with big imaginations! We came home to have our usual smoothie lunch and get in Brynnley’s regular 1-3pm nap.

Brynnley Girl is still a ball of infectious joy and energy! She’s got “happy feet” that she can’t control when she’s excited, like a dog wagging their tail. She’s obsessed with most forms of potatoes, puzzles, and her current favorite show Not Quite Narwhal. She also loves getting to spend time with her Gigi & Pop Pop who she has wrapped around her finger.

The last two years with Brynnley have shown me how quickly her little mind grows and changes, and how much she’s absorbing all the time!

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

My Best Tips & Recommendations for Flying/Vacationing with a Baby or Toddler (from a Pilot Wife)

We’ve just returned from a great week-long family vacation to San Diego! I’ll be sharing a full recap & itinerary next, but today is specifically about the tips and products that I’ve discovered make a HUGE HELP during travel with an infant, baby or toddler.

Brynnley just turned 2 last week (!!!) and I’ve been taking her on commercial flights since she was just 4 months old! She’s been to Arizona twice, Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, and Oklahoma. Each trip, I’ve picked up new products and new strategies to make it smooth for everyone. Especially because my daughter is particularly stubborn when it comes to sleeping in unfamiliar places, and we have made a full 180° since the first few trips we took with her!

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Tips for Flying with Babies & Toddlers

Seat Assignments:

Until your child turns 2 years old, they can fly for free as a lap infant. However if the flight is not fully booked, the gate agent has the ability to adjust your seat assignments and give your baby their own seat for free. This might mean you need to move to a different row than you previously booked, but the extra space is so worth it! You can bring your carseat onto the plane and safely buckle your baby or toddler into their seat, freeing up your lap and hands.

We’ve always listed Brynnley as a lap infant but I would say about 60% of the time she has ended up getting her own seat anyways. It never hurts to ask! Go chat with your gate agent as soon as you get through security. If they aren’t able to accommodate a seat for your baby, they will make you a tag for your car seat and stroller to be gate-checked for free as you board.

Ear Pressure:

The best way to help keep your baby or toddler comfortable while the pressure changes during take-off and landing is keeping them continually sucking. For babies, you can nurse, bottle-feed, or offer a pacifier. I always had a bottle of milk saved to offer as soon as the plane started speeding down the runway and have never had an issue with Brynnley acting uncomfortable.

Once Brynnley turned 1, I switched to bottles with water during take-off and landing but sometimes she preferred to just suck on a pacifier which also seemed to do the trick. Lollipops are another option for kids who are old enough!

*One thing that’s important to note is that every airline is different, but I have never flown on any US carrier that had milk as a beverage option on the plane. If your child drinks regular milk, you’ll need to bring your own on to the plane which means you might need to purchase some at a market or coffee shop within the airport.

Flight Attendants Can Help You:

The first time I flew with Brynnley by myself, she was 4 months old. I had my carry-on suitcase plus my diaper bag. I also used a travel bag for my breast pump and extra bottles, which doesn’t count against you with carry-on items because it’s classified as a medical device. I had Brynnley in her carseat which still attached directly onto her stroller at that time.

Within 5 minutes of arriving at the airport, I was already in need of about 6 more hands. To get through security, the TSA agent required that I take sleeping Brynnley OUT of her car seat (really?! Couldn’t he see how peacefully she was sleeping?!) and hold her through the metal detector. After I woke her up (I’m still annoyed at this haha) to hold her, I was expected to somehow hoof the car seat onto the security table and collapse the stroller to do the same thing. The TSA agent showed no signs that he was even considering coming over to my side of the table to help me. Thankfully the passenger in line behind me had the common sense to see a new mom with her hands full and took care of getting all of my belongings through the security belt for me. If the passenger in line behind you isn’t so socially aware, you are going to need to be ready to ask for some help.

Similarly, once I boarded the flight I was lucky enough to have an extra seat next to me for Brynnley so I was able to set her in her car seat. However bringing on a carseat with a baby, a rolling luggage, diaper bag, and breast pump bag, is still more than 2 hands can handle which is why I’m so thankful that the flight attendants are typically more than willing to offer their help.

(Did you know that flight attendants are not getting paid for any of the time that passengers are boarding the plane? Same with the pilots, although both are expected to be present and available for their passengers. Flight attendants and pilots are paid hourly, ONLY during the time that the airplane doors are closed. The entire boarding process is completely unpaid which still blows my mind that this is legal.)

Once during the four-hour flight with Brynnley by myself, I needed to use the restroom but Brynnley was sleeping soundly in her car seat and it’s not like airplane lavatories have much room to bring a car seat into anyways. I called a flight attendant who was more than happy to come sit in my seat to keep an eye on Brynnley for the 3 minutes I was away. If you are a mom flying by yourself, I know not everyone is comfortable with using strangers for help but in this situation it can be pretty necessary. And I was fortunate enough that this was a Boise-based airline crew that works for the same company as my husband, so I felt comfortable enough with them.

On a different trip, I flew with Brynnley by myself when she was 13 months old and we didn’t get so lucky to land an empty seat for her. She had to stay on my lap for the full flight, but this was right when she was learning to walk and was very interested in being mobile. Before the plane even took off, I was struggling with keeping her content on my lap. She just wanted to move and crawl!

By a stroke of luck, I happened to be seated next to a very kind older couple on their way to the Caribbean who said they were patiently waiting for their own kids to give them their first grandchild. Brynnley was extra squirmy in my lap, and kept reaching for the stranger next me. The woman said “I don’t mind holding her, if you’d like?” Again, I know passing your baby to a stranger is rarely going to be something moms are comfortable with but in this case the woman seemed friendly and warm, and I was struggling to keep Brynnley content in a 9 cubic-foot space so I gladly accepted the help and Brynnley loved sitting on the new woman’s lap. They read some of Brynnley’s books together and practiced clapping, and Brynnley enjoyed the flight much more having two laps to roam across. Not that this situation is likely to happen to everyone, I’m just sharing this story to say that being open to assistance is something that has always helped me have smoother travel days.

Diaper Bag:

You’re going to want to make sure you’ve recently restocked your diaper bag for the travel day. In addition to your usual diaper bag items, I’d also pack:

• A couple extra changing pads because you can only imagine how germy the changing tables in an airplane and airport will be.
• A pack of sanitizing wipes as well, especially for your tray table since your little one will most likely be eating off of it.
• An extra outfit for baby AND mom. You never know when they are going to spit up on you, and right after take-off seems to be a pretty popular time for a gnarly blow out ;)
• You are allowed to bring breastmilk and formula through security, even if it exceeds the usual 3.4 ounce limit. The TSA agent will just take a sample to test.
• Plastic or zip-lock bag for any soiled or wet clothes that you can’t attend to until you’re at your destination. (Honestly on a travel day with so much to juggle already, I would probably just throw away a blowout outfit…)
• Did I mention sanitizing wipes?
• More sanitizing wipes.

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You can also check out this video I recently uploaded to my YouTube channel with my top tips and items to pack for travel with a baby or toddler:

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Here are links to some of the items I mentioned in the video:

Airplane Entertainment Activities for Littles:

• Water WOW Coloring Books: I love that these can be re-used so many times, and have a few different pages for your child to “paint” or “color” with just water! Mess free and no pieces to lose!
• Crayola Magic Marker Coloring Sets: Similar to the Water WOW books, these coloring pages are mess-free because the magic markers only color on the special papers included. Not on skin or fabric!
• Wikki Stix: Super lightweight and small to fit in your travel bag, these are waxy sticks that can be molded into whatever shape your child can imagine. Brynnley especially likes making eyeglasses with them.
• Magnetic Puzzle Book: Brynnley is a puzzle lover! The book has three different puzzles, but the entire book is magnetic so the pieces stick strongly to it and help prevent you from losing pieces!
• Reusable Sticker Books: toddlers love stickers! These can take up quite a good chunk of time and help work on your toddler’s language skills at the same time.
• Kids Amazon Fire Tablet: we try not to rely on screens for the majority of the travel time, but they definitely come in handy once your activities are getting old and the snacks have run dry. I don’t usually bother figuring out the inflight wifi, I just make sure to have a couple episodes of Brynnley’s favorite shows downloaded to the device. The battery on this lasts a very long time!
• Kids Tablet Carrying Case: This is the travel case for the tablet that we have. It comes in a couple different colors.
• Toddler Over-the-Ear Bluetooth Headphones: Headphones are required when listening to anything on your device on an airplane. These are wireless so you don’t have to mess with tangled cords, and they connect with bluetooth to the tablet we have. They look so cute on Brynnley!
• Portable Charger: You might want a portable charger in your travel or diaper bag, and this one is super compact.

Travel Items for Baby/Toddler Sleep & Safety

• Portable Blackout Curtains with Suction Cups & Travel Bag: Brynnley is used to a dark room for naps and bedtimes, but most AirBnB’s and rental homes don’t have blackout curtains in their guest rooms. These blackout travel curtains have suction cups around their perimeter to easily secure onto a window and completely block out daylight. They fold up small and fit into a travel bag that is included. We bought a set to keep at my parent’s house when the babysit!
• Blackout Pack n’ Play Cover for Infants: This is a stretchy breathable material cover that fits over the pack n’ play with a few different windows that can be zipped open or shut. It blocks out daylight for a dark sleeping environment but would really only work until your baby is able to stand up. Once they are mobile and standing, I would opt for the tent listed next.
• Blackout Pack n’ Play Pop-up Tent: There is a popular brand of blackout pop-up tents called Slumberpod, but it has quite a high price tag! We tried this less expensive version, and haven’t had any complaints about how it fits over the pack n’ play and blocks out ample daylight. We love it!
• Car seat Travel Bag/Protector: When you fly, the airline will check your carseat and stroller right as you board for free. It is not required to have a case or bag for your carseat but it is something I would recommend! Many carseat bags are $15-20 and will help keep your baby’s items from getting dirty or scratched.

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I think that covers my major products and tips that are now must-haves for us on travel days. Anything I missed that you’re curious about? Leave me a comment! I’m happy to cover any more specifics if there’s something you are interested in!

As someone who has always loved to travel and explore, as well as someone who’s spouse flies almost daily and offers flight benefits, I didn’t want to let the fear and unknown of traveling with a baby keep us from having great experiences. I’m proud of how much we have done with Brynnley, and it definitely gets easier each time!

Alright, I’ll start writing up our San Diego family vacation recap and itinerary and get that posted here next. Thanks for reading!

Love, Kenz