Ferris wheel

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Santa Monica with Kids

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

Santa Monica is the epitomy of a Southern California beach town with its surfable waves, walkable downtown, laidback atmosphere, and seaside amusements. Santa Monica makes for a family-friendly weekend getaway, with just enough to see and do in a couple of days without being overwhelmed by the need to squeeze it all in.

Prizes at the Santa Monica Pier
My kids show off their carnival game prizes (won by Daddy) on the Santa Monica Pier

Carnival Rides & Games
When I asked readers where my family should go for a weekend getaway, 55% of voters chose Santa Monica. This Southern California beach town is probably best-known for the Santa Monica Pier and its amusement park, Pacific Park, which offers 11 rides including a roller coaster, a handful of fast food options, and carnival games galore. There is something so summery, retro, and joyous about taking a spin on a Ferris wheel on a pier perched over the ocean! There is no entrance fee to the park. You can purchase individual ride tickets or serious ride lovers can purchase an all-day wristband for unlimited fun.

Santa Monica Pier rides
Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier

Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Shop
After taking in a few rides, head over to the Soda Jerks Fountain Service for hand-dipped ice cream sundaes. This ice cream parlor, also located on the pier, has limited counter seating inside (next to the indoor carousel) plus outdoor tables at which to gobble up your goodies. Choose from old school favorites like an egg cream or go for Curious George’s Jungle Shake (a blend of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, mixed nuts, and banana). Or, you can create your own sundae from 16 flavors of ice creams, sherbets, and sorbets plus nine toppings. The salted nuts on top were the bee’s knees!

Ice cream on Santa Monica Pier
“The Ocean Park” create-your-own, kid-size sundae from Soda Jerks Fountain Service

Seaside Aquarium
Santa Monica Pier offers a variety of sit-down restaurants, a handful of shops, and an aquarium. The Santa Monica Aquarium may be the smallest aquarium I have ever visited but it is a non-profit and admission fees are minimal. My five-year-old enjoyed creating a paper shark puppet while her toddler younger brother gazed at the tanks of fish and got a chance to pet a sea star.

Starfish at the Santa Monica Aquarium
Sea stars at the Santa Monica Aquarium

Stroll, Shop & Watch
Once you tire of the pier, walk over to the Third Street Promenade, a 30-block pedestrian-friendly shopping area. There is no shortage of retail stores or dining options here! Adding to the fun are street performers singing, dancing, doing acrobatics, and playing musical instruments of all kinds. This free (or tip-only) entertainment enabled me to snag a couple of new shirts and a darling sweater from H&M while the hubs minded the kids!

Third Street Promenade fountain
Whimsical dinosaur fountain along the Third Street Promenade

An Affordable Place to Stay
We stayed just outside Santa Monica at the Los Angeles Marina del Rey Courtyard by Marriott. Our room was a little cramped for a family of four, but the service was friendly, the hotel was clean, and the outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees was a pleasant diversion for big sister Karissa while toddler Leo took his afternoon nap.

NAME Courtyard by Marriott's pool
View of the pool at Marina del Rey Courtyard from our hotel room balcony

I appreciated the subtle little extras this hotel provided, including individually packaged earplugs (for those of us married to a snorer) and self-service poolside ice water. I was a bit surprised when my bill for the buffet breakfast arrived. I thought breakfast was included at Courtyard hotels. (Alas, I must’ve been thinking of Comfort Inn.) Although a free breakfast would have certainly been preferred, we enjoyed a pleasant spread of fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, juices, coffee, make-your-own waffles, and an omelet station.

Spirit of Aloha in SoCal
One of the most memorable aspects of our trip for me was meeting former Travel Mamas Guest Blogger Debi Huang. She is the author of Go Explore Nature, a blog that suggest unique ways and fun places to explore the outdoors with kids. On our first night in town, she and her husband, their two boys, and my brood got together at Duke’s Malibu for some scrumptious fresh fish, live ukulele music with hula dancing entertainment, and a gorgeous view of the ocean.

Hula Dancer at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion in California
Tableside entertainment at Duke’s Malibu

The best part for me was gabbing about the wild and wacky world of blogging with Debi while our husbands wrangled the children! A wonderful bonus to blogging is all of the incredible people I have met from around the country and around the world who share my love of writing and travel. What a wonderful way to connect with locals wherever I go!

The Travel Mama and Debi Huang of Go Explore Nature
Karissa, me, and Debi Huang of Go Explore Nature

While it was too chilly for a beach outing during our Labor Day vacation to Santa Monica, we did zip around on amusement park rides, play carnival games, eat some tasty food, and meet up with some awesome Santa Monica residents. What more could we ask for?

What’s your favorite attraction, restaurant, or hotel in Santa Monica? Leave a comment below!

Vote Where to Send My Family for a Weekend & Win!

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

I need your help with a little travel dilemma. I have got a $250 Marriott gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket book! The problem? I tend to be a tad (ahem, a ton!) indecisive. That’s where you come in. I’ve narrowed it down to three choices…please weigh-in and choose where my family should go on our weekend getaway! For helping me out, you could win two fabulous travel games from ThinkFun. Even if you don’t need the prize, go ahead and vote! Just let me know in your comment that you’d like the games to go to another entrant. We’ll go wherever you tell us to go!

To keep things within my (tight) budget, I need to go somewhere within driving distance from our home in San Diego. My travel companions will be the hubs (Phil), my daughter (Karissa, age five), and my little guy (Leo, age two). We’ll take our journey sometime during September, while the weather is still warm and sunny in Southern California.

Knott's Camp Snoopy Characters

Option 1: Rides & Waterslides
What kid doesn’t love amusement parks and waterslides? While we’ve visited Disneyland with Little Ones numerous times, we have never taken our children to Knott’s Berry Farm. In fact, the last time I visited the nation’s oldest theme park was during high school and I’m sure a lot has changed since then. There are oodles of rides in Camp Snoopy that would please the kiddies, like the Flying Ace Balloon Race and the Charlie Brown Speedway. The following day we could head to Knott’s Soak City waterpark for a watery good ol’ time on its plentiful waterslides, lazy river, and Gremmie Lagoon children’s pool.

Hollywood Boulevard Sign

Option 2: Wooly Mammoths & Movie Stars
My husband and I have lived in SoCal for ten years and during that time we have only ventured to Los Angeles for a weekend getaway once…and that was shortly after we moved here. Sure, we’ve driven through the city on our way elsewhere or to pick up cupcakes from Sprinkles, but that’s about it. For this trip, we’d bring the kids to La Brea Tar Pits, where thousands of years ago extinct animals got stuck in black, gooey pits of tar. There are life-sized wooly mammoth models submerged in the tar pits as well as skeletons of creatures like Sabor-toothed cats constructed from fossils found in the muck on display at the Page Museum next door. We could also wander along the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, try to match our hands with those of celebrities at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, or take in behind-the-scenes movie magic at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Santa Monica Beach Ferris Wheel

Option 3: Old-School Amusements & Beachy Fun
I have never been to the Santa Monica Pier, the West Coast’s only amusement park on an oceanfront pier. With its aquarium, old-fashioned soda fountain, carnival games, carousel, Ferris wheel, and other diversions – this place is sure to please the kiddies. The next day we could pick up a picnic lunch and head to Santa Monica Beach for a day of splashing in the water and building sand castles.

Road Trip Entertainment
For the journey, I’ll be sure to bring along lots of healthy (and a few forbidden!) snacks, pack some bubbles and a beach ball for rest-stop entertainment, and pull out the Zingo! To Go for a few rounds of on-the-go fun. My kindergartner and I played this game for the first time during our flight to Puerto Rico for our mommy-daughter getaway. We have the at-home game too and my daughter and her friends love, love, love playing both versions! The game is similar to Bingo…but with a zing! There are no loose pieces to worry about misplacing and everything fits in a compact travel bag. It’s recommended for kids aged four and older.

ThinkFun's Zingo! To Go Game

Another fun travel diversion for puzzle lovers is Rush Hour, a single player sequential game in which the player steers cars, trucks, and buses out of traffic jams. It also comes with its own handy travel bag. The original version is appropriate for kids and adults aged eight and older, while Rush Hour Jr. can keep children aged six to eight occupied on the way to your destination.

ThinkFun's Rush Hour Game

Vote & Win!
So…where should we go? It’s up to you! Just leave a comment below about which of these three paths you think we should take for a chance to win two games: Zingo! To Go (for ages four and older, retail value $14.99) PLUS your choice of ThinkFun’s popular Rush Hour (for ages eight and older, retail value $19.99) or Rush Hour Jr. (for ages six to eight, retail value $17.99).

This contest ends on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time. A winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. The winner will be notified via email. If the prize is not claimed within two days, another winner will be selected. One entry per person.

To vote, simply make a comment below about which road trip option my family should take. That’s it! If you have additional tips on sites to see, restaurants for us to try, and activities to do during our trip, feel free share those too. We will go to whichever location receives the most votes.

A note from the Travel Mama: I earned this $250 Marriott gift card for running a Tots Travel Too Contest for Marriott a couple of months ago on Travel Mamas. I was under no obligation to write another blog post mentioning Marriott. ThinkFun provided my family with a free Zingo! To Go game to preview and will provide the two games to the winner of this giveaway.