San Diego Ideas..Alone with 3 small kids
 

I am heading out to San Diego after Thanksgiving and will be staying at a Sheraton downtown. My sister has a conference, so she will be at the conference all day and I will have my 3 kids to entertain (8, 4 and 2). The 2 year old is very active so shopping is out of the question. We have done all the major parks in the area ie: zoo, wild animal, legoland and sea world. I may do 1 of the parks, but they are too much work without my husband or another adult. My 2 year old is a crazy girl. What are some things I can do to entertain my kids for those 3 days? We love the beach, but it may be too cool, so I am trying to come up with other ideas. I have never taken them to the La Jolla activities. What are they and where are they? What is in Balboa Park? I'll take any ideas so I'm not stuck at a hotel pool all day while in beautiful SD. I'll also take restaurant suggestions that are kid friendly. Thanks!

take them down to la jolla and the "childrens cove" which doesn't have any swimming allowed but lots of seals which usually amuse kids.
there is the la jolla aquarium
the ferry over to coronado
on coronado you can rent bikes to go around - making a stop at the beach
down on mission beach/pacific beach you can rent bikes, blades, boogie boards
cabrillo national monument
sunset cliffs to enjoy the waves crashing
on weekends there is often a ship that's open for tours downtown

As ltt said the aquarium is fun and has geat views:

http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/

Quail Gardens on a Wednesday has crafts etc. for the four and two year old, but the eight year old will be bored.

Personally, I wouldn't go anywhere near the beach with 3 kids and only 1 adult.

I, too, would suggest the aquarium in La Jolla. I was just there a couple of months ago and, although small, it was wonderful. I would go again. Go early in order to get a good parking space.

there is a nice model railroad museum at Balboa Park

Also in Balboa Park is the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center - lots of fun, hands on activities for kids, not sure how into it the 2 year old would be, but check their website as I think they may have added some Childrens Museum-like stuff for younger kids. It also has an IMAX theatre.

I would take them to Mission Beach and let them run on the beach. You never know how warm it will be but the kids will love it. It really doesn't seem to matter to any of the vacationing kids on the beach whether it warm or cool. If you have a stroller for the other two the 8yr could rent a bike and you could walk on the boardwalk. There's a restaurant called Kono's on Cass St. at the beach which would be real easy to have lunch with the kids.

I would check out Old Town. They have some fun things for kids to do (ie panning for gold) and its not that demanding like a theme park.

I walked on the boardwalk today and I'm going to change the area of Mission Beach to come to. Go to the Roller Coaster area of Mission Beach. There is lots of parking and lots of restaurants for the kids. There are kiddie rides and a great spot to be on the beach. This is not a place I would recommend during but during November not many people and a great place to be for kids.

Birch Aquarium is excellent and all ages love this place in LJ..

The Children's pool along the coast in LJ..

Tidepools in OB and LJ.

Whale watching might be starting that soon..that is a blast.

Musuems in Balboa Park..
Railroad, Natural History, Space theatre

Hotel Del in Coronado..might be putting up the Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving..gorgeous and the kids love the place..

Corvette Diner in Hillcrest.
Filippi's
Kono's
Any taco shop

Have a great time beachbum!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was wondering about whale watching, but I don't know how my 2 year old would hold up on a boat for 3 hours. I have done the Birch aquarium and will probably do that again as it is easy to get through and will kill 2 hours. We are usually in the Carlsbad area, so thanks for the beach suggestions as i was not familiar with the beaches closer to SD. I'll take any other suggestions too

Legoland is so loved by kids under 8..Carlsbad is a great town..

We also have a new Children's museum in the downtown area- www.childrensmuseumsd.org

Also may be fun for the kids to see the hang-gliders take off from the cliffs at the glider port in La Jolla - same area as Birch Aquarium, children's cove with seals, etc. (Some info: www.flytorrey.com).

It will be too cold for bathing suits at the beach, and definitely no swimming either at the beach or at the pool (but I live here, so I'm a weather wimp). Think jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, etc., in terms of dress. People often think it's warmer here than it is (I just went for a walk downtown and saw a number of shivering tourists in shorts).

Even so, it's still a lot of fun for the kids to run around on the beach, look at tidepools, see the waves, etc. I think Coronado island beach is great for kids (lots of lifeguards, small waves, very safe crowd, alcohol not allowed (not true on other beaches)), and you could walk to the Hotel Del to get ice cream at Moo Time Creamery (YUM) when they get tired of the beach. (And, you'd have fun seeing the beautiful hotel). The ferry is a fun, quick (15 minutes) ride, so they'd get out on a boat without the lengthy whale watching trip. It leaves hourly, right from Seaport Village (downtown), and returns on the half hour. There are pedi-taxis and other ways to get to the main beach/hotel Del area if the kids are too little for bike rentals. You can find info about the ferry and island here: www.coronado.ca.us/tma.asp.

Look at the Balboa Park website for more info about all the different museum choices, and see what they might like: www.balboapark.org/. There's a children's theater there too.

Have fun!

Thanks for all the sites to check and ideas. I am a wimp with the weather, but my kids will probably be in suits. Our usual trip to Cali is in Oct. and the water is soooo cold, but the beach is warm enough. I can only imagine how cold the water is in late November. I love hotel del, but the kids have never seen it, so that is a great thought.