I’m on day the fifth day, and we’ve managed to go to beaches 3 of those days, here in San Diego. As we went our criteria for the perfect beach got more and more refined, as did our method of attending the beach.

Day 1: Dog Beach. We didn’t bring the dog with us, and we were aiming towards People Beach, but Dog Beach had gentler waves for the 6,4, and 2 year-olds. We had a great time, and started to refine the process of beach-attending.
– between beach visits, leave the beach toys in the car
– bring a substantial snack
– avoid beaches with dogs (they think you’re a dog and start “playing” if you’re a kid)
– don’t go to fancy restaurants afterwards that aren’t for kids (duh, haha)

Day 2: Mission Bay Park. We found a list of “family beaches,” and settled on this one, which was, sheltered from the ocean, picnic tables, restrooms, palm trees, and no crowds. What we learned:
– bring dry clothes to change into
– bring more toys
– avoid the boats
– do reconnaissance afterward to check out new beaches via car (as 2 year old falls asleep good time to do car activity)

Day 3: Bonita Beach /Maritime Beach. Really each beach has been better than the last. This one was better/clearer water, nicer restrooms, active lifeguards. What we learned:
– brought more toys
– more breaks for small bodies to get warm for longer time at the beach
– bring reading material
– spread out clothes afterward
– outside showers/freshwater showers are NICE after a swim, ensures more fun and longer time after swim to do something.

Sure, a lot of it is common sense, but as you do anything repetitively you end up streamlining and remembering details. I’m also fascinated with asking San Diegans their “favorite beach”- as it shows so much about their personality. Apple Store guy said, “I don’t go to the beach much,” but started describing a few hard-to-find hidden beaches and describe their amenities in detail, cliffs, quality of sand, location, wave type.

I didn’t find a satisfactory description of beaches online, but if I lived here I’d probably dig one up somewhere.