Laura22
in
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2005
I am moving to Oceanside, California with my family in a couple weeks after living on the East Coast for 27 years. My husband is a Marine (has orders to Camp Pendleton) and we have 2 kids who will be 6 and 8 when we arrive.
Right now we are on a waiting list for housing on base, but the housing is still being built and should be completed before September. In the meantime, we will be living in a hotel with our dog. Yes - 4 people and a dog crammed into a hotel room for up to 2 months.
The bottom line is, we are gonna want to get out of that tiny little room as much as possible and have fun without breaking the bank. I haven't seen my husband in months as he moved out there back in March, so we can't wait to finally have some quality family time. (He also just got back from a long deployment, so I've hardly seen him at all in over a year).
Right off the bat we plan to get annual passes to Disneyland, Legoland, Sea World, and San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park, but aside from the initial investment in AP's which we've already saved up for, we are not wanting to spend much money. See, we have had our house up for sale here in NC since February with no luck, so we're looking at having to pay for 2 houses simultaneously until this one sells....who knows how long that will take. Money is going to be really tight in the meantime, so I'm looking for all sorts of inexpensive or free things our family can do in Southern California to keep busy and stay out of the hotel room. Also any dog-friendly places in or near Oceanside that we can visit to keep the dog stimulated would be great. We plan to put her in doggy day care daily just so she's not stuck in the hotel room, but we'd also like to bring her some places for fun once in a while.
Also, are there ways to visit the parks (Disneyland and such) without breaking the bank on food? It would be cool to go to Disneyland over and over living so close and having AP's, but it costs a fortune to feed 4 people for a day there. Any cheap restaurants walking distance from the park? Any picnic areas?
Any and all advice from locals is appreciated. I want to know all the most fun places to see, eat at, whatever! We are adventurous and love to do everything! I'd be thrilled to even hear the "expensive" ideas as well - to file away in my mind for when our house sells and we have money again. lol
Thanks!
Right now we are on a waiting list for housing on base, but the housing is still being built and should be completed before September. In the meantime, we will be living in a hotel with our dog. Yes - 4 people and a dog crammed into a hotel room for up to 2 months.
The bottom line is, we are gonna want to get out of that tiny little room as much as possible and have fun without breaking the bank. I haven't seen my husband in months as he moved out there back in March, so we can't wait to finally have some quality family time. (He also just got back from a long deployment, so I've hardly seen him at all in over a year).
Right off the bat we plan to get annual passes to Disneyland, Legoland, Sea World, and San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park, but aside from the initial investment in AP's which we've already saved up for, we are not wanting to spend much money. See, we have had our house up for sale here in NC since February with no luck, so we're looking at having to pay for 2 houses simultaneously until this one sells....who knows how long that will take. Money is going to be really tight in the meantime, so I'm looking for all sorts of inexpensive or free things our family can do in Southern California to keep busy and stay out of the hotel room. Also any dog-friendly places in or near Oceanside that we can visit to keep the dog stimulated would be great. We plan to put her in doggy day care daily just so she's not stuck in the hotel room, but we'd also like to bring her some places for fun once in a while.
Also, are there ways to visit the parks (Disneyland and such) without breaking the bank on food? It would be cool to go to Disneyland over and over living so close and having AP's, but it costs a fortune to feed 4 people for a day there. Any cheap restaurants walking distance from the park? Any picnic areas?
Any and all advice from locals is appreciated. I want to know all the most fun places to see, eat at, whatever! We are adventurous and love to do everything! I'd be thrilled to even hear the "expensive" ideas as well - to file away in my mind for when our house sells and we have money again. lol
Thanks!