Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Free or Inexpensive Family Fun in .... San Diego!

Here are some great and fun places to go with your family in San Diego!!

Top of the list are the beaches, they are just beautiful! La Jolla is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world

Visit downtown San Diego's Seaport Village lots of free entertainment, a relaxing strolling and window shopping. Enjoy a day of hanging out in the grass and watching the many passing yachts and ships on beautiful San Diego Bay. Pack a picnic lunch or if finances allow, there are plenty of great eateries nearby. 


Enjoy free organ concerts at 2:00 pm on Sundays at Spreckels Organ Pavillion in Balboa Park. The Organ Pavillion features one of world’s largest outdoor pipe organs, a San Diego landmark since 1914, where organists play traditional favorites, waltzes and show tunes on enormous 32-foot pipes. Take a picnic or snack and enjoy the tunes. 


This sounds like a great family night!  Stargaze outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park on the first Wednesday of every month. The San Diego Astronomy Association sets up huge telescopes to offer guests a great view of all the stars in the night sky. When your finished go by McDonalds and grab a $1.00 Sunday for Dessert. Make it a surprise and the kids will be thrilled!!


 
Step back in time with a stop in Julian, a century-old gold mining town in the Cuyamaca Mountains. Pick up a free map at the Chamber of Commerce for a self-guided walking tour of the area’s historic sites and later enjoy a slice of homemade apple pie, its a Julian specialty! This would be inexpensive. I think the pie cost 4-5$ a slice. YUMMM!!


 
Take a picnic and drive to Torrey Pines State Park where you can watch talented amazing hang gliders do tricks in the strong winds that sweep along the coastline cliffs. What a great day. Add a game of kickball or frisbee.. and your set for a great day at the park! 





The famous San Diego Zoo and The San Diego Zoo Safari Park are both fantastic sites to see and with coupons and specials you can get admission in for relatively a nominal charge. and at these parks is that if you have a Person with Disability you can get an caretaker pass so one person can get in for no charge.  If you pack lunch, snacks and drinks, you can go fairly inexpensively.  A great place for a staycation!!
    
The New Children's Museum is a fabulous place to visit with family. It is located at 200 West Island Ave., San Diego, CA 92101.  They seems to have lots of hands on for kids of all ages! Adults and children are $10, children under 1yr are free.  Military with ID and seniors 65+ get in for only $5.  This friday July 27th is finger painting day!! 

The Anticipated Summer Camp!

This summer was to be full of summer camp. Both kids are fortunate to benefit from Junior Blind of America www.juniorblindofamerica.org and their amazing summer camp, Camp Bloomfield. This camp is for children who are blind or visually impaired.
Breck is able to go to 3 different camps that they offer. The three he chose were  Youth Development Camp, Middle School and Goal Ball.   The camps sessions do various activities such as archery, rock wall climbing, wire walking, horseback riding, tandem cycling, hiking, judo, and many others.  In the Goal Ball session the kids are immersed everything pertaining to Goal Ball. This is the one camp I was very excited about for Breck to go to. Its a sport he can participate in equally as everyone else and something he could potentially be really good at. Destiny chose Youth Development so she could be with Breck and other friends who were going to that session. She goes as a "Buddy" to a visually impaired/blind camper.  

Both kids had a great time at Youth Development! Its fun to watch them mature and oh so scary that my little lady is talking boys!  Apparently Breck had some issues with speaking kindly and keeping his hands to himself. He was talked to several times. (I know this from Destiny). I drove the 2 hours to Los Angeles to drop him off for Middle School  Camp and was spoke to then about his past behavior. We then discussed with Breck about keeping his hands to himself, and speaking kindly. I was truly devastated that "My" son, was treating others like this.  Camp Bloomfield is a special camp for special kids, all of the kids have some sort of vision impairment or complete vision loss. Breck has had his fair share of names being called, teased, and bullied. I'm at awe as to why he would treat someone meanly.  Anyways we talked to him and made it very clear that I would be called to drive the 3 hours to Malibu and pick him up if this continued.  That was Monday, Wednesday night at about 9pm I was pulling into Camp Bloomfield to pick up my darling son.  I'm frustrated, hurt, confused and really, just don't know where to go or what to do.  He seems to have no concept of when its appropriate to play and when it isn't. Nor does he quite realize his own strength.  I have him scheduled with a counselor in hoping this will help. She has recommended a psychologist and possible medication to help with his ADHD. This is a hard one we have a 50/50 vote here at home. I'm leaning more towards yes and Breck has said he would like to try some meds. humm... is he old enough to help us make the decision?  I'll be looking in to some natural remidies/aids first.
Needless to say... summer wasn't FULL of camp. The Goal Ball session will have to be something we work on for next year. I also need to find a one/one aide for him to be able to attend. This is my project to be working on in the near future.