5 Free Things To Do in the South Bay

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I have been blessed to live in the South Bay area of Los Angeles county for the past 11 years. The South Bay area is comprised of Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, and many of the other cities joined to ours.  We are about 15 minutes north of Long Beach, and but south of the city of Los Angeles.

As Wikipedia states, "The South Bay is one of the most culturally, economically, and ethnically diverse areas in the United States, with a largely even distribution of the population across African, Asian/Pacific Islander, European and Latino ancestry." You will never be at a loss to find many Japanese restaurants, Hawaiian food (the main factory for King's Hawaiian bread is here), and other ethnic cuisines.

If you already live in the South Bay area of Los Angeles or are visiting soon, I want to share with you 5 places that you can visit for FREE.  All of them are places that locals told me about, and I'm so glad we went.

1) Terranea Resort.  Although Terranea is a beautiful hotel & golf course, they have their own private beach that the public can visit.  Parking is free, and you can follow the path down to an area with nice bathrooms and picnic benches with an amazing view of the ocean.  We have seen dolphins and whales from that vantage point many times. Follow the path a little further down and you will find the private beach. Although it is rocky and not the best place to swim, it is a great spot for kids to explore, throw rocks in the ocean, or just play in the sandy area above the rocks.  There are also some great places to eat on the property, including Nelsons.

2)  South Coast Botanical Gardens.  On the third Tuesday of every month, you can bring your family to the gardens for free admission.  This place is HUGE with a giant lake, a children's garden, tons of nature and many places to explore.  Pack a lunch and bring a picnic blanket, and plan on spending a few hours here.  Right now there is a Groupon available with 50% off a family pass, making it only $25 for a years admission!

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3) The Roundhouse Aquarium.  Located right at the end of the Manhattan Beach Pier, this aquarium only takes donations for entrance. It is a small, two-story aquarium with a good selection of fish for kids to see and touch.

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4) Hopkins Wilderness Park.  This is a beautiful campground and park nestled within the city of Redondo Beach.  You can see small wildlife and feed the ducks.  There are two ponds, and the pond at the far end of the park has a ton of turtles. Just be careful with your little ones; my son bent over to see the turtles and fell head-first into the pond when he was two!  (Note that they are closed on Wednesdays)

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5) The Sea Lab in Redondo Beach.  This spot is almost free - only $4 requested donation per family.  Be sure to bring quarters for the metered parking outside, too.  The Sea Lab is an educational aquarium.  My son's class took a field trip here and they had so much fun.  There are a ton of tanks, both inside and outside, of fish local to our area.  Be sure to take one of the guided tours where you will be able to get up close and personal with many of the fish.  Make a day of it and bring a sack lunch to eat on the sand afterwards - the Sea Lab is located right next to the water.

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I hope you get a chance to visit the South Bay someday; after all, we are only 20 minutes south of the LA Airport, and on your way to Disneyland!

If you are from this area, what other "hidden gems" in the South Bay would you recommend visiting?

Summer- What Now?

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Last week the boys both had their last days of school, and so summer officially started on Friday.  In the past week, we've fit in a trip to Disneyland (well, just for me - my dad's birthday gift), a trip to Legoland, a Dodger game for Father's Day, and a day at Irvine Regional Park (awesome place) with friends.  All of that just happened to fall within a 1 week period, and so today is our first day home for summer vacation.

So far, so good - but I know how these days can get long.  When the boys are around each other 24/7, they can get cranky and start to irritate each other.  We just worked together on making a jar full of summer activities for when they get bored, and each boy wrote 10 things to contribute.  Jaden's were all activities like "Go to Toys 'R Us and buy a Lego set" (which did not get included since that will be quite pricey), as well as "Go to Legoland," among others. This boy prefers expensive activities.  Micah's activities included playing baseball, which he would do all day long, as well as riding scooters and taking trips down to 7-11. These boys always prefer outdoor activities, although they don't really want to go anywhere usually. They love to just play outside at home.  Indoor activities are a different story, since they are not excited about reading, doing puzzles, or playing games. Maybe that's one of the big differences between having boys vs. girls?  I don't know.  All I know is that mommy wants to play inside, but the boys want to play outside.

I'm also trying to channel their collective energy into planning a yard sale.  Today I had them go through their books and toys and choose things they don't want. That activity made a huge mess and only lasted about 1 hour.

So, it's 12:45pm on the first official day of summer at home, and I'm all out of ideas.  WHAT AM I GOING TO DO??   The jar full of ideas sounds great, but when they pull one out, they say "We don't want to do that!"  So, I'm passing it along since maybe it will work well for your kids ;)

One idea I had was to accomplish three things per week:
- Swimming (we'll have to find places to do that)
-An Educational Field Trip
-A Play Date

If I can do those things on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, then we can spend time at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We'll also throw some fun things in there too.

That's the plan right now, but I find my greatest issue is just thinking of enough activities for them to do while they're at home that will occupy them all day.  Please leave a comment with some of your ideas, what has worked for your kids, and maybe we can all help each other out! :)