I am so thrilled to have Art Me in the neighborhood! I've had a hard time finding great, innovative…read moreclasses for my two young children and I'm happy to say Art Me offers just that! My 2-year-old daughter recently attended a toddler class and she created three lovely, age appropriate (ie, not too complicated for little hands) art projects that I am thrilled to display at the house! She loved her experience and we can't wait to go back. They offer a range of classes for all ages (including adults) and have an event space for birthday parties as well. It looks like they're still in the process of building their schedule, but I can't wait to go back to see what is in store!

My friends and I had so much fun this past Saturday at a Paint n Sip event at Art Me San Diego!!…read moreThe painting direction was clear and we all were able to let our artistic free birds fly. All art supplies were included and drinks and snacks too (which was expected). Thank you Art Me team for a great time!!

You can purchase your tickets online at a discounted rate. Parking is free. They have several…read morehandicap parking spots available. I haven't visited this lovely aquarium in a couple of years, it is still well maintained. We arrived in time for the sea dragon feeding and penguin feeding. The staff is very knowledgeable, such a great place for children to learn about sea life. We loved seeing all of the sea animals, our favorites were the sea dragons, octopus & the touch pool. We loved the gift shop! Definitely check this small aquarium out.

I've always wanted to go to Birch Aquarium and so glad I finally made my way. I liked the right…read moreside of the aquarium the best. It was neat seeing the jellyfish, large aquarium display, and the seahorses! The interactive area outside was underwhelming and had very little sea life to explore. The view of the vast ocean was stunning though! The left side of the aquarium had one leopard shark. There was also an area for the kids to play. Overall the aquarium was small and would be worthwhile for them to consider an upgrade.

I went to the Kalabash Studio in La Jolla for a Monday morning yoga class. This studio is charming…read moreand comfortable. There is a faint smell of cedar in the air, and children's toys and instruments strewn around. The wood-panel flooring and wall-to-wall mirrors give the main room a rustic feel and makes the space feel open. Our instructor, Janice, was kind and encouraging. She was also conversational and polite, making sure we were comfortable and checking in with us to make sure we were reaching our full potential. The yoga incorporated pilates that engaged our cores and arm and leg muscles, so that we could find that sweet-spot combining challenge and comfort. We left the workout feeling invigorated, rejuvenated and ready to start our day!

Kalabash takes a lot of pride in what they do and it shows…read more I have been here a few times for their free openings and amazing music shows that they have every so often. I recently went to their one year anniversary and some of the teachers were playing music on the patio and it was awesome! It's clear to see the caliber of people who are involved here. The building is open, beautiful, and full of light. Everyone here is incredibly friendly. As a teacher I think this is an incredible learning environment.

Courteous and great staff, amazing, smart instructors, fun and safe learning surf experience!read more

Andrew was my instructor and taught me a LOT about how to read the waves and ride the line. Was…read moretons of fun, would recommend highly!

This place has been a godsend for me and my family. When we first moved here from Hawaii a few…read moreyears ago, I didn't know anyone. It's funny how something as simple as a warm smile and a friendly hello from the staff at the front desk can mean so much to someone, but it really did for me. The women who work in Childwatch are amazing and so kind to my kids. The staff upstairs is always patient with me every time I forget which locker I put my stuff in, which is more often than I'd like to admit. I've also never once felt uncomfortable asking someone to teach me how to use a piece of equipment I've never used before. I'm unfortunately a very sweaty woman, so the fact that they keep disinfectant, towels, and paper towels easily accessible throughout the gym has genuinely made me feel less self-conscious about how much I sweat while working out. The only improvement I can think of is that the man working in the café has the personality of a filing cabinet, but honestly, maybe every gym needs one emotionally neutral employee so the rest of us don't get too spoiled by how friendly everyone else is. We're really grateful for this place.

Service is always friendly at this location, quality is great as it appears they have the newest…read moreequipment than most YMCAs I have seen. I do feel I get the value for the price for my whole family. I didn't request any services this time other than to workout in a family environment that is warm and welcoming which it meets my expectations every time.

Family trip to San Diego and my cousins and I did some research online and found Surf Education…read moreAcademy as a solid choice for first-time surf lessons around La Jolla. Our instructor Luca met us at the beach right on time after giving us clear directions at the shop when we picked up our wetsuits. He provided detailed instructions and guidance on the sand before we got in the water, which made everything a lot less intimidating for beginners. We all had a great time during the lesson and highly recommend this business to anyone wanting to try surfing while visiting San Diego.

This was a great experience! The staff at the shop were super helpful, and Griff was an awesome…read moreinstructor. My daughter was able to catch some waves! I highly recommend the La Jolla Surf Education Academy!

Our 5-year old really enjoys this camp. We signed him up for ski week and he had tons of fun during…read morea very rainy week. Coach Brooks is amazing! We get funded through San Diego Regional Center and she was really great in accommodating our request and even offered an additional week of Spring Break camp because our school district had a different timeline than the other coastal schools. Coach Brooks and Coach Zora introduced our kid to lots of fun activities such as building forts, tide pooling, building and flying kites, hiking the slot at Annie's Canyon, and even encountering rattlesnakes. This was such a great outdoor activity for our kid in a safe and supportive environment. Being an only child, his exposure to interacting with multi-aged kids has been a tremendous experience. Thank you, Coastal Kiddos, for helping us build one of our child's best core memories!

My daughter has gone to a couple different sessions of these camps and they have been some of her…read morefavorites. The leaders seem really engaged and knowledgeable about the outdoors. They all actually seem to have a big heart for being outside which I am grateful for because it gives that contagious love of nature to this next generation. The activities they chose are all really fun and many of them unique or adapted to fit the week's theme. For example they made fairy houses outside out of natural materials and the staff had to have gotten there early the next day to be sure the fairies left them notes. So sweet and means so much to the littles. Another week they did a fun Tide-pooling scavenger hunt and made these cool nature journals in a way that kids could easily reproduce themselves instead of just buying the journals prepaid. Lots of little touches like that have set this company apart for me. Also appreciated was the customer service and ability to take feedback that I experienced with this company, speaks to the integrity of the staff which is invaluable. Good leadership, staff that really care about kids as well as being stewards of nature. I'm excited to have found them and looking forward to more camps with them in the future.

Overview: Nice, large facility, tope rope and bouldering, corporate atmosphere…read more ---- Mesa Rim is one of the bigger climbing gyms in San Diego, offering both top roping and bouldering. They also have another location in Mission Valley. The front desk staff were polite and efficient, but the interactions felt a bit corporate rather than a genuinely warm welcome. Sign the waiver before you arrive to make things go faster! ---- There's a LOT of amenities here for climbing, fitness, and yoga. They even have a ping pong table and sauna! I really love their website where you can take a virtual tour of their gym, allows you to see the layout of their massive gym. - Strength training area near the front entrance has all the equipment that you'd expect from a full gym including both free weights and cable machines - The cardio area upstairs has treadmills, ellipticals, rowing machine - Ping Pong table located upstairs near the cardio area! ---- There are several different bouldering sections with a variety of routes. When it's busy, the cave bouldering section can be a bit crowded because of their small seating area there. The other sections seem to have enough space though. I would not reccomend this gym for beginners or first time climbers, a lot of the beginner routes are discouraging for true beginners. I came with some friends who were somewhat familiar to climbing and they were saying that the V0s are a bit tough to do. Besides the V0s, the grading is on par with Grotto. I haven't top roped here so I can't speak on that but the area seems to be quite large as well. ---- Something I really appreciate is that they offer free entry days and rentals for anyone a couple of times a year! - API celebration in May - Pride celebration in June Keep an eye out for these days on their upcoming events or their social media if you want to try out this gym or if you want to bring your friends for free! Day passes are $31 and monthly memberships are $110 (+ $100 intimation fee). They have other rates on their website for prepaid options and punch passes. A little thing that I also really like is that they have a suggestion box if you have anything you want to say. ---- Overall: Huge gym, amazing facilities and amenities, nice staff but didn't feel genuinely welcoming, look for the free entry and rental days to try this gym out

Fitness gurus and weekend warriors rejoice! Mesa Rim (San Diego) will make you feel like a…read morebad-arse and then humbly remind you who's in charge. If you know me I always love a challenge! (see back muscle pics LOL) Haven't been to indoor rock climbing in a minute but this location is what got me started. This is one of the bigger climbing gyms in San Diego with tons of wall space for both top rope and bouldering. First timer or seasonal climber, you'll fit right in. The staff are awesome - helpful, motivating, and great at walking you through the basics. We opted for belaying lessons and I recommend that for first-timers! The front desk was polite and efficient but may be a bit corporate than warm. Tip: sign the waiver before you arrive. The gym is clean, routes are reset often, and there's a slab wall full gym, sauna plus a small shop with gear and snacks. They also have a Mission Valley location closer to my work! Tempted to check that one out! Overall: 4 stars - solid climbing, great workouts, even yoga, and good vibes. I'd recommend a membership if you really want to commit. They have several options on their website. HSA/FSA eligible too! Great for a group event and birthday outing in my opinion! Just be ready to get humbled (and sore).

My son who is 9 years old has been attending the MBAC summer camps for the past three years. They…read moretaught him how to surf and to be safe in the water. The staff is extremely knowledge with their water sport and they teach the kids in a fun and safe manner. Hands down this is our favorite summer camp in San Diego. Great job MBAC!

Lots of fun, I would recommend this for friends/family or even a date!…read moreThey're very informative as well on how to kayak

While Oh La La appears to have great reviews for group classes, I would NOT recommend them for 1st…read moredance lessons for a wedding. First, I did not find the scheduling/payment process to be professional. We negotiated for a package of 10 lessons for $700.00 (1 per month up until our wedding). Suzie, the owner, asked us to pay this entire amount upfront via Venmo. I informed her that having never met her or the instructor or even set foot in the studio, I did not feel comfortable paying up front via Venmo b/c if they were running some sort of scam, they could run off w/ my money, & I would be SOOL. I said that I would gladly pay up front via credit card b/c if they ran off w/ my money that way, at least I could dispute the charge. To Suzie's credit, she was understanding of this concern, & she allowed me to pay for each lesson, one at a time, 48 hours in advance via Venmo. Thank GOD, I had the foresight to be concerned about this b/c as you will read below, our instructor abandoned us after lesson 4, without ever completing our dance, so if we had paid the $700.00 up front via Venmo, he could have run off w/ our money. My 2nd issue was the lack of organization & professionalism in scheduling. Because we wanted to do 1 lesson per month up until our wedding, we asked our instructor, Mehmet, several times if we could book all of our lessons in advance on the same day of the week each month (e.g., every 2nd Wednesday of every month). Every time we asked this, he just brushed us off & told us to text him whenever we wanted to schedule, which just made a lot of extra work for us to have to text him the week b4 every time we wanted a lesson rather than already having it planned. Next, on our 1st lesson, Mehmet spent several minutes trying to talk us out of the song we picked for our first dance, which frankly, I very much did NOT appreciate as I put great thought into selecting it. Thankfully, I stuck to my guns & did not change the song, & eventually, it won Mehmet over, & even he liked it. Given we purchased 10 lessons, I expected we would spend more than 1 lesson on the basics, but by lesson 2, Mehmet informed us he had decided to be a flight attended again but assured us (1) it would not impact our dance, & (2) we would leave that day w/ the 1st minute of our dance complete (which seemed rushed for lesson 2 of 10). He even offered to fly back for our lessons, but we told him that was NOT necessary, & if he needed to, he could pass us off to another instructor. Lessons 2-4 seemed pretty rushed, & frankly, seemed like we were going to finish our dance way too quickly, with way too many lessons left, but we figured it would be good to have lots to polish the dance. We had lesson 1 in Oct, 2 in Nov, 3 in Dec, & 4 in Jan, but we never ended up having lesson 5 in Feb b/c Mehmet was not responsive to our texts. This could have been resolved had he agreed to see us on a consistent night each month like we originally requested. He finally responded after I followed up 3x & asked if we could do Wed, 3/2. Even though it was a bad night for us (we had my mom's birthday dinner), we said yes b/c it had been so hard to schedule w/ him. It was also a little disappointing that he asked us to send him the video he took of our dance b/c he apparently, forgot the choreography. 1.5 hours before our lesson, he texted us that he was sick & had to cancel. While are 100% glad he would cancel if sick, he said nothing about re-scheduling & merely asked us to call the owner, Suzie. My fiancé called her, & she said Mehmet had told her the choreography for our dance was done! We still have over a minute of our dance left that has not been choreographed!!! My fiancé asked if she could complete the dance, & she said she had too much on her plate to fulfill Mehmet's obligations. While she did offer to try & find someone else to finish the dance, we informed her that we have been so disappointed w/ the whole experience that we would rather go somewhere more professional. Now, we are behind on our scheduled lessons & having to find a new studio. We have a 1st lesson w/ another studio this week, where the lessons will be $15.00 more per lessons, but we are fine w/ paying more for a studio that is more reliable & trustworthy. Long story short, Oh La La seems to have great reviews for group clases for children, but planning a wedding is stressful enough. We thought our dance lessons would be something fun to do together, but thanks to Oh La La, it's turned out to be one of the more stressful parts of wedding planning. For anyone looking for private lessons for a wedding 1st dance, please heed our cautionary tale & go elsewhere! I'm giving 2 stars b/c we mostly like the 2 minutes of choreography we do have but are very disappointed that Mehmet not only lied to us when he promised to complete our dance but then also lied to the owner, Suzie, by telling her he completed our dance when he never did!

My 5 year old Just started going to Ooh La La. She loves dance and had begged me to be a ballerina!…read moreWe did their summer camp and are now taking classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and a part of their competition team, Mini Mob. I was looking for a studio that was welcoming to a child with little dance experience, but still willing to give them a chance and work with them to perform on stage for competition. A competing dance studio said their try outs were demanding and wasn't sure my kid would cut it. They also played music that wasn't very age appropriate. At Ooh La La, the owner's biggest belief is to provide a welcoming place for all. She made all the parents sign a commitment form stating there is no drama at this academy. She said we applaud every dancer's successes and help those who need some extra TLC. It is exactly the right philosophy for how I wanted to introduce my daughter to her first sport. And a couple of weeks in, I already see. The teachers are working with me to help get my daughter her extra TLC and my daughter is learning from older teenage dancers that she thinks are just the most beautiful ballerinas. Thank you for having a great studio!