Susan's home set the stage for a great beach vacation. My husband and I stayed there for four nights (Sun-Thurs) with our two young daughters (age 1 & 3). It was a luxury to have two bathrooms, especially with kids. We don't even have two bathrooms in our house in Hollywood! The second bedroom with two single beds had plenty of space for two travel cribs and the second bathroom had a nice tub for bath time.
There were plenty of amenities, including nice knives, plenty of towels, washer/dryer, ceiling and floor fans in each room and plenty of toilet paper and paper towels. The stove top worked well. There was ample space to unpack and settle in.
Check in was so easy! Because Sea World is only open right now from Fri-Sun, we decided to visit Sea World on our way down from LA and then go to the house. It was nice not having to coordinate with anyone, and just use a code whenever we arrived. We didn't need to remember a house key when we went out on our daily outings.
Netflix! Great for the kids and great for us. We loved being able to put on Emily in Paris after the girls went to bed and enjoy some wine.
The patio space is perfect but note that it's not completely enclosed. There is a narrow walkway from the garage/parking space to the patio. It was not a problem. My kids had too much fun running around the patio furniture, sweeping with the brooms and saying hi to passersby.
The beach is so close that I stopped putting on shoes to walk there. The bay is also quite close, but requires crossing Mission Blvd (not a big deal). The bay side is so quiet and relaxing, and less stressful with little kids to keep an eye on. I walked there at dawn by myself with some coffee and watched the sun rise. It was really beautiful. Then on the beach side, you can watch the epic sunsets.
Susan provided great beach amenities. There were two umbrellas, boogie boards, sand castle toys, probably 12 folding chairs and more. It was really nice not to have to haul that stuff from home.
The parking space fit our mid-size SUV. We were able to meet with family and friends on our patio, and they all found street parking fairly easily. There is also a big paid parking lot just a couple blocks north that serves Belmont Park and Mission Beach Park.
Sea World is literally 6 minutes away and the Zoo is 15 min.
We really enjoyed our time there!