LA Vacation

I LOVE Venice beach. You can rent a bicycle and ride up to Santa Monica Pier.

I also like walking along and seeing the Celebrity stars on Hollywood Blvd on the Walk of Fame.

There is a Farmer's Market in West Hollywood that is fantastic. It's not a regular Farmer's Market, it's more developed. I like to go there for lunch at least one day when I visit my brother (who lives in LA).
http://www.farmersmarketla.com/

I LOVE stand up comedy - so I always like to take in a standup show while I'm there. I like the improv, which has lesser known acts, but the Comedy Store and Laugh Factory (both on Sunset) are good as well.

Those are what I thought of right off the top.... but if I think of more I'll come back and add them.

The Santa Monica Pier is great! Your boys would probably also enjoy Universal Studios (so will you if you are a movie fan.) We liked walking along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, checking out all the celebrity stars. I have a great photo of my daughter with her hands perfectly matching Shirley Temple's handprints :-)
Maybe you could take in a sporting event at UCLA. I like taking teenagers to college campuses, to get them excited about going themselves! Plus the food, shopping and people watching is great all around that campus.

I live here and alll the ideas are right on. Santa Monica pier is great a small sized amusement park, and 3rd street promenade shopping and restaurants. You could do knottsberry far,pm, Venice beach, Huntington beach, or Laguna beautiful area. A trip up the coast to Malibu is beautiful with a stop at dukes for dinner.

We've been to LA a couple of times. I think your boys would like the Santa Monica Pier. We enjoyed just walking around and seeing everything.

We enjoyed the Hollywood Walk of Fame... it does get a little crazy crowded in that area but great for people watching, etc. We had burgers at Mel's Diner.

Each time we have been it has been shorter weekends so we do a lot of walking and such. We stayed at the Beverly Hilton last time and walked to a nice shopping/dining area and ate at Flemings which was very good (pricey).

Have fun and I hope you can be stress free!

The pier is fun, as is a walk around the 3rd Street Promenade. Venice Beach is just a bit further south.

Have you been to the Natural History Museum next door to the CA Science Center? That's a great museum, to.

You could go to a pro sports events - Ducks and Kings for hockey (Ducks are right there in Anaheim), or the Clippers or Lakers for basketball. You could also go to a UCLA game for a variety of sports (or USC or UCI, but I'm a Bruin so I'll say UCLA!). Walking around the campus at UCLA is really nice too. If you're in Westwood (by UCLA), there are great cookies for 35 cents at Diddy Riese and really good build your own pizzas at 800 degrees.

Knott's Berry Farm has tons of roller coasters and isn't too far from Disneyland.

Medieval Times is a great place for dinner with a live show. Choose the Buena Park location: http://medievaltimes.com/ It's just down the street from Knott's.

You could do the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park. If you're here long enough, you could take a day trip to Catalina, though I'm not sure how much there is to do in the winter.

There is an Outdoor Education Center at Irvine Regional Park. I'm not totally sure if you can just go anytime, but it's worth looking into. They have archery, BB gun shooting, zip lining and more. Give them a call and see if you can make solo (non group) reservations. http://iroec.webs.com/

Tour the USS Midway aircraft carrier docked in San Diego

Drive out to Palm Springs and take the aerial tramway to the top. There might be snow up there. Stop to see the giant dinosaurs in Cabazon along the way. Big Bear and Idyllwild are also great for local snow trips.

Visit the Watts Towers

Pinks?

I'd definitely do the Pier, carousel & muscle beach.

Other, less known things to check out:
http://m.santamonica.com/listings.cfm?catid=1803&menu...

Rent bikes and ride, there will be a lot for them to see.

What about the Long Beach Aquarium? That's a great one. The kids may really like it. Hmmm, what Universal Studios? Go out on a whale watching boat (if you are ok on boats) and go see the Queen Mary.