If it helps, I can tell you that my wife did the Temecula to UTC commute for many years. At 10am with fastpass it was one hour. I know that’s very different from 8am, so it’s probably worth your time to test it from Escondido one morning.
Having small kids with a long commute is not easy. Now that ours are older and she works locally, there’s a lot less stressing on schedules. I think of my Carlsbad commute (work 6-3) to be downtime and even fun for a good portion. Lots of twisties.
Also consider the cost of gas, maintenance, wear items, and depreciation on your cars. Wow does it add up. A 20-minute commute instead of an hour commute is the equivalent of giving yourself a $10-15k+ raise, depending on how much additional child care you need and what kind of cars you buy.
