On December 29th, our family traveled south to Palm Desert to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa in their sunnier home. The weather down there was NOT warm, but the company was! We spent lots of great time watching football and enjoying the hot tub. The boys even swam despite the high of 52. Fifty-two degrees Fahrenheit and my people are walking down the street in their swim suits. Oregonians.
On New Year's Eve we did something very special for the boys. We took them to LegoLand. I think it was the best day of their young lives. It was super fun and awesome. Really awesome. I think I'll just post WAY too many pictures and tell a few stories using them.
First I have to tell you that the boys didn't know we were going until the morning of the 31st. They had no idea. So, this series of pictures included exactly how the boys responded to me when I asked, "Do you guys know what LegoLand is?" They started to explain their ideas, and I responded by saying, "Well, we will just have to find out when we go there today."
Paul smiled first. Luke is still trying to explain what he thinks Legoland is...
And then we got in the van and drove for two hours. I know. It was quite a ways to go. But folks, when you are within two hours of the place you are fairly certain will be magical and amazing for your people, you do it.
We are driving down the lego-lined lane and the boys don't appear worse for the car ride.
I can't believe they stopped and posed for this picture. Thank you, boys. I know it was hard.
We had a game plan for the day that involved doing the park in backward order to avoid crowds. But then we spotted Star Wars MiniLand. I actually spotted it first and literally ran up the little flight of stairs saying, "Oh! Oh! Guys! Come here!" Eight or nine amazing scenes from the movies created entirely out of LEGO. It was the coolest thing.
This is the part where I could post over 50 shots that I took of just. the. lego. I won't do that to you. I'll post one, maybe two. I know my audience. ;-)
The battle for Hoth. I knew that without asking my kids. This is from one of the original films. It is classic.
This is his Happiest Place on Earth, people. No question. They asked to go to Disneyland because they have friends who have gone recently. We took them to LegoLand instead. We were right.
The Battle of Naboo - not as classic, but impressive nonetheless.
It's the palace on Naboo. And it's made of LEGO. I'm a dork.
My kids are so happy in this picture.
Paul with Wicket, the Ewok, his very favorite Star Wars character.
Paul with Yoda, my mom's favorite Star Wars character. We love Oma!
Luke with Luke Skywalker. Duh. ;-)
Paul with R2D2, the sassiest Star Wars character.
This is so cool. Yes, Paul is making sounds like Chewbacca in this picture. He's so awesome.
After a good forty five minutes in Star Wars MiniLand, we headed for Castle Land and our first rides. Ever.
Fun faces with the village blacksmith who is made entirely of LEGO. I know I keep saying that but it was just so much fun!
We deliberately chose a mellow ride to start off with because it was their first time ever on amusement park type rides. The Knight's Joust was perfect. I know this ride is made for four year olds, but I think it is awesome that my nine and seven year old loved it.
We don't have any pictures of our next ride, but it was the boys' first roller coaster experience. It's called the Dragon and it was PERFECT for them. It starts by taking you through a whole bunch of indoor scenes created from, yes, more LEGO. There was a HUGE dragon guarding his hoard. The boys were completely enthralled. Then it takes you outside and you ride on an exciting twisty, turny roller coaster. It was the perfect size and speed for them. They really liked it. I was SO glad.
Our next ride was an archeologist themed ride (yes, they stole this idea) called the Lost Kingdom Adventure. You sit in a Jeep type vehicle and use a plastic gun with a laser target to fire at targets all over the place as you ride through an archeological adventure. We did this one twice! It was very popular.
Pretending to hold the LEGO blocks while waiting in line for the Lost Kingdom. Adorable.
After this, it was nearly lunch time, so we headed for the place where we could get hotdogs. Yes, they were expensive, but not actually as bad as I thought they would be. A hotdog meal with chips and drink was $8.95. I budgeted $10 for each person for each meal in the park. This was under budget! But then California charged tax and it wasn't under budget anymore. Oh well.
After lunch the boys just REALLY wanted to explore more of MiniLand, the area with the outrageously awesome LEGO models. So, we did!
It's New York City. Erik and the boys are standing in the upper right, to give you an idea of the scale.
Then we went back to Star Wars MiniLand. Yep. Another hour or so, people. Every model needed to be examined and talked about. I took SO many pictures for the boys. It was so delightful to see them so delighted. And I want to take this moment to tell you that despite the presence of all these amazing models AND multiple shops where every LEGO imaginable was for sale, my beautiful boys did not ONCE ask us to go into a shop or purchase a single thing. Not. One. Thing. It was awesome. They just enjoyed looking at everything and soaking it all in. We are blessed.
The sun finally came out and these smiles didn't fade the entire day.
We talked the boys into leaving MiniLand to do the driving course. It was SO adorable. They both stayed on the correct side of the road and drove very well. And they were cute doing it.
Paul driving - ACK!
Cutie.
Unfortunately, the afternoon sunshine messed Luke's picture up a bit, but he's still precious.
It totally impressed me that they drove these little cars so well. I guess I've watched them play MarioCart (a driving video game) and figured they would be ALL over the place. Nope. And I just realized that Luke is five years from getting his permit to drive a real car. Oh dear.
Back to MiniLand! I'm serious. They could not get enough. This time we spent over an hour looking at all the OTHER models. This was one of my favorites:
The capitol building has over 400,000 LEGOs. And the band in front marches for real.
Daddy found the next treasure: the actual workshop where the engineers work to build all the models in LegoLand. Sidenote: Erik discovered robotics as his passion in the fourth grade when an assembly brought robots to his school. Luke is in the fourth grade this year. He loves Legos. Watching him examine this workshop was super cool.
This was the point at which my phone died and I discovered that the battery on my real camera was already dead. But really, all that was left of the evening was the dropping of the 2015 LEGO brick and the fireworks. All this was slated to begin at 6pm, but there was some technical difficulty, so it actually occurred closer to 6:20. It was still AMAZING. My kids had never seen a fireworks show before. LegoLand handed out special 3D glasses that when worn made the fireworks look like LEGO bricks. For real, people. It was magical.
We were back in the car by 7pm, grabbed dinner at the nearest Chic Filet and were back to our hotel and in our beds by 9:30pm. Best. New Year's Eve. Ever.
