Wednesday, February 26, 2014

LEGOLAND California Day 1

The boys we beyond thrilled about visiting LEGOLAND California.  Since our trip to LEGOLAND  Florida, they have been itching to go back.  Last Spring they found out that LEGOLAND  California opened a LEGOLAND hotel and they quickly decided that a trip was in order.  We were fortunate that the stars aligned for them and Allen was doing some temporary work not too far away.  I’m afraid they are really spoiled!

Their level of excitement was equal to that of Christmas Day, so I’d say we could have fueled a small city with the amount of energy the boys had going in.

We arrived that morning and started our check in at the LEGOLAND Hotel!  In case you’re wondering… It isn’t actually made out of Legos, but it has Legos everywhere and is decorated in different Lego themes.  I’ll do a separate post about the hotel, but we had to check in first to get our tickets.  2 days of LEGOLAND were part of the package we purchased.  Yes 2, because 1 is just not enough!!

So off we went to LEGOLAND!

NIK_5078

As you enter there is a water feature with this fountain of Legos coming down.  The attention to detail at LEGOLAND is amazing!NIK_5079

The boys rarely missed a photo op when they can climb in or on a Lego creation!

NIK_5083

They were all smiles waiting for their first rides.

NIK_5086

We hit the pirate area first.

NIK_5098

A good many of the pirate rides were wet ones and since our Bahamian selves were already cold in the 65 ish degree temps we skipped those.  We still had plenty to do there.

Skipper School is always fun and the boys managed to steer the boats.  Jackson and Allen worked as a team to pass Miller and I.  Competitive much?

NIK_5114

Miller and I stayed the course though!

IMG-20140216-00062

 

NIK_5111

Some of the amazing details…This cute diver would pop up out of the water.

NIK_5121

 

NIK_5127NIK_5134NIK_5135

NIK_5107

We got a kick out of these family size dryers for those who didn’t chicken out on the wet rides.  For just $5 you can dry your whole family!

NIK_5108

There are several of these guys sitting on benches that were made out of Lego around the park.  Miller had the funniest reaction to them.  He wanted to sit on their laps and tell them secrets.  I wonder what he said?NIK_5106

NIK_5214

We made our way over to the Kingdom area.

The Dragon roller coaster was a favorite in Florida and it was a blast here as well.

YourPhoto_0001

The Knights Challenge was a little less exciting.  We ended up waiting in line the longest for this ride and it was a bit of a let down.

NIK_5161

These horses are still fun for the boys.

NIK_5146

This Lego spider was quite a highlight!

NIK_5202

Several times during our visit we passed this musical fountain.  When you jump on the circles it makes music play and water to squirt up in the fountain.  We could have spent forever there!

NIK_5222

We spent plenty of time exploring Miniland.  There is so much to see there.

NIK_5206

Their to scale replicas  are fascinating.NIK_5208

NIK_5205

When we went to LEGOLAND Florida, Miller was not tall enough to go on one ride.  This year he was tall enough and he was thrilled to go on the Lego Technic ride!  Allen insisted that Miller and I ride in the front and although it was way out of my comfort zone, I did so for my guys!

YourPhoto_0002

We ended up heading to the hotel for a bit of a break around 4:00, and after our feet recovered a little bit, we went back for a couple more rides.  It was great to be able to have a little down time and then grab a few more rides when everyone else was heading out.

NIK_5246

We ended our evening with a dinner in the hotel.  While the dinner was nothing to write home about, any restaurant that is decorated in Legos and has Legos to play with ranks high in our book.

NIK_5248NIK_5250NIK_5251

Since I am sure your eyes are bleeding from all the pictures, I will go ahead and end Day 1 here and then do another post for Day 2 and the hotel.

Before I go I just have to put this in here.  It’s just too cute!

 

NIK_5139

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

And We’re Off

For over a month I was keeping a big secret from the boys.  Allen had been working in California and the boys and I had a visit planned.  Being a single mom is hard enough without having the boys ask me every 2.3 seconds how much longer until we go on a trip, so I decided that keeping it a secret was the best route to go.  So I picked them up from school on Valentine’s Day and told them that we were going on a Valentine’s Day date.  Here’s the video if you have 4 and a half minutes to  waste spend on it.

The bottom line is they were surprised and excited!

We had an afternoon and evening flight scheduled and they were so good! 

IMG_0691

Arriving in San Diego at 12:45 a.m. should have guaranteed that the boys slept in the next morning.  Yep, I was wrong.  I always suspected Miller has a very strong internal clock and he proved me correct!  He was up before 5 a.m. Pacific time.  Allen was kind enough to take them out and let me sleep.

After we got up and going it was decided that the boys would go do the tour of the Aircraft Carrier USS Midway and I would do some shopping.  They had a blast on the aircraft carrier.

IMG-20140215-00044

IMG-20140215-00032

IMG-20140215-00043

IMG-20140215-00037

IMG-20140215-00013

IMG-20140215-00018

IMG-20140215-00025IMG-20140215-00012

I managed to restrain myself with the shopping and we all met up for the matinee of the Lego Movie.  If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know what nuts my boys are for all things Lego, so this movie is of Holy Grail proportions.  We all loved it.

NIK_5229NIK_5230NIK_5231

In fact you could say that everything is awesome!  “Everything is awesome” is the theme song for the movie and if you listen to it, you will never get the song out of your mind!

That evening we drove up to Carlsbad, CA to be closer to our next day’s activities.  Can you guess where we went?  It starts wit Lego and ends with Land!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Adventuring!

Please enjoy the silence! We are having some new adventures and will be back shortly to bore you with the details!

NIK_4047

Friday, February 14, 2014

Flashback Friday

Yikes!  It looks like the East Coast got hammered by a big winter storm.  It reminds me of this one!

DSC_0088

I kind of forget how cold it gets when it snows, but these pictures are bringing me back!

DSC_0129DSC_0068

You can read more about those snow days here, here and here!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Wild Wheels

Most afternoons in the Winter we can be found outside, doing what boys do best.  I want to remember what it is like out there.  Wild and dangerous!  If it has wheels or bounces, they are going to give it a go!

NIK_4997NIK_5006NIK_5013

NIK_5021NIK_5048

It is exhausting work being out there with these guys, but I love it!NIK_5026-001

I am trying to think of a good caption for this picture…The Suspicious Six?  Help me!