Love, Learn, Play: California Remix- Day 9

Our last full day with Daddy before he starts teaching... we thought a trip to LEGOLAND would be the best way to celebrate! I've got to admit though, I wasn't too excited. For one, I'm just not a huge fan of giant tourist traps that cost a fortune. B) I was afraid there wouldn't be enough to do for the boys once we skipped all of the Star Wars and Chima stuff. And lastly but probably most concerning- LEGOLAND is nearly two hours away, which means we'd have a two hour drive home after an entire day of standing in the sun. Unfortunately my POTS is not a bit fan of any of those things and when I do them all together, it is often disastrous. No matter how much water I drink and how much salt I consume, I just can't seem to keep things under control lately. But with as obsessed with Legos as the boys are, I had to take one for the team and go for it. The boys were over the moon excited!! And thankfully I was able to find the boys' tickets for free so that was a good start!

We left home at 7:30 and got to the park just before it opened at 10:00am. We were able to do a couple of rides in the morning without waiting too long. I wasn't super impressed with the little kid rides, but of course the boys were diggin' them so that was all that mattered. We rode the Fairy Tale Brook twice, the boys did the Jr. Driving School cars twice, and we rode the coast guard helicopters. The boys wanted to do the little kids log ride rollercoaster that splashed at the bottom of the hill so Jon took them on that one- it was by far the longest line but they loved the ride. We couldn't convince them to try the bigger one because the splash was much bigger! We stopped to eat the picnic lunch we had packed and a quick run through the splash pad- we put the boys bathing suits on but luckily they didn't get themselves totally soaked. After some lunch the boys did the Royal Joust horse ride and were brave enough to do the big dragon rollercoaster. Daddy took them on that one and Matthew ended up riding with someone else which he didn't seem to mind one bit! Matthew totally loved the big rollercoaster- Caleb was excited and proud when he got off but said it was too scary for him. I couldn't believe that either of them tried it! We walked through Miniland which was by far the highlight of the whole park even though we had seen lots of the buildings in other places. We had never seen so many all together so it was pretty neat. The boys just loved seeing their favorite architectural pieces from all over the world and ran from piece to piece shouting out the names of all the buildings. We were all especially keen on the New York City section... it is crazy how much I miss living there and the boys seem to miss it just as much! By then it was dinner time so we grabbed some sandwiches before doing a few more rides. I've got to give the park credit for having some semi-healthy meals in some places... usually we can't eat much of anything at a place like that. After dinner the park totally cleared out and we were able to pack in a ton of stuff without waiting in any lines. We did the Police and Fire Academy ride, the Safari Trek, and the Coast Cruise, the latter of which was a huge it with its close up views of the Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House, and Eiffel Tower. Matthew and Daddy did the smaller dinosaur rollercoaster but Caleb didn't want to so he and I just watched... Matthew was in the very front car and when he zoomed by Caleb was screaming "THAT'S MY BROTHER!" at the top of his little lungs over and over again! I don't know why he was so darned excited, but it was totally adorable! The boys stopped to play in the Duplo Village play place for awhile and we spent some time building and racing Lego cars and before we knew it, it was 8:00pm and the park was closing. We had packed in as much as we possibly could and the boys had a total blast. Somehow I managed to make it through without my POTS acting up so that was even more incredible. Twice during the afternoon when Jon took the boys into the play places I found a spot to lay down for a little bit and I think that helped... my body quite literally can't handle standing up for too long at a time. I hate it so much, but if laying down on the curb helps me keep going then oh well!

Caleb fell asleep within the first half hour of our drive home but somehow Matthew held on until the last 15 minutes! We got home just before 10pm and carried the boys right into bed. It was truly a magical day for them and I'm so glad we made the trip :)

LEGOLAND!