Legoland!!!

Grandpa Joe and Grandma Dianne got our family a LegoLand trip for Christmas.  We took it last week and it was AWESOME!  We have the most fun together on these vacations.

The Drive

We picked Ethan up from school a little early on his early release day and took off.

Ethan went to sleep immediately when we told him it was nap time.  Benton took awhile.  As Mike put it, "Ethan is like me, he falls asleep quickly and sleeps deeply.  Benton is like you; he can't shut up and takes forever to fall asleep."

 I woke Asher up from his nap to leave, and he didn't sleep much on the drive.  We brought his birthday present from us to keep him entertained.

Arriving

 It took 6 hours with only one quick gas stop (the boys didn't even get out).  They were SO SO excited.  Actually, for a few days before the trip, Benton cried several times when we pulled into the garage from various locations because he thought we were going to LegoLand right then.

 Quite the hotel lobby!

 The room was a lot of fun.  Asher loved that we had a little patio.  He also loved these slap bracelets that got us into the park early.

 Costco was about 2 minutes away, so we had pizza and Churros.  The boys had their own area with their own TV (free OnDemand).  This kept them pretty quiet while we tried to get Asher to sleep.

 Asher struggled to fall asleep, but, eventually, he crashed next to me on our bed.  Then I moved him to the pack n play.

 They had Legos in the room to keep the kids entertained.  They also had a treasure chest with a secret combination that the boys had to figure out with clues.  Inside were Lego men and chocolate
coins, and Lego Mixels.

Day 1

 By the elevator, the kids could step on this whoopee cushion to hear a fart noise and someone say, "You stinky, pig!"

 The hotel room came with a breakfast buffet each morning.  I can't think of a better way to start the day!

 Even the hallways were exciting.

 Mike took the boys to the hotel pool twice while Asher napped.  The pool was heated to 82*, so the boys loved it.  The air temperature was around 60*, so our little AZ boys were cold and would want to go warm up in the pool.  It had floating Legos, of course.

We got to enter the park at 9:30am, and Ethan knew exactly where he wanted to start: Driving School!  He had been watching videos and studying the map, and this and the big water slides were what he was most excited about.  There was no line, so he went on it over and over.

 Benton got to go to Junior Driving School. He went once and didn't do it again because he "didn't do it".  I think he was frustrated that he ran into the wall and went really slowly.  They actually had to push the gas and steer.

So he and I went to the helicopters while Ethan kept driving.

 The roller coasters had building areas that the lines wrapped around.  Even though we never waited in line more than about 10 minutes, it was really nice to have a place for them to play while we waited in line.  Sometimes it was hard to get them on the ride because they just wanted to play.

 The Duplo Village had a train that even Asher could go on. 

Notice Ethan kindly trying to protect Asher's head from the train wall.

 It also had play equipment he could crawl around in.  This was one of the few areas with something Asher could actually do.

 He quickly found a drain and the landscaping area full of wood chips and wanted to play with them.

 So I showed him the Lego tables, and he thought throwing the bricks all over was really fun too.

 Fairy tale boat ride.

 Day 2

Asher's birthday!  We were originally only going to go for one day, but there was an option to add another day on to your pass before leaving for not very much, so we decided to do that and take our time going through the parks.

 There was a big play area where the boys probably spent hours playing between the two days.  Benton loved playing hide and seek, which made me nervous since it was so huge and had such great hiding places!

This is just outside of that where we ate lunch and Asher got a nap in.

We had to lie to get Benton on this ride because it required that he be 36 in (he is well past that) and 4 years old.  He really wanted to ride it, so Mike spent the few minutes in line practicing with him to say he was 4 years old.  We are awesome parents.

Day 2

 The water park was open the second day.  It was supposed to rain all day and was raining when we woke up, but the skies were clear the whole time the park was open.  It started sprinkling as we walked to the car.  It was awesome, and made for even shorter lines!

 Benton and Asher and I spent three hours at this big shallow pool.  Benton could go down the slides by himself.  Ethan and Mike hit all the big slides Ethan had been so excited about, and then came back to join us.

 Ethan got to go in the lazy river all by himself.  More Legos!

 Before the water park, we played at a Pirate Splashpad.  Ethan ran onto the playground equipment in the background here with his shirt and shoes still on.  I ran after him to get them.  As he was sitting down and I was helping take his shoes off, the huge bucket of water over the playground tipped over on both of us.  Ethan said something to the effect of, "serves you right, Mom."

 After an hour or so of swimming, Asher crashed.

 We hit some more rides with no lines and built and raced Lego cars until the park closed.  Ethan wanted to take these pictures:

 All of the employees at LegoLand wear Lego men on their name tags and will trade the kids for any other Lego man.  The first day at the hotel pool, the employee handing out towels gave Ethan a Lego man that someone left behind.  He was SO excited that he stopped a housekeeper in the hall to tell her about it.  She pulled out a packet with a new one and gave it to him (he asked for another for Benton).  The housekeepers always had them to restock the treasure chest.  So he asked another time or two while we were there.  The boys really loved trading them.  Ethan had an understanding of trying to get cool ones.  Benton traded away cool ones sometimes because he just loved trading every employee he noticed.

At the water park Ethan kept jumping up and saying, "LegoLand is GREAT!" Over and over, and even added on, "way better than Disneyland!"  I don't think LegoLand and Disneyland are similar enough to really compare, but LegoLand is just so awesome for this age because they get to play so much: play with Legos, play on playgrounds.  My boys like rides, but it isn't their favorite part, so the set up at LegoLand is much more suited to them.  Going off season meant we had very little waiting, and staying at the hotel meant 48 hours straight of Lego fun!

At Home

Having so much fun with the minifigures.

The boys got three Mixels in their treasure chest.  We put one together while we were there, but just did the other two yesterday.  Ethan does them by himself, and Benton does them with minimal help.

After putting the two from LegoLand together, we went to Target because the boys wanted to spend their own money on buying another one each.

 Here is the current Mixel collection.

So right now they are loving Legos.  I hope it continues because I actually like playing Legos with them and it seems beneficial cognitively and with fine motor skills.

Research

Ethan had to do a research report, visual and written, on the culture/traditions of England.  I am sure there are reasons for giving an assignment a Kindergartner has no chance of doing alone, but it rubs me the wrong way a little. It probably took twice the time and shows his age, but Ethan did the majority of the work and can explain it.  There are written explanations on the back of each picture. 

He was amazed that Queen Elizabeth has been Queen for so long (over 60 years) and chose to learn about the coronation.  She rode in a golden carriage with her husband (he drew them in the windows) and it was pulled by white horses.  That is a picture of the crown used at the coronation.  Hanging down is the order of succession starting with Elizabeth's dad and going down to baby Prince George.  Ethan can tell you all of their names and discuss the coronation, so, successful in my book.

Coworkers

My coworkers may not pull their own weight, but I like them anyway.

Asher woke up early from his nap and is joining me "at work".

Cool Evening

It reached triple digits this weekend and we had to fire up the main floor AC.  Then, last night, a storm blew in and the temperatures dropped again.  Aahhh.  So, while I worked on Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation stuff, and after dumping any containers/cupboards he could think of, Asher dragged his plastic golf club out the front door and sat watching the storm.  Mike and the big boys were at Scooptacular's five year anniversary seeing Anna and Elsa.

Circus Book Club

Today was my turn to host book club and I chose a circus theme.  We read the book Circus, which had a short, fun blurb about a variety of circus acts.  Below is the (blurry) documentation.

We played with a parachute, which kind of fits the theme...I guess.  I was really impressed that they could actually follow the rules of the games!  (2 four year olds, 4 three year olds, and a 2 year old)

 Then we went down stairs and everybody got to try a bunch of the acts mentioned in the book.  For bare back horse riding, they rode this bouncy horse in front of the "audience".

 They rode a bike on the "tightrope".

 They jumped through flaming hoops.

 They jumped as far as they could.

 Everyone did a somersault on the cushions.

 At "intermission" we painted our snacks.  The paint is milk and food coloring, so they could still eat their painted popcorn and marshmallow.

 Then we went back down to the circus and did all the acts at the same time.  I'd assign each to a specific act for one minute and when the timer went off we would switch.  I was impressed that they actually did it.

 Literally a circus in my basement.  :)

 While they were all playing I helped them do handstands against the wall.  Emrie and was one of the two who could stay without help.

 For lunch we had hot dogs with our fruits and vegetables and when they finished that, they got to try CrackerJacks and cotton candy.

I've recently been doing animal balloons with my boys, so I had examples of several animals I could make for them, but they all wanted swords.  So, I made swords in every color and they had a lot of fun sword fighting.

What's Up, Doc?