Legoland and Lost

Our second day of vacation was met with excitement as we were headed to LEGOLAND!

 

 



 



Brooklyn and Emmett weren't able to ride on many rides but the ones they could, they loved. (Well mostly.) This little train ride around a real and pretend Lego-made garden was very enjoyable for them. Actually, let me clarify this a bit. Brooklyn was just barely tall enough to ride most rides, and she did, and did not enjoy a lot of them because they were scary. The funny part about that is that she kept trying them anyway, even though she was mad afterwards.

Emmett, Brooklyn, and Addison were with me most of the morning so that the big kids could ride rides with Josh. It worked out pretty well. There was a large sandbox that had fossils to be discovered and a playarea that we spent a lot of time at. It was nice for me to be able to relax a bit from chasing and watching out for the littles. (I swear, he is a happy smiling kid! He just doesn't cooperate for photos. Little stinker!)

We had our last name painted and framed by this artist. The letters are all made of animals and it turned out very cool. I should have taken a picture of it completed.

Brooklyn LOVES horses and was sooooo excited to be able to ride one. She loved this ride a little too much maybe.

So my friend said I needed to include photos of myself. There aren't too many of me since I take the pictures, and for good reason. Josh took this one and there are like 37 of me eating ice cream. Why? I do not know. But there you go. I, too, was in California! Sorry that it's not a very attractive picture. (Oh, and yes, my hair is very dark. I used a professional dye on my hair hours before we left and left it on too long and it was nearly black. It is finally toned down some but was quite shocking at first.)

 

Little Emmett was all worn out. He likes his daytime sleep so this trip was a little rough for him!

The kids fed Josh to the Lion. But he survived.

These are some of the Lego creations that you can see. They're pretty amazing really!

So, this picture was taken not long after we FOUND Brooklyn. Which means she was lost. Every parent's worst fear of going somewhere, right? After eating our ice cream, we all visited the bathroom. While waiting for everyone she was playing behind the benches. We decided that Josh would take Aidan and Addison to see the Lego factory. My stroller seats two and I found that to be a little hard because it messed with my head counting kids. Sometimes I had two that I was pushing and sometimes one. Very occasionally, Emmett was even walking. So we all split up and about 10 minutes later I realized she wasn't with me. I tried about 15 times to call Josh to see if he had her. Lexi and I walked back where we had been but didn't see her. Finally, Josh answered his phone but he didn't have here either. I was trying to orient myself enough with the map to get back to the place where you can pick up lost children and was struggling. Lexi decided to run back again to where we had been while I made my way up front. Unbeknownst to me, Josh had already made it there but they hadn't heard anything about her yet. About the time I was about in a full blown panic, Lexi called me to say she had found her by the horse ride with a little family who had just noticed her and asked if she was lost. I don't quite know how long we were without her but it was probably 15 minutes. I felt awful!!! But we did a much better job from then on of keeping track of everybody.

 

Often, my older brother's hair has been compared to a buffalo's. This Lego creation really cracked me up for that reason.

After LEGOLAND, we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant that our hotel concierge recommended. They served sourdough rolls, which most of my children fell in love with. I personally don't like sourdough so they have never had it. Everyone tried a different kind of fish and it was very good.

The above picture is of the crosswalks. We found them fascinating. You can cross the street diagonally! What a fantastic idea! I have never seen this before! Do other places have this?