California Day 2

On our second day in California, we were at Legoland as soon as it opened. That's the one thing about traveling west... we got up ENTIRELY too early. We got up at 7:30 Chicago time... which mean we were up at 5:30 California time.... and Legoland didn't open until 10 am!

I started out my day thinking that I was going to photograph all of the cool little Lego details around the park. Like this donkey in the Castle Hill area...
... well... that was my one and only "cool little detail" photo :-)

This day we rode a bunch of rides together. We started with The Dragon and then moved on to the Technic Test Track.

After going with us, the kids continued to ride...


... what a difference a day makes with Clara's expression!

Alex went over to the Dune Raiders to do some sliding...
While he was doing this, Clara rode the Beetle Bounce...

And then she went over to slide with Alex....
The kids loved the Knights' Tournament ride so they wanted to share it with us. You get to customize your ride, picking a level based on how extreme you want to ride to be. The kids are limited to what level they can pick based on their height. I picked to ride with Clara :-) I think she was limited to only the second or third level.... Alex was able to go up to the most extreme level (Jeff went with him). After we all rode together, Alex went again alone...
We were hungry early so we stopped for a bite... this is the view of the New York skyline from our table...
Alex and a Knight in Castle Hill....
Then over to the Aquazone to ride the Wave Racers...

We NEVER do caricatures.... but we caved when we saw that they were doing them as Lego mini figs! We really wanted to have one done of Alex for his room... but to be fair, Clara got one done as well. They are so cute!

Here is Alex's in progress...
And Clara's...
Our two day passes also included entry into Legoland's Sea Life Aquarium. We did a quick pass through.

The kids loved the viewing bubbles inside the tanks....

We also listened to one of the biologist talks at the shark and stingray tank. Alex and Clara got chosen to feed the sharks and stingrays.

We booked out of there in order to make a showing of the 4D movie. But on the way, we ran into this guy...
... not sure why Clara wouldn't stand near him!

After the movie, Alex went to a Lego Mindstorms workshop that he had signed up for earlier in the day and Clara and I shopped.

Finally, at the end of the day they decided to do the wet rides. The weather was a bit coolish, so they didn't want to get wet too early.

They rode the Splash Battle....


.... over and over and over.

We finally left when the park closed at 5pm. Another trip to the pool at the hotel, dinner and bed. We had to be rested up because the next day we were driving to Disneyland!!

California Day 1

I'm going to try to get better about adding some more detailed posts. My photo of the day project gets me taking a photo every day but it hasn't made me any better about posting.

Anyway... I thought I would go back and post some more photos from our trip to California.

We had an early morning flight which got us to California mid-morning. We got in our rental car and got on the road toward our first destination... Legoland. We weren't able to check into our hotel yet, but we were able to grab some lunch and then walk over to Legoland while we waited for our room to be ready.

The first thing the kids rode was the dragon...
... they're the two little heads peeking out of the last car you can see before the tree.

Next we walked over toward the...
They went on this alone the first time...


... the look on Clara's face cracks me up!

Then on to the Bionicle Blaster...
... I don't do spinning rides :-)

We took a stroll through Miniland USA...


It was really quite amazing to see.

Then it was off to "Fun Town"... where the kids rode the Sky Cruiser...
before heading over to the Volvo Driving School...



(center lines apparently mean nothing to Clara)


Next Jeff, Clara and Alex tested their fire fighting skills at the Fire Academy...
Then we went over to Skipper School...
Alex did quite well.

Clara, on the other hand...
... ended up completely turned around, going the wrong way through the course... sigh.

And then, the highlight of our afternoon...
.... the Knights' Tournament....

The park closed fairly early (5pm), so we headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim...

I turned them loose with my underwater camera and they got a few fun shots...

Worried Man Blues....

The kids have decided that they would like to start playing together again. I have mixed emotions about this since it doesn't always go well. This time was no exception. Alex had been playing this song for months in his guitar lessons, so he knew it pretty well. Clara, on the other hand, learned this song (in the proper key) just two weeks ago.... one day before we left for 5 days in California. They had one music lesson where they were able to work on the song together. Home practice sessions had ended in yelling and tears. Today, they pulled it all together for one brawl-free performance...

days 102-111

yes... I will eventually get around to posting more photos beyond my one photo per day thing (maybe... hopefully)... for now, here are my photos to get me caught up on my project{365}...

day 102...
... the kids channeled some of their excitement energy into making autograph books for our trip to Disneyland.

day 103...
.. the kids riding the Technic Test Track at Legoland.

day 104....
... Alex riding the Knight's Tournament ride at Legoland. (notice how his eyes are squeezed shut)

day 105...
.... the kids on the Grizzly River Run ride at California Adventure.

day 106...
... the kids with Alex's favorite Disney character at Disneyland.

day 107....
... a crashed out Clara after our plane ride home.

day 108....
.... grabbing a slice before we went out thrift store shopping. (iphone)

day 109....
... playing hangman on the L. (iphone)

day 110....
... Lego mini-fig ice cubes, made with the ice cube tray Alex bought at Legoland.

day 111....
.... celebrating Alex's 10th birthday with lunch at Ed Debevic's!