LegoLand

The next day of our vacation was spent enjoying the rides at LegoLand California.



We had heard of high temperatures in that area, but LegoLand is located a little closer to the coast than we thought. Temp was in the low-mid 70's and was perfect for the day.

We started off with a 'mousetrap style' roller coaster that the kids enjoyed before moving on to a larger scale steel roller coaster. I'm proud that they are working their way up the "Roller Coaster Food Chain". Hopefully some day soon (after everyone is 54" tall) we'll find ourselves at Magic Mountain.

One of the more unique rides at LegoLand involves getting locked into a seat at the end of a robotic arm which then swings you around in unanticipated directions until you hurl for about two minutes. The computer program that drives the robotic arm has five levels to choose from. This options helps keep people from chickening out. Alexia and I had level 3, which was the highest level you can select for her age/size. Mikayla rode by herself and was limited to level 4, but she wanted level 5.





More roller coasters and rides, then lunch and then the girls wanted to go ride this water ride on their own. It spins around in a circle and spectators can launch water cannons in attempts to soak the riders. Our kids were pretty lucky in that they didn't get too wet.



One of the obvious attractions at LegoLand is that there are many exhibits and decorations made out of Lego blocks. We took a cruise boat ride that showed us many neat Lego models. One exhibit was of downtown New York.

Here we have Nana, Poppy & the kids posing in front of New York, with the Empire State building and Grand Central Station (cut in half).


Eventually we found a section of the park with a couple water rides and a water playground. The kids changed into their swimsuits and cooled off for a while before we became firefighters and went head to head with other families to race firetrucks and put out a fire.

Here you can see me trying to help Mikayla aim a fire hose while Alexia pumps the water.


Next, the girls went to practice for their Driver's Test while the rest of us sat in the shade of some trees.





Advice for visitors at LegoLand: If it's hot out and you notice that no one is sitting in the shade offered by a tree with a great view of kids driving cars it might be because the birds in those trees like to poop all over anything underneath their tree. People, coats, purses, Nooks. I'm just sayin'.

Once we were all cleaned up and sanitized, the kids led us to the Mini Towers. Instead of the fancy version where magnets or hydraulics whisk you to the top of a tower before dropping you back down to earth, at LegoLand the kids get to pull themselves up to the top of the tower via their own strength, and then moderately fall back to the bottom. Sure it was some work, but they enjoyed it enough to do it twice.


On our way out of the park we took a float through Fairy Tale Land and I snapped this family picture, but one of the kids was hiding behind me, so it's only a partial family pic.


Since it was also Tanya's Birthday, we enjoyed a fun meal at a 'cook at your table' Japanese restaurant located near our hotel. This time I managed to get everyone in the picture, except for myself.



Happy Birthday Tanya!

~E