the birthday trip, part one.

where have i been?

well, it’s that time of year again.  summer’s almost here and for normal people, that means beach days, swim lessons, playdates, and perhaps a picnic or two.

but not if you’re a tsai.  if you’re a tsai, summer means it’s time to move.  again.  and if you’re the tsai mom, it means you’re completely and solely in charge of packing and making that move happen.

ugh.

as one friend put it on sunday, “you tsais either have a baby or move every year!”  and sometimes we do both in one year.  just to mix it up now and then.

but the exciting news is that phil is ALMOST done with fellowship and then we finally move past these schooling/training years.  and it only took ten years!  : p

so anyway, that’s where i’ve been.  here at home, starting to pack up our worldly goods and wondering once again why the heck do we have so much stuff?   but at least this time around i saved our boxes from last time and am just putting in what’s been labeled on it.  kinda like a pack-by-numbers deal.

but i’m taking a break from it today to recap mikey’s birthday trip from a couple weekends ago.  like i said before, this year is our no-parties year and so we decided to go on a little family trip instead.  where’d we go?

legoland!

a fitting destination for a brand new seven-year-old, no?

phil thought mikey would really enjoy seeing the new lego star wars miniland.  and did he?  well, i’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

and instead of just a day trip, we decided to make it a weekend-long celebration.  the kids set right to work on one of their favorite things to do in a hotel (and the only time they’re allowed to do this).

double beds inevitably leads to this.  (also the only time he’s allowed to do this).

plop.

hello, my baby.  just cuz there’s a new baby in our house doesn’t mean you’re not still my baby.  you just remember that now.  you shall be my baby FOR LIFE. 

swimming in the hotel pool: another tsai kid favorite.

this was the first time lauren was brave enough to float on her own and didn’t need to cling to either her daddy or myself the entire time.  it’s a new day, folks.

if you happen to wake up early, like oh say 7 am, you get to sit on the pull-out couch bed and watch pbs cartoons while the rest of the family continues sleeping in the other room.  tis the beauty of a two-room suite.

this sleepyhead couldn’t resist the call of pbs cartoons, even though her eyes weren’t fully open yet.

this year, i bought my own mother’s day present.  the kids like looking for their names on it.  i like how it symbolizes that our circle is complete.  unless of course…  and no, this doesn’t really have anything to do with this birthday trip post.

ok, so we finally made it to legoland!  and we made a beeline to star wars miniland.

and i think phil was right in that mikey enjoyed seeing it.  but only a little bit.

19,200 lego bricks later…

i believe he could’ve stayed here all day looking at everything.

the girls on the other hand, weren’t quite as impressed with it all.

mikey has always wanted to drive one of these remote control boats around.  apparently, he’s old enough now to realize you have to put money in to actually make the boat go.  no more turning the wheel thinking he’s moving the boat when it’s really the kid next to him.

but when it’s your birthday trip and you’re a brand new seven-year-old?  why then your dad will hook you up.

then we headed off to mikey’s next favorite thing at legoland.

but not before we made a pit-stop first.

we stumbled upon girl-land at legoland this time.  i saw this and thought of you, jenny.  so this one’s for you!  🙂

her daddy felt bad that everyone got a legoland card with their picture on it except for lauren (and jonah, but he doesn’t care yet.  actually, lauren didn’t really either, but daddy never likes to leave her out since she usually just waits and watches to see if she’ll get something rather than demanding one too.  i think he likes that about her), so he went and got her her very own photo driver license complete with lanyard and carrying sleeve.

when we came last year, lauren was too short to ride anything but the kiddie train and story boatride.  but this year, she was tall enough to get a third ride under her belt.  but because legoland has strict rules about riding these 1-mile an hour rides, daddy had to go up and down…

up and down…

up and down three times!   and he even let each of the kids pick which helicopter they wanted to ride instead of just staying in one for all three rides.  which is what a, shall we say, less-accommodating parent might have done.

and on our way out, we spotted this!

wow.

day three of the birthday trip coming up next!