Ahhh, what a beautiful summer it has been. I think we got to *most* of the kids’ summer bucket list items, with one or two glaring omissions. It has been so full and so fun and so busy and yet so relaxing that I hate to see it end already. We are in our last week before school starts on Monday and I think none of us are quite ready to switch back. Yet on the other hand, having a few quiet hours to myself each week means I can welcome back the things that got omitted what with the kids requesting to be fed every couple of hours. Things like reading, exercising, meeting a friend for coffee, and this poor neglected blog. Ah, so much to catch up on here.
But still, I’ve loved having the kids home (most of the time) and making some great memories together. We all agreed this summer was indeed one for the books.
So rewinding back to June when we went on a mini-vacation to Legoland. We were just there last November and the hotel we stayed in offered us a return visit for three nights for some crazy cheap rate. Crazy cheap as in three nights for about the price of one night. The stipulation being we’d have to spend a couple hours one morning listening to their timeshare pitch. Yes, that was the catch. Buuuut, taking a family of six anywhere on vacation doesn’t come cheap so we took them up on the offer.
We decided we’d go to the sales pitch on our last morning there which left plenty of time to spend in Legoland. Where we happily discovered that Jonah was tall enough to ride almost every ride this time! Wahoo!
These guys have never met a giant slide they didn’t like. Btw, Lauren went by herself with the next round of kids. Somehow there was a mix-up and some other kids went in front of her and she got separated from her sibs.
They all four sat together on this ride, though. Which brings to mind the last time our older two rode on something like this. Phil and I laughed over that memory as we watched our four go up and up and up (it actually wasn’t that high). And saw their nervousness increase the higher they went.
But this time, their reaction was quite different.
Throwing their hands in the air like they just don’t care. They went on to ride this three or four times in a row. Who’d a thunk such a dramatic change four short years later, eh?
Little girls made the most of the play areas while we waited in some of the longer lines.
This guy, however, found waiting to be his not favorite thing. But oh, look at the peach fuzz there by his ear.
Long lines (actually was only about 25 minutes) make him go a little batty.
And a little nutty.
And look! The four Tsai kids are finally big enough to ride by themselves now. It is a new day, folks.
These guys’ favorite area came next.
The new Death Star creation.
And this other Star Wars-y display that Phil said was pretty cool. I couldn’t tell you what exactly this is though.
Hey, what’s wrong with this picture? (In other news, we have officially graduated out of our double stroller days! Actually, I don’t even remember the last time we used it but just realized on this trip that we now go most places with no stroller at all. Although if Lauren had her way…)
The lion ate our Jonah!
Does it even need to be stated that Allie loved the new Lego Friends area? I think not.
The hotel we stayed in had a private entrance at the back of Legoland (no paying for parking!) and we rather enjoyed walking through an empty park to get back to our room. And how much do I love that we now have kids big enough to push the stroller with ease? Love. It.
And by room, I mean a two-bedroom suite with a living room and kitchen. Pretty nice accomodations.
Making that timeshare seem more appealing suddenly. Heh heh.
