For the past couple of years, the boys have been saving their pennies and putting all our extra change in the giant coke bottle bank. They have been wanting to go to Legoland and it's been nice having something for them to work towards. We road tripped it out to San Diego last Saturday with books, games and drawing pads. I wanted to see how long we could go without actually having to put a movie on, and we made it all the way there. I like for them to learn to create enteraining games, rather than having it done for them. I think it creates a more vivid and useful imagination that will always come in handy. We also kept the snacks to nuts, jerky and crackers, sugar rushes don't mix well with three little kids in the back seat. I will tell you why later on.
Every time we told Carson where we were going he would scream. We stopped in Vegas for an overnighter, and malia jumped on the bed and screamed Viva Las Vegas!! (I don't know.)
When we reached San Diego, we met up and went to lunch with Wes's friend Ryan, and our Ipad got stolen right out of our car in his driveway. Seriously. Don't bother traveling with any electronics unless you have to! We also went to a farmer's market where they had a climbing wall with cash at the top. It looked so easy but I'm sure it wasn't. It was really entertaining to see these tough black guys think they had it in the bag only to fall off the wall again and again. After that we headed to the beach. As soon as the kids little feet touch the sand they scattered, and they're half a mile down the beach before turning around with pockets of rocks and shells weighing their shorts down.
We stayed in a condo with Wes's parents close to a state park beach. Torrey Pines? Anyway, the next day was Legoland. I have always wanted to see it, and may have played it up in my mind a bit and honestly, I thought they could have done a little better with maintenence (keeping the structures brighter, newer looking) but Morgan said it was better than he thought it would be. There were some fantastic structures of many of the cities around the world. Legoland also had some good rides. Wes and Gramma Julie went on a ride that looked like a giant robot arm swinging them around. The kids loved watching Daddy and grammy Julie scream! The kids favorite was an egyptian ride that glowed in the dark and you got to shoot things. (Their words, not mine). I hope this experience will foster some more creative flow and show them the possibilities of hard work and imagination.
The next day we went to the beach down in La Jolla- our condo was equipped with boogie boards and Wes and morgan spent a little time on those. Carson was more interested in chasing birds, collecting shells, and making himself look like the Sand man. He found the smallest sand dollar I have ever seen. Malia shovelled the sand and chased the waves. Afterwards we went to seal beach. Carson loved it and Morgan wouldn't get out of the car because it smelled like seal poop. We met up with Andy and Camille who also stayed with us. They were a big help in navigating the following day at Sea World.
There was so much to do at Sea World and I think we managed to get most of the shows in by speed walking from show to show (this is when you want to feed your kids ice cream and candy, they keep up better with the extra energy)! Morgan got a kick out of wanting to sit in the splash zone so we'd all get wet. It wasn't too bad. Carson loved touching the dolphins because they felt like wet rubber boots. He also wants to be an Orca trainer now. I loved watching their expressions when they saw these fantastic anmals- It's so great to to relive how it was to see things for the very first time. Morgan loved the show that displayed the trained animals. He used to hate animals. Funny how getting a dog changed all that.
At legoland the kids had wanted to play this game where you climb up a very shaky rope ladder to the other side of the wall without falling off. We didn't get time to do it, but Sea World had one that was even bigger, so I let the kids give it a try. Morgan and Malia gave it a pretty good effort, but Carson made it all the way up on his second try and rang the bell. He got to choose whatever prize he wanted. There were gigantic stuffed animals, and nice little ipods. I said take the ipod! take the ipod! But he did not hesitated and said I want the giant dragon!!!! The thing is bigger than I am. Andy and Camille offered to drive it home. Now, it's hanging above Carson's bed.
We did a little shopping, I got some bright pink running shoes and called them my Mother's day gift. perfect! I let the kids get one thing from the lego store(totally overwhelming) and they were busy with their Legos during any and all downtime in the condo. We also went and saw the Mormon Battalion Fort in San Diego. Highly reccommended! Found out a lot about this bit of history and it was done really well. They had 'talking pictures' I know that sound wierd but it was very clever. They also got to pan for gold at the end of the tour. We also went to the first Mormon settlement in Vegas but that was run by the state and was just ok.
The drive home always seems longer. We did however, stay in Vegas again but this time stopped and showed the kids some of the sights. We went through MGM grand and told them all about casinos and what people spend all their time and money doing there. As soon as we got out in the fresh air again they both firmly said they never wanted to go into a casino again. Mission accomplished! Hopefully.
We also visited the M&M factory and Coke factory and tasted cokes around the world. Kinda fun! But combine that with handfuls of M&Ms and another six hours on the road again, my kids were screaming and biting each other. Ya saw that one coming.
We stopped at Thanksgiving Point to visit my Mom who was doing an art show. We wandered the gardens and let the kids run and run and run. There was a fantastic scuplture exhibit of Christ's life that is worth seeing.
The next day was Mother's Day and Wes and the kids made cute cards and breakfast. We visited Gramma Julie and Gramma Ruth.
Monday I crashed. Well, in between loads of laundry, and dishes, and vacuuming. But then I went outside because the sun has a way of reviving me somewhat. I got the hose and had a waterfight with the kids. Then we made chocolate banana avacado pudding pops with the avacado Morgan had picked from a tree. The End.
