I am crazy. I had this insane idea to give the kids a LegoLand trip for Christmas, talked Ryan into it and totally made it happen. Yeah, it was ludicrous... and awesome! Without the help of all my siblings and my parents, we couldn't have done it, so thank you, everyone! Here's the recap for my own memories.
SAT THE 22nd
The morning after Collin's birthday, we left at 4am to drive to my parents' house in St George. There was snow in the mountains, but we made it. 10 hours down.
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| All loaded up and ready to roll! |
SUN THE 23rd
My brother and his wife were also visiting for Christmas from DC, so that made the trip even more fun. They had booked with my parents first though, so we kinda crashed their weekend, but we don't get to see them much, so I don't think we were too unwelcome. They ended up staying in a hotel, since my parents have super-downsized in retirement, so I did feel kind of bad about that. Sunday we headed to church in the morning, decorated gingerbread houses in the afternoon and looked at Christmas lights in the evening. We also did the last Sunday of Advent, according to my sister-in-law's Finnish tradition.
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| Christmas Sunday |
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| Gingerbread House Competition with Rob & Rachel |
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| Kate and a Christmas light lollipop |
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| There's something about cacti - and palm trees for that matter! - with Christmas lights that still seems odd to this Midwest girl |
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| Finnish Advent |
MON THE 24th
Christmas Eve we spent swimming at my brother's hotel and doing a nature walk at some petroglyphs. In the evening, we had appetizers for dinner and listened to the story of Christ's birth before bed.
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Hiking Buddies
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| Collin wearing the mask-rock my mom found |
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| Christmas jammies |
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| Santa came! |
TUES THE 25th
Tuesday morning the kids were up early to open their presents. We wanted to save the LegoLand gift for last, but they were so satisfied with their other gifts, I almost thought we shouldn't have done it after all. They each got a gift from my parents and Rob & Rachel, and then from us they got an envelope telling them of the trip, a Lego tshirt and a fanny pack (with snacks and six minifigures for trading in the park).
By 9:30 Christmas morning, we'd already had breakfast and were on the road to California. Another brother of mine lives in Oceanside (about 20 mins from LegoLand), but unfortunately he and his wife planned to be in Ohio for the Holidays, with my sister-in-law's family, the whole time we could be there. They graciously offered their newly-remodeled home for us to stay in anyway.
So on Christmas Day, we headed to Oceanside. The traffic was surprisingly heavy, and we were wasted-tired when we arrive. We did drive down the Las Vegas strip to show the kids there on the way, so that was kinda fun. We got Domino's pizza delivered and went to sleep.
WED THE 26th
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| Ready for LegoLand! |
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| Outside the Castle Hotel, waiting for Dad who was on a work-call in the car |
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| Outside Legoland Castle |
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| Ninjago-lovers ready for Lego fun! |
Wednesday and Thursday were spent at LegoLand. We got there as soon as they opened and stayed most of the day. The kids were thrilled. The 26th was definitely less crowded than the 27th, when we stood in line after line all day long. Each morning we rode the Ninjago ride, which was by far everyone's favorite. On this one, the rider uses their hands to kill the bad guys while spinning in a cart.
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| Lines... |
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| Coast Cruise |
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| Kate recognizes Mount Rushmore everywhere, even from their busts on the Block of Fame. Smart chica. |
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| The boys recognized Vegas from driving down the Strip the previous day |
The first day we also checked out the Coast Cruise (through Miniland), the Deep-Sea Adventure (underwater submarines) and Granny's Apple Fries (just as delicious as everyone said they were). The kids played at Hideaways playground, and the boys rode the Royal Joust horses. All in all, we hardly saw a line until we went to Lost Kingdom Adventure. The app said it was a 15-minute wait, but it took an hour. They did have a Lego play area in the middle of the snaking line so that helped a lot. This was Kate's favorite ride, but we only did it once because of the line. We got to shoot a laser gun, and Kate loved that.
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Us with a Lego Knight
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| Royal Joust |
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| More lines... |
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| And lines... |
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| Cool wall made entirely of... you guessed it, LEGOS! |
Next we headed to the sack races (Dune Raiders), and everyone but Kate enjoyed it (she got scared at the top and I just shoved her down). Right before lunch, we watched the Ninjago 4D movie, and enjoyed the rain, heat, wind, etc blasted at us.
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| The Kids & Jay |
We had pizza for lunch (please note that's Time #2) and walked through Miniland. This was one of my favorite places. They have recreated - with Legos - many American cities as well as some international ones, and it was fun to see many places I've visited before and others I've never been to. They have also built one scene from each Star Wars movie, and even though I'm not a fan, it was pretty amazing. There are even busts of famous Americans lining another section... all built out of Legos! We finished the day about 3:30 in Ninjago World with the climbing wall.
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| Cole's Climbing Wall |
We weren't too tired yet, so we headed to Oceanside Pier to eat at the restaurant at the end (Ruby's) and watch the sunset. Kate was tired and cranky and the food was meh, but it was a fun little experience, and the milkshakes were awesome.
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| Walking the pier with my girl |
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| Ruby's Restaurant at the end of Oceanside Pier |
THURS THE 27th (our 15th anniversary)
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| Lego Santa |
I wish we'd have known how spoiled we'd been the first day, because the second day wasn't nearly as smooth. We started out with the Ninjago ride, a 45-minute wait. After signing Collin up for a Mindstorm activity for later in the day, we waited for 15-mins over by the driving cars for the gate to open. Then it was a mad-dash for the cars. Ryan took Ethan & Kate to the junior race track, while I took Collin & Brennan to the one for bigger kids. At least the wait was pretty short there though.
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| Brennan at Driving School |
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| Boys with Christmas soldier |
After the race cars, we headed to the boats, and I'm glad this line was kinda short, because it was pretty lame. After the boats, we wandered through Fun City. I really liked this place. It was all decorated for Christmas with wreaths, holly, a tree in "town square" and Christmas lights. We did a little seeking-activity twice in Adventurers' Club. We got popcorn and let Kate have a tantrum.
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| Kate at Heartlake City |
After crepes in Heartlake City, we all rode the carousel, which was definitely Kate's favorite. We made the mistake to try to ride the toddler train in DuploCity. It looked like a short line, but it took an hour and was super disappointing.
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| Even the big boys enjoyed the carousel |
Now it was time for Collin's Mindstorm class, so Ryan took him there while I took the rest of the kids to the aquarium. I thought it'd be easy, but it was dark and they wouldn't let me take the stroller in, so I kept losing the kids. It was stressful, and when we were done I realized at some point Kate had dropped her blanket. So, we had to walk through the whole attraction again looking for it. We finally found it in the gift shop. Boo.
Then we met up with Collin & Ryan again and headed back to Heartlake City. While Ryan and the older boys got us pizza for lunch (yes, pizza again!), Ethan, Kate and I watched the Holiday Show there, which really was very cute.
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| Kate, Me & Ethan at the Holiday Show |
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| Fairy Tale Brook |
After lunch, we headed to see the last things we were hoping for, despite the insane lines. We did Fairy Tale Brook, which had a pleasant, nature-like, weaving line and only took about 20 mins. I really thought this one was cute. They built - out of Legos - a whole bunch of fairy tales, and then you ride in a boat through them all. I rode with Collin & Brennan, and we tried to race to name each story as it came into view.
Lastly, we went to Safari Trek. It was 4 o'clock, and we were tired and the app said the line was an hour long (it was right). By the time it was our turn, it was getting dark and cold, and we couldn't really see all the African animals made out of Legos. It felt like it drove way too fast and was over in only a minute or two. We couldn't exit quickly enough.
Dinner was - wait for it - our leftover pizza from the first night. We all went to bed too tired to even argue.
FRI THE 28th
Friday was our day dedicated to my sister, whose husband's family lives in southern California and was down visiting in a condo they'd rented in Oceanside for the week. We met up at the San Diego temple and then headed to Old Town San Diego, a touristy old-fashioned village. After lunch at a meh Mexican restaurant and a little shopping, we went back to my brother's to let Kate have her first nap of the week. We all needed it! We woke her up to head back to the beach with my sister's in-laws for a beach bonfire. We had a delicious weenie roast with salt-water corn-on-the-cob (yes, it's what you think). It was fun, though we were all pretty tired and cold.
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| The kids who couldn't do baptisms in the temple |
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| Wells Fargo Stage Coach at Old Town San Diego |
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| Beach Bonfire at Oceanside Pier |
SAT THE 29th
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| Sometimes I'll see my family from afar, and I'll think, "Wow. They are all mine." And when I get over the anxiety that I'm responsible for all of them, I think, "Aren't they the cutest things ever? I am so blessed." This picture is my memory of those fleeting moments of gratitude for this bunch I get to call mine. |
Saturday we headed down to La Jolla. We timed it to be at the tide pools at low-tide, and it was super neat. We collected a bunch of shells and seaweed, but the rocks were slippery with alga and the kids took a bunch of painful falls. After the tide starting coming back in, we walked down the beach to the Children's Beach, which is closed right now because it is seal-calving season. It was super fun to watch the seals, and the boys list this activity as their favorite, except for LegoLand of course. They loved how they blubbered across the rocks and sand and swam in and out of the water.
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| Collin & Brennan at the La Jolla Tide Pools |
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| Ethan at the La Jolla Tide Pools |
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| The Crew at La Jolla Beach |
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| "Brave Men Run in My Family" |
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| Can you see them? They are so well-suited to camouflage themselves with these rocks, but... |
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| ...upon further examination, the rock is littered with seals! |
After La Jolla, we headed back to the beach at Oceanside Pier. We got "fair food" and the kids played in the water. We built sand castles and finally did our "beach day." It was heavenly.
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| She could do this all day, every day |
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| Our sand castle |
As we headed back to the house, we realized that we had seen all we wanted to see, and we decided we'd head back to my parents' house on Sunday morning (instead of Mon, like we'd originally planned). With Chinese takeout for dinner - meh, again - we did laundry, cleaned the sandy van and house, and started getting packed up.
SUN THE 30th
Sunday morning we locked up Jared's and started the 6-hour trek back to St George. The traffic was tolerable - but not great - and we stopped in Vegas to eat at In-and-Out (best meal of the excursion, sadly, but what's a California Adventure without some In-and-Out?).
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| 18 years ago my older brother took me to Las Vegas for President's Day weekend in February. We ate at In-and-Out, and since I'd never seen a palm tree before, he took my picture at this same palm tree in the parking lot. |
MON THE 31st & TUES THE 1st
Monday we literally spent all day in pjs at my parents' before getting in the car again on Tuesday for the final haul home, 10 more hours. There was snow in Utah but not Vail, so that was a blessing. The temperature hovered at about zero all day, so I'm glad we didn't have any car trouble. Brrr.
And, that was our crazy, insane California Christmas Adventure. It was super fun, but I have no intention to ever repeat it. We'll need six plane tickets and a rental car if we head to San Diego ever again. We drove almost 2,500 miles and were exclusively driving 4 of the 12 days of our vacation. Yikes! But, the kids can't stop talking about everything we saw and did, so I count it as a win. Go Us!
