Legoland

Day 21:

Today started out great.  We woke up kind of early, at least earlier than we had been waking up, especially since the kids have been staying up later the past few days.  But they were all cooperating.  Even Daniel got two stars for sitting in his car seat on his own and letting Ben buckle him in.

Jenny dropped me off at Starbuck's and took the kids to McDonald's to get breakfast so they could eat in the car on the way to Legoland.  Then, the bad stuff started.  The engine started to overheat; it started beeping and the needle shot up to hot.  Jenny pulled over into the 7-11 next to McDonald's and called to tell me to walk over from Starbuck's.  With two coffees and two breakfast wraps, I walked as quickly as possible about a half mile. 

The manager at 7-11 was personally helping us fill our coolant and showing us what we needed to do and how we needed to check.  Thinking back, we decided that the man who rented the van to us had filled up the coolant and maybe he was serious about it needing to be checked regularly.  We decided from then on we would check the water level anytime we were leaving after the engine had had enough time to cool.

Of course, all this catastrophe slowed us down for our day.  Nervous about getting to Legoland by 10am when they opened, I quickly merged into the HOV lane on the I-5, driving between 65 and 70 for about sixty miles from Anaheim to Carlsbad, California.

Arriving at Legoland, our children forgot for a moment to whose family they belonged.  Then, they realized they wouldn't all fit in a Volvo made of bricks.

Arriving at Legoland between 10:30 and 11, we started at the bathroom and then the gift shop where we stayed too long.  Starting to go around the park, all the lines were too long.  We wound up starting with a couple of car rides, where the kids got to actually drive the cars around.  No track; no joke.  They had one version of the ride for ages 6 to 12 and one version for ages 3 to 5.

Rebekah (top) and Ben (bottom) both enjoyed driving the Lego cars.

 

 The really cool thing about Legoland was that it has these massive playgrounds set up in Lego themes.  One of them was a giant pirate ship with water spouting everywhere.  A large bucket sat perched on the top of the ship and whenever it filled with water, it would tip over and create a huge splash.  Of course, I didn't expect the kids to get completely soaked, so we didn't pack swimming suites or anything.

Four of the Snethen Seven are seen here piloting Lego boats through the water.

Trying Granny's Apple Fries from the advice of a Facebook friend, we arrived at the next themed playground in the castle land.  They had cargo nets and elevators to climb and giant slides to go down.  There were also obstacles to cross like swinging bridges and tubes.  Everything here was large enough for adults to go into, except the tubes.  

Daniel looks at the Hoth battle scene in Minitown.

So naturally, I followed Daniel up to the top of the playground and he ran right through a tube.  I was looking for him to come out the other side, but I couldn't fit inside.  Somehow I lost track of him and he got to run around like a crazy little knight for a few minutes without me chasing him.  I let Ben know I was looking for Daniel and he went to Jenny and told her, "Daniel's missing!"  So, of course she panicked, but everything was fine.

Daniel joins a crowd of boys crossing an obstacle in the Knight's playground at Legoland.

It took us a while to round everyone up after this playground, but afterwards, I stayed with Daniel and Jonathan while Jenny took the older three to ride the Dragon.  While they were on board, I found a vendor who drew names out of StarWars characters.  I watched her work for a while and when they got down from the ride, I showed them the picture.  Ben decided to get one with his Disneyland money we've been saving.

Ben's name in StarWars.

At the end of the day, we found some kid rides where Daniel was able to participate, airplanes and a mummy ride where we had laser guns in the car and were told to shoot everything in sight.  Then Jenny stayed down with Daniel and Jonathan while I took the older three on the Lego Technic ride.  It was fast and zipped us around corners.  Rebekah got scared.  

At Build & Test, the Snethens were able to test the cars they built as they sped them down the track.

After the ride was over, she said, "I don't want to ever do that again!  Hey, look at how short the line is.  Can we do it again?"  As it turned out, the reason why the line was so short was because they were closing the park.

Daniel pilots the plane with his mom.

The thing I liked about Legoland was every time we turned another corner, a new adventure awaited us, something fresh to see.  We never got bored with it or wanted to leave.  The thing we didn't like about it was that they just closed the park too early.  Another hour or two would have been appropriate, and I'm sure they're open much later in the summer, but it's October, so they closed at 5pm.

As it turned out, we stopped in the gift shop at the end, which must have been what everyone else did.  We got some pennies to press, but by the time we got through the line, they were closing up the penny presses at the front entrance.

It was a great day and we returned to the car.  Learning from an earlier day that it's better to eat before we drive an hour to get home, we stopped at a local restaurant and walked to an outlet mall across the street before returning to the RV.  As it turned out, when we got home, it was pretty late and some of the kids had already gone to sleep, so we tucked them into their beds, ready for more fun tomorrow.