Legoland

Over Spring Break we took a last minute trip to Legoland, which is just three hours from home. It was awesome and we will probably be going again. I think our kids are the perfect ages to really enjoy the park. A friend from church told me about some deals Legoland was offering for April - kids enter the park free and if you stay overnight in the Legoland Holiday Village you get a second days admission for free. So we were able to get admission to the park for all seven of us for two days, an overnight stay, and breakfast for about $250. Not bad for an amusement park, especially considering that a weekend stay at Euro Disney would run us around $2000! The only real drawback was that our family is too large to fit in the Legoland cabins so we had to stay in a Knight's Tent instead. This was basically a big square tent on a wooden platform with beds inside. We had to bring our own bedding (sleeping bags), there was no electricity or heat, and we used the bath house for showering and such. But we like camping and this was really not roughing it, especially when it was only for one night. The tent was acutally pretty cool, the outside was brightly colored and the inside had curtains lining all the walls and the ceilings. Jared and I have talked about having a cabin someday and he is now thinking that maybe we should just have a big tent somewhere. I'm still wishing for a cabin though!

Getting ready for the night in our amazing tent

The next morning ready for more Legoland fun (and don't I look well rested?)

The girls and I trapped behind bars. The sign above us means Prisoners of the King

The kids loved this ride; it was one that they were all tall enough to go on. I'm not sure how to describe it. The ride goes around in circles but also up and down little hills. It went faster and faster until the person on the inside of the car was totally smooshing the person sitting on the outside of the car. Then it would slow down and you'd think you're done but it's just a trick! The ride starts doing the same thing but in reverse. The first time we rode this I sat with Samantha and I was laughing/crying the entire time. I wasn't scared and it wasn't fun; I think it was what I needed to do to keep from feeling sick.

Samantha was only tall enough for one of the roller coasters and Natalie was not tall enough for any of them. They felt left out and sad about it (well really just Sam did) so while Jared and the bigger girls were riding the big dragon roller coaster Samantha and Natalie got their faces painted. This was not your typical school carnival face painting where you get a sloopy balloon or flower drawn on your cheek. They ended up with beautiful, swirly, star filled, sparkly, glittery designs and with lips painted to match.

After our first day in the park we were all starving! We went directly to the park to ride as many rides as we could. Then when the park closed we found our tent and got our things situated. Only after that, around 8 pm, did we set out to find dinner. I was hungry and sick of hearing the kids whine about how hungry they were and was fine with finding a McDonald's and calling it good. Jared always wants to find good German food. So we set off in search of real food, not fast food. Our GPS had a cool feature that lets us search for nearby restaurants by food type (fast food, german, italian, chinese, etc). We picked a restaurant and started driving but ended up not being able to find it. Along the way we saw a Doner Kebab place and Jared ran in to get a Kebab. We decided to drive to the town center, park, and find a place to eat. The first two places we stopped at were about to close (it was close to 9 by this point) and I was still campaigning hard for McDonalds. Finally I saw a restaurant that had a sign out front for pizza that was still open. We went in, sat down, and realized that we were at a Greek place. The kids all had pizza, Jared was full from his Kebab, but I got the best Greek food I've ever had. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or if it really was that good but it was just what we all needed. The picture above is of everyone happy and fed outside the restaurant.

This roller coaster was kind of for little kids, but it was still fun. And you got to go around the track TWO times! Abigail was scared of the coaster at first, but by the end of the second day she was riding them all with her hands in the air the entire time. She would get out at the end of the ride and run back to the line to ride them again.

So Legoland was a really great little trip. The park was just the right size; we were able to ride all the rides and see everything that we wanted to see. The kids found the rides to be just right, not too scary, but still scary enough to be fun. There were plenty of themed playgrounds all over the park that were perfect for playing and running when we were tired of standing in lines. But really, the lines weren't that bad. I think the longest we waited for a ride was 15 minutes; unfortunately that happened to be the lamest ride in the park. I think we will definitely go to Legoland again even though we did do everything this time. It was fun enough that I think we will still have fun a second (or even a third) time.