Legoland

With Sue's conference now completed, the real vacation could begin. We started with a visit to Legoland. I wish I took a video of Cruz when we told him where we were going that day. I don't know if he was that genuinely enthusiastic to go, but he was jumping up and down, arms thrusting and yelling "Yipee!"

Now Legoland was our first experience with a real amusement park with kids. Previously any experience had been with our own parents or in young adulthood. As the parents who've already experienced this already know, there is a steep learning curve and it's best that you plan ahead.  And so while we had intended to go to Legoland as part of our trip, even going so far as to pre-purchase tickets months in advance, we never actually did our "homework." What that means is that we had no real plan of attack and thus, weren't prepared to deal with lines for rides.

Luckily the kids were none the wiser and once we got our wits about us, we were able to show them a really good time. Our first ride was Fairy Tale Brook. Think It's a Small World but for fairy tales and without the catchy tune. Avid readers will know that anything with a boat is inherently entertaining to the kids in this family. It also reminded us that we need to read more fairy tales to the kids.

Next was some time at The Water Works and quickly moving onto Duplo Village.

There the kids spent a good portion of their time. Plus there was no real wait! Trains are always a big win for the kids so Sue and them went on the Legoland Express while we were there.

After lunch, Cruz wanted to ride The Sky Cruiser. This was by far the biggest test for Cruz since the line was about an hour long.

While Sue and Whitney returned to Duplo Village, I was pleasantly surprised as Cruz patiently waited with me as the line snaked along. While there were the frequent questions about when we were going to get on, it never devolved into whining or crying.

Next, Cruz earned his "driver's license" at the Junior Driving School. This very well might have been Cruz' highlight, with him being able to actually drive a (mini)car.

We explored more of the park and then came along the Pirate Shores portion of the park. Because it was October, a good number of the water themed rides were closed, however the Swabbies Deck was still open. It's a place with lots of little fountains for kids to play in. At first we only intended Whitney to go in, since we had a change of clothes for her. But Cruz didn't want to be left out and quickly joined in.

And that brings us to the parental highlight of the excursion. Cruz eventually wanted to leave to leave for the more adventurous Soak-N-Sail. He took off his shirt and next thing you know he's going down the water slide.

Many of you know that Cruz can be described as cautious at best, yet there he was, totally unprompted, trying a totally new experience for him. He would have gone down the bigger water slide, but it was closed.

Ironically, we had to purchase swim trunks to replace his now wet shorts and underwear. His shirt we used as an ad hoc towel so he had to wear the pull-over he wore in the morning. Nevertheless, he was a happy boy.

As we were preparing to leave, Sue and I were debating whether to skip the MiniLand USA, but Cruz overheard us and declared that we were going to see it. While it's really thrown in there as a bone for the adults who visit, Cruz and Whitney definitely got something out of it.

All in all, I think that we did pretty well for our first experience at a real amusement park.