Everything you see in this post is made of Lego

Ok, so not everything.  Not even a majority, really.  Frankly, come to think of it, surprisingly little of Legoland was actually made of Legos.  But there was enough to keep our kids entertained on their Christmas present trip to Legoland.

I asked Paige if she really wanted me to post all 54 photos that she had starred, and she said something about Jonathan posting 800 photos of their one kid, so he could sit through a few photos of ours.  So here you go, enough photos to make your retinas bleed.  It's the modern day equivalent of me forcing you to watch our vacation slideshow, except you can scroll down really fast if you get bored.

We loaded up the van on Wednesday and made the drive over to Carlsbad, CA.  Luke, being only 34 inches tall and therefore not tall enough to ride most everything there, got to stay home for a hugely hyped "adventure with his old granny."

We arrived at the hotel that night and curled up in the comfy beds, while visions of Lego danced in our heads.

Oh, and also visions of some mysterious cancer causing chemical, given that this was posted at the entrance to our hotel building...

Seriously.  Is that not the most useless sign ever?  Exactly what kind of chemical am I supposed to look out for?  What area is it in?  Just this corner of the hotel?  The whole building?  The whole hilltop?  The state?

Californians...



So the next morning we headed to Legoland (hopefully all cancer free.)

Levi and Noah were totally into their maps, of course.

We were one of the first to the dragon roller coaster.

It was here that we discovered that Noah is not especially fond of roller coasters.  While Ella was screaming with glee, and Levi whooped and hollered like Daffy Duck, Noah broke down into tears and terror at the first drop down the hill.  I believe he claimed he was never going on a roller coaster again as soon as he was off the thing.

The super slow jousting horses were more his speed.

Even on the tame bouncing ride he wasn't quite sure he was having fun.  I've got 13 pictures of this ride.  In each photo, Ella and Levi have huge smiles.  Noah alternates between half-smiles and looks of serious concern as to his safety.

We braved the water ride, even though the temperature seemed to be barely above freezing.

The lady on this ride claimed this elephant was made of 284 gazillion Legos.  She actually said how many Legos it had, and I made a point of attempting to remember, but have since forgotten the count.

At some point Levi and Noah discovered that there were XBox games at strategic locations around the park.  All other rides promptly became second fiddle to the prospect of being able to play real, live, XBox.

We somehow pried them away though.

Luckily for them, they discovered that Legoland also sold churros.  A place with Xbox and churros?  It's like what 5 year olds must imagine heaven is like.

We finally rolled back up to the hotel late that night.  I headed out to the local TGI Fridays to pick up something resembling actual dinner, as opposed to churros and hot dogs enjoyed at the park.  There, I discovered that the mysterious cancer chemical was also in the food.  Wonderful.

Again, a highly useful sign.  Chemicals "may" be present here?  Well, are they, or aren't they?  And how am I supposed to know?  Does that sign mean I shouldn't eat the food?  Or just certain foods?  Or I should bring my handy "cancer causing chemical detection kit" to test the food prior to consumption?

Californians...

After waking up the next morning without any obvious tumors, we headed out to Legoland for day two.  Having seen most of what the place had to offer the previous day, Levi and Noah came armed with a list of exactly what their highest priorities were for the day.  Number one?

I think we actually convinced them to go one one ride before Xbox, because the lines would be shorter first thing in the morning.  But they made it to Xbox as soon as they could, and hit it several more times throughout the day.

They dug up dino bones.

The fairy tale cruise.

Duplo village.  Pronounced "Duh-plo" if you really want to drive Paige crazy.

Squirt guns.

We did some minature golfing.  Again with the signs, this one on the hut at the entrance the the mini golf area...

I asked Kaitlyn behind the counter if the attractions that would spray me with water were in any way related to the cancer causing chemicals (much to my wife's embarrassment.)  Kaitlyn assured me that I would be perfectly safe while golfing.  I'm not sure how exactly she knows that, but I took her word for it.

Californians...

I'm not sure if this was the water spraying attraction, the cancer causing one, or both.  I'm also not sure that the intricate level of detail in the Lego modeling of the skunk's rear end was entirely appropriate for a children's entertainment venue...

While the skunk spray may not have caused cancer, I believe it did cause grumpiness.  Neither Noah or Levi made it through all 18 holes, and got pulled off the course for timeouts.

We ended the night with fireworks and hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel.

Day three dawned with an unexpected plan to go for a quick trip to the aquarium prior to driving home.

Which Paige somehow expanded into additional rides.  Complete with raincoats.  Obviously this was not spur of the moment, and she and the children were colluding against my attempts at a timely departure from cancer-land.  And shooting me with squirtguns.

A stop by a Lego shark.

A log ride.

That is the grin of a woman who has tricked her husband into spending an extra day at Legoland.

The one picture out of 414 proving I was actually there.

And now, at 12:37 according to the picture timestamp, we make it to the aquarium.  So much for "we will just go see the fish real quick, and then leave."  Suuuuuure we will.

And after the aquarium, we made our way back through the park towards the van to leave. Of course, Paige snuck onto a few more rides.  Because apparently all the hungover parents slept in on New Years Day, and the park was empty, and how could we pass up this opportunity?

Although I will say that the sight of terrified little Noah screaming down the hill, eyes wide with terror, does give a parent a certain sense of satisfaction, having endured the terrible threes at the hands of said child.

We didn't make it back to the van until around 2:00.  A little later than at least one of us was planning on.  We loaded up all our tired and happy kids, and got ready for the drive back.

However, we did have one quick task to take care of prior to pulling out of the hotel parking lot.  We also think this may explain the source of all the noxious chemicals that this area apparently has in their water...

Arizonans... ;)