Legoland

Our second SD day was spent at Legoland, which we were all very excited about!  Parts of Legoland did not disappoint and, overall, I would say it was a good day, but this day and this park was were we became VERY aware that the rest of the world was on Spring Break with us!

Walking in the main gate, you hear the Lego Movie song "Everything is Awesome!" which made us even more pumped up and smiley.

One of the things we were most excited to see was the real set they used in making the Lego Movie.  Quickly realizing that battling crowds would be the challenge for the day, we talked about the things we definitely wanted to see and made sure to go to those first.

The set was super cool!  We got a real kick out of recognizing things from the movie, both Lego-made, like the double-decker couch and Metal Beard's ship, and whole sets, like Finn's dad's work table or the Christmas decoration corner that holds Cloud Cuckoo Land.

The next thing we were most excited to see was Miniland, the Star Wars Miniland in particular!  In this section of the park, master builders have created entire scenes and characters just from Legos!  The girls loved it all, but the Ewok village in the trees, the Millennium Falcon and the huge Death Star were some favorites.

And then there were entire cities!  I was blown away by the detail of each recognizable landmark.  We walked through mini LA, mini New York, mini Las Vegas and mini DC, to name a few.  Mini San Francisco, with its Painted Ladies, Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, seals, Coit Tower and Lombard Street, was definitely a favorite!

In the middle of Miniland was a grassy field where a dance party was being held.  This is what I love about my kids: we're smack in the center of an amusement park, packed with rides and crazy-cool things to see, and they insist on stopping for 15 minutes to dance!

Again, with the Spring Break crowds and the ride lines in the 90-120 minute range, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we just wouldn't be able to ride every ride.  We picked a few that looked fun and we enjoyed them! (The following are a few of the rides we tried.  Above, a boat ride through Lego-made fairy tale stories.)

Lego cars the kids could drive themselves.

Lego boats the kids could drive themselves.

A dragon roller coaster that came recommended from our little friend, Benjamin! :) (Delia didn't do any roller coasters.  She wanted to, but all of them had the picture of the kid with an arm cast and a big X through it with the words "Not recommended for those with bone injuries.")

And some cars on a high track that you could pedal along.

What was nice about Legoland was all the little spots to stop and play together.  Above, Dave and Delia are building a car to enter in a race.  Another fun little activity involved trading Lego mini-figures with Legoland workers who kept theirs on a lanyard around their necks.  We bought the girls a few new mini-figures, but they ended up loving them so much, they didn't even want to trade them away!  I think I liked that each time we waited in a long line for a ride, there was a big, central, Lego-filled area where the kids could be distracted and build things.   Dave and I win Parent-of-the Year awards for standing in line for an hour, for our kids, for a ride (the little cars) we couldn't even go on!

Even though we decided not to stay at the Legoland Hotel, we still stopped in to check it out on our way out of the park.   Here we may have experienced our best ride of the day-- the elevator!  We only had to wait about 5 minutes for this ride and when we stepped in, it was playing soothing elevator music.  But, when the doors closed, a disco ball dropped and dance music switched on!  The girls love, love, loved this!

At Legoland we found that "Almost Everything Is Awesome!".  The stuff we did get to see and do was really fun and, even though it was probably our most tiring day, we are glad we went!

SeaWorld

I must confess that this trip was originally going to be all about Legoland.  We were going to stay at the fancy Legoland hotel and do the park for multiple days.  But, the more I looked into it, the more I began to see that we could make a choice: go with this plan OR stay at a more reasonable hotel and invest the money instead in a San Diego City Go Card, that would give us unlimited access to 44 different attractions (including SeaWorld, the zoo, Legoland, etc.) for the week.  We went with this new plan instead.  We're so glad we did!  Our favorite days ended up being the ones where the outings were more animal-centered.  Because the kids were most excited about it, we did SeaWorld first.

I love animals.  I know there is a storm of controversy about the captivity the animals at SeaWorld live in, and I was expecting to feel sad when I saw them again, now knowing some of things various documentaries have taught me, BUT, then I saw how absolutely thrilled, impassioned, and in love my kids fell with each animal they interacted with.  And I had some peace that these caged creatures are serving as ambassadors to millions of people who would not otherwise get to see or be in awe of them, like any animal in a zoo really.    

And the animal interactions at SeaWorld are like no other!  We got face to face with flamingos.

We took this little ride through the penguin exhibit about 6 different times, watching them eat, swim, jump and trudge along.  Delia loved finding the King Penguins she recently did a big school report on.

We watched the beluga whales gracefully gliding and spouting.

We stood in the sea turtle tunnel, exclaiming when these gentle giants would paddle right over us.

We survived a ride through the glass shark tank and had to ham it up with scared faces at the end.

We fed noisy seals and sea lions!!!

We petted humongous sting rays.

One of our favorites, we had itty-bitty cleaner fish attack our hands to nibble all the microscopic dead skin off!  Strangest and most ticklish feeling I've ever had!

We visited our octopus friends.

We watched a lot of incredible shows.  The dolphin show actually inspired a new career path for Ella.  Yep, she's now going to be an author/illustrator/marine biologist/reporter/SeaWorld dolphin trainer!

Aaaaand...of course, the Shamus!  We spent a lot of time here at the underwater viewing tank watching the 5 killer whales (including one baby!) do everything from swim in a line formation to come right up to the glass and "wave" at us!  It was amazing, breathtaking, awesome!  Delia even had some happy tears! :)

After getting to know the whales up close by watching them in the tank, we then got to see them do all their jumps and tail splashes in a short show, which was fun too.

Our SeaWorld day was a great one!  Even though we've been here before, it still exceeded my expectations.  I especially loved watching the girls get so excited about the special animals they were meeting!

Easter in Camp Pendleton

We've had this big Spring Break trip to San Diego in the works for a while now.  It was inspired by a couple different good friends raving about their recent San Diego trips and the realization that the last time we were down here, animal-loving Delia was a baby and only remembers what we have pictures and videos of!

With Delia's surgery just a week before our scheduled departure, we had some concerns, but a doctor appointment on Friday switched her to a hard cast and gave us the green light to go, as long as we were careful.  In some ways the timing felt perfect.  This trip was what we had to look forward to after all the hospital time we've endured the past few weeks.

This trip was also taken because it would allow for us to make a 2 day stop at the home of some dear friends on the way down.  Lloyd, Heidi, Anika, Andrew and Kathryn have been our friends and ministry colleagues for about 7 years (actually, even longer if you count the time Dave spent at Trinity and seminary with them!).  But recently, God laid out a new plan for their life that involved a career switch for Pastor Lloyd and a move for their family.  He now serves as a Navy Chaplain and they live on base at Camp Pendleton.  We were blessed to hear about how God has been taking care of them through this transition and filling their lives with unexpected gifts.  

Our hosts totally spoiled us, giving us wonderful overnight accommodations, cooking delicious meals, and planning fun activities-- like a trip to their private Marine Corp beach, or a night of outdoor movies and a campfire!

Their home is amazing!  They have an actual ocean view and can watch the sun set over the Pacific from their backyard!

Heidi is a very talented hair-doer!  Before church, all our long-haired girlies were lined up in her salon for some fancy braids!

On Easter Sunday we attended their church, which also has an ocean view!  I've said before how it's kind of a treat for us to worship at new churches.  We don't get to do it very often and it's something we always enjoy, especially when these new-church experiences are shared with far-away friends!

After church, a ham dinner, and more time to play and catch up, Lloyd and Heidi drove us around the 125,000 acres that is Camp Pendleton.  We saw memorials, obstacle courses, lots of men in uniform, barracks, shooting ranges, practice warfare cities, tanks, low-flying helicopters overhead, the landing strip and a lot of other interesting Marine things.  Being on base and seeing just a glimpse of Marine life, as well as hearing about it from Lloyd who ministers to these soldiers, I was impressed with the toughness and commitment our service men and women live by.

(These random chin-up bars were everywhere!  On your way to the chapel?  Stop and do some chin-ups!  Headed to the Commissary?  Stop and do some chin-ups!)

After our tour, we hugged goodbye at the southern tip of the sprawling base and then it was off to San Diego for 4 days of Shamu, Legos and panda bears!

Friends and Puppies

After all these posts about broken bones and surgeries, I figured it was time to share some happy news and write a post that is exploding with cuteness! :)

Shortly after Delia broke her arm, we had our good friends Amy, Grace and Benjamin over for an American Girl Doll luncheon.  Grace has recently turned 6 and for her birthday she got to visit the AG Store and get her very own Grace doll!  We know how exciting this can be, so we wanted to celebrate the arrival of Doll Grace with our friends.

We gave the Graces one of those doll chairs that clips on to the table.  And we served a fun lunch of finger foods with strawberry shortcake for dessert.  The girls went to town picking out pink plates at the store and decorating our table with place cards and everything!  After the lunch, Amy and I had a nice long time to sit down and visit while our kids kept each other plenty busy!  

Our other good friends recently had some new additions to their family also, though it wasn't a fancy doll...it was 10 lab puppies!!!  Their dog was double bred with 2 different kinds of labs, yielding puppies of every color!  They are just weeks old, so their eyes just opened, but they are not quite walking, barking, or chewing.  Being the size of large guinea pigs and making the cutest little noises, they were sooooooo fun to cuddle and hold.   

The only bad thing about visiting the puppies was dragging the girls away from them.  And then spending the entire car ride home explaining why we can't adopt one!  (Though 4 of the 10 are still looking for a home, so let us know if you need an adorable FREE lab puppy!)

Open House and Spring Program

Delia has been doing SO great!  She stopped taking anything for pain the day after the surgery and, after spending a boring day at home on Monday, was more than ready to return to school by Tuesday!  We were so glad that she was also fully able to participate in the Tuesday night school Open House and Musical she's been preparing so hard for.

In Delia's class we saw all the artwork and projects she's been working on, penguins, fossils, musical instruments, etc.  There was also a slide show of pictures running, where Dave and I were amused to realize that Delia was wearing a cast in every picture! With just 3 short months UN-casted, second grade will indeed be remembered as the Year of Arm Injuries!

Ella is officially done singing in the Musical, but her class was still open for family visitors.  We got to tour their Classroom City, which was really cool!  Ella learned so much in the week she spent holding down a job!  She came home from school each day excited to jump right on the computer and crank out the next day's newspaper.  She interviewed people. She sold ad space.  She drew comic strips.  She had a "Your Opinion" section which, when filled out and turned back into her, could enter you to win an ice cream gift card.  She generated lots of ideas, impressed us with her hard work, and actually made a good amount of money!  

Some of Ella's friends had the brilliant idea to sell gift certificates for parents and grandparents visiting the Classroom City this week.   So after redeeming the ones Ella bought me for a back massage and manicure, it was time to head to the auditorium for some musical entertainment. 

The program was awesome!  Delia sang in 5 songs and performed each enthusiastically-- singing her heart out and bopping along to the beat and trying to do the motions one-handed!

The girls have a phenomenal music teacher, who not only picks out fun songs and teaches the kids how to sing in parts, but who also instills a love of music in her students.  You can just see how much fun everyone is having up on stage!  If you do want to actually see, here are videos of our two favorite songs of the night: Movin' Right Along (yep, from the old Muppet Movie!) and Halle, Halle, Halle...