Legoland--Building a Lifetime of Fun

Did anyone catch how cheesy my title for this one is?  Anyone?  Oh, no one reads these things?  Oh well!

I had grand intentions of doing a separate blog for Day 1 and Day 2, but to be honest, it's a theme park and I gave all my "remembered" advice in the previous blog!  So...today's blog is just pics!

There are characters that are available randomly throughout the park and we bought the $50 pass so we could get as many as we want digitally.  We figured that was worth it because there's always at least one picture you want but it costs an arm and a leg.  Now we have 28 pics--some good, some bad--but we've got them! Once I play with the account and get them downloaded to the computer I'll update this blog with a few of these pics. 

I'm starting with Day 2 pics because that's how I roll. (And when I uploaded pics, there was just too much darn effort involved to move all my MUST HAVE pics down to the bottom.)

Not the best pic, but it shows where we were!

Watching a LEGO be put together

I might have loved it more than the boys!

3D LEGO movie!

LEGO Bionicle--and an extra cutie!

Building at the Imagination Zone--best way to end a day!

More Imagination Zone Building

Even daddy loved the Imagination Zone!

Fun Town--Helicopter Flying--more fun for daddy!

Safari Land---or something close to that!

Dinosaurs!!! 

My namesake LEGO--Stephanie--and a child who apparently needs to potty!

LEGO Friends area--awesome "stable" to build in!

Duplo City---AKA a park

Fun Town--This guy got his driver's license!!

DAY 1 Pics

I spy 4 dragons!

Lego dragon--entering Ninjago World

Concentrating on the ride!

SO excited!  Our first ride--the jet skis!

Daddy and Riley on the jet skis!

Ry's favorite ride--the airplane!

Egyptian roller coaster--he got to shoot at the bad guys...a first for him!

More Riley's speed...a gentle knight ride through the countryside

Knight Bennett

Knight Mommy--is there a female name for knights?

Creative Center--creating new LEGOs!!!

Mini-land White House

Mini-land NYC

Fave way to end the day--build a boat and race it!

Go Bennett Go!

Concentrating on not dropping his creation!

End of Day 1---3D roller coaster Ninjago ride--so much fun!

Go West Young Ones

Goodbye Texas. California here we come!

As soon as we got off our cruise in Galveston, we flew up the highway to pick up our UHaul and get to packin'!  We didn't even have time to say goodbye to neighbors, but since we'll be back in 3 weeks for a family wedding, we were okay with it!  (Sorry neighbors....we'll see you soon!)

Day 1--Head to Cuero to see my family for Christmas, drive through Christmas in the Park, which is a favorite, and have a little family time!

Day 2--Cuero to Fort Stockton, TX.  Yes, boys---we're STILL in Texas!  We heard that question, as well as the typical "When will we get there?" about a million times that day and the days after!  It is nice to drive out of the city, so as much as we may have been dreading the 3 day drive, it was also our time as a family to just enjoy our time together.

Day 3--Fort Stockton, TX to Tucson, AZ--a cold front blew in the night before so every stop we made on this day was a quick in-and-out---for both people and dogs!
Side Note: Arizona state line rest stop is perfect for both humans and dogs!  They have a great dog exercise area--where we exercised our kids instead, but whatever!)

We're not in Houston anymore!!

Beautiful after the rain!

Benson, AZ--dinos at a McDonald's!!!

Day 4--Tucson, AZ to El Centro, CA--this was a short 4 hour day (THANK GOODNESS) so we made sure to take a few pit stops to welcome ourselves into our new world, but not take too much time doing so since we had to turn in the UHaul that day.

Gila Bend, AZ--more reptiles!

Gila Bend, AZ--dino attack!!!

Solar Panel Farms--not our normal farm, but okay!

Sand dunes between Yuma, AZ and El Centro, CA--we'll be trying this...on a Stephanie level though!

Home Sweet RV!

San Antonio Trip

Jeff had to work again in San Antonio, so B and I tagged along so we could still have good family time!  Best thing I did was do a little research before the trip!  We stayed about 2 blocks from the Alamo/Riverwalk so that I would be able to find things to do easily while Jeff had the car.

• Day 1:  Dropped Jeff off at his jobsite and took B and myself shopping to the outlet malls in San Marcos.  Haven't been there in so long and we had a great day!  B did especially good seeing as how he was in the car for the 2.5 hour trip to SA, 40 minutes to/from San Marcos, AND in the stroller most of the day!  (The one time I did let him play was at a play area at the mall.  It was great, but the astroturf had bird poop all over it, so I walked B around.  It was at that time I noticed HE was pooped on!  That ended play time!)  As soon as we got to the hotel, got out the toys and let B crawl all over!  He was in heaven!  Riverwalk for dinner at Mad Dog's English Pub and then home to bed!



Thank goodness Mommy brought toys!



What???  I'm surely NOT getting into anything bad!

• Mad Dog's:  Yummy Scotch Eggs (hard-boiled egg covered in sausage and then fried.  B ate all of our yolks--couldn't get them off the plate fast enough he was so hungry!  Had Cottage Pie too---AKA Shepherd's Pie.  Delish!

• Day 2:  Started off with a yummy Hampton Inn breakfast!  B devoured the Cheerios and waffle we put in front of him.  Jeff went to work, B took a nap, and I blogged!  Then, it was time for B and I to get out on the town!  We started at Rivercenter Mall for a little lunch/shopping, and then I just simply wandered the streets!  It was actually pretty fun NOT having an agenda (YES, I said this!)!  Originally, my plan was to put B in the Baby Bjorn, fold up the stroller, and hop on the trolley cars (not the Hop-On/Hop-Off ones) and make my way to El Mercado, but I ended up walking all the way there.  All the way past every single VIA bus stop with hordes of smokers/bums/etc.  What can I say?  I do it right when I wander the streets alone with my child!  There were plenty of tourists too, so I wasn't that worried!
• Went for a swim after Jeff got home and we ended up meeting up with one of his old Port Arthur MSU Coast Guard buddies, Brian, and his wife, Rachel.  Loved seeing and catching up with them!  We all went for dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant, Michelina's, where B proceeded to once again devour anything/everything we put in front of him.  Literally, he at twice as much food as normal.  We ended up even feeding him some of our lasagna since he finished 2 tubs of food, Puffs, bread, water, etc.  We've got a growing boy!  Then....he passed out!

San Fernando Cathedral--hamming it up for a lady waving at him

Shakin' my maracas at El Mercado!

Mommy and B at El Mercado

Totally enthralled with the Riverwalk!

Even more enthralled at La Villita!

Playing at the children's area in Rivercenter Mall--LOVED it!

You know...hanging out at the Alamo!

• Day 3:  San Antonio Children's Museum.   I have no other children's museums to compare this to since I haven't been to any with Bennett, but here are my 3 complaints:
• Only 1 restroom per floor.  Yes, you heard correctly!  One for men, one for women.  So if I needed to go AND change Bennett, we were taking up valuable time from someone else and vice versa.
• No food other than vending machines.  I took our food, but when looking for a place to eat, they had 2 tables and about 6 chairs by the 3 vending machines.  No high chairs or anything!  THAT was fun!
• The only area suitable for small children was very small--and OFTEN inhabited by kids too big for the area.  One little girl pushed B out of the way when she'd already moved away from one of the exhibits.  I let her do it once.  The 2nd time I went all "teacher/mommy" on her and gave her the "teacher eyes" to let her know I meant business.  I wasn't mean...just got to the point quickly!
• •It did have some fun areas, so I'm sure it will be more fun/suitable when Bennett's older...just not right now.  Not a big deal, but I was trying to fill our time while Jeff worked, so I  guess my expectations were too high!
   



Vroom!  Vroom!



Don't worry!  I've tackled horsey!  We're all safe!



Look Daddy!  I'm about to drive a frontloader! (or something like it!)