LEGOLAND

We did LEGOLAND and it was awesome! I do believe we've kicked off Gavin's full-blown obsession with Legos. He enjoyed the rides, but his most favorite thing of all was building the Lego cars and racing them. He was 1000% locked in and focused on his car, and we had to return to this exhibit every day. I think Gavin and Dylan spent two hours working on the car one afternoon. And then he won the race...it was awesome!

We arrived at the Sheraton on Wednesday afternoon and hit the pool ASAP. Then, we sent Dylan off to TJs to pick up some essentials. Originally, we hadn't planned on eating mostly out of the room, but we managed to cram a tiny bar fridge full of stuff and stay away from restaurants most of the time. Dylan made several trips to and from the lobby to use the microwave to heat up our pre-prepared meals, but it was so much easier and less stressful...not to mention cheaper...than eating out for every meal. We enjoyed nightly cocktails on the patio after the boys were asleep, and it worked out so perfectly.

So exhausted after a long day on the road.

Playing outside while D was on errands.

Hauling our groceries back to the room.

The Sheraton is next to Legoland, and it has it's own entrance to the park. We bought 3-day passes that included the water park and aquarium, and it was really the only way to do this trip with two little kids. We could come and go as we pleased and accommodate for naps and anything else. The only bummer was that the park opened at 10am, and when your kids are awake at 6am, well...that makes for a long morning.

On the first day, we stuck to only Legoland in two separate shifts. It was a Thursday, so the lines weren't too bad. We fit in a LOT and left with still so much more to see. When we wrapped things up in the afternoon, I glanced down at my watch while we were hauling the wagon full of boys back up the hill to the hotel. I noticed that it wasn't connected to my phone, and after checking my backpack and the pockets of the wagon, my stomach sunk. The phone was gone. When I thought about it for a moment, I realized I had put it in the wagon pocket and then left the wagon outside the last exhibit that we visited. The darn thing was too big to fit in my pocket, and it was too inconvenient to put it in the backpack after every photo.

I took the boys to the hotel, and Dylan went back into the park while attempting to track my phone. It wasn't tracking. He searched the last few exhibits, filled out a lost and found report and returned empty-handed. Luckily, the phone backs up to the cloud every night. I have 15,525 photos on my phone. That is an honest number...I just checked. So, I probably would have lost the day's photos, and that was a bummer, but oh well. The bad part was that the phone was uninsured. And it's the huge monster dog phone, which as you know is not cheap. My stomach ached over such a stupid, inconvenient and expensive mistake.

Dylan got right on the computer and logged into my account, locked up the phone and marked it as Lost. We spent a couple hours on the back patio figuring out a plan for this fiasco. And then, the phone became trackable. Shortly thereafter, a shady gentleman called Dylan's phone from mine. (When your phone is marked as Lost, the only function it can perform is to call a designated contact person.) Luckily, Dylan knows a thing or two about a thing or two. Selling a stolen phone on the black market is actually not that lucrative...the guy was just holding it ransom. Dylan knew that he was speaking with a professional phone thief...the guy knew to immediately turn off the phone and leave it off until he was driving away from Legoland. As we would find out later, he ditched the case, too, to make the phone unidentifiable. So, they negotiated a verbal deal over the phone while I eavesdropped and bolted around the hotel room collecting all the cash I could find. A quick trip to a random Jack in the Box parking lot and $75 in ransom money later, and my phone was back in my hands. (For the record...Dylan made the quick trip to the Jack in the Box to make the exchange with the thief, not me. And to Dylan, it was no big deal. He is my hero.) I ordered a new case, and as long as I can keep from dropping my phone and breaking it until the case arrives, I will consider myself very lucky to have my phone.

Our first walk to LEGOLAND!

Um, can this thing go any faster!

He earned his driver's license!

Apple fries, yum.

Racing boats

Gavin's first time seeing NYC :) 

We thought Graham might nap on-the-go in the carrier. We were so wrong.

He LOVED the boat ride after nap.

He was a fan of the carousel, too!

He loves playgrounds.

Helicopter ride.

Attempting a group selfie on another boat ride.

So focused on building his boat.

Little stinker kept getting in trouble for trying to sneak into the exhibits. Here he is testing the waters with just one foot.

Our first go at building Lego cars.

Gavin could spend all day here.

On Day 2, we hit the park at opening time again. But, during the early morning hours, Dylan took the boys to the train station to watch the trains. I was becoming unglued being holed up in the hotel room with my feisty kids all morning, and I think it was pretty obvious to everyone. (The second time on this trip that D was my hero.) When it was time for Graham's nap, G2 and I went back to the room and D and G checked out the water park.

Coincidentally, Dylan's parents had been up the road in Anaheim all week for a conference for their church. They headed down to Carlsbad to visit family before going home to Oregon. Dylan was born in Carlsbad, and his grandparents and aunt and uncle still live there. So, the Millers and Dylan's grandpa came to our room to hang out for a while. Then, we went to see Bam and visit with Dylan's aunt. Gavin spent the entire time with his head in my lap because he was so exhausted, so we skipped going out for pizza with everyone.

Mornings on the patio.

Gavin LOVED hunting for snails. Luckily, we were on the ground floor and the boys could run and play in the grass.

This kids makes my heart melt. He is the sweetest, funniest thing.

Watching trains with D.

Gavin hosted a bug convention for all the other kids in line waiting to get into Legoland.

Look! Three Roly Polies! (Gross.)

He was scared to go by himself at first, but he totally loved this ride.

I love my little rascal.

Watching Dad and Big Bro on the "robot ride." 

You can barely see Gavin's tiny feet way up there! He's pretty brave- he loved all the rides.

Selfie on the boat again...though I think this was actually from Day 3. Oops.

Day 3 began with a trip to the beach in the early morning. The Millers were able to join us before heading back up to Orange County to catch their flight. Gavin boogie boarded and dug for crabs, and Graham had the best time playing in the sand. After we rinsed off, Graham went down for a nap, and Gavin and I went to Legoland. Our first stop was for ice cream, and the second stop was the gift shop. Gavin picked out Legos for himself and for Graham, and then we sped through the aquarium. After that, we met up with Dylan and Graham and went on the boat ride that both the boys really enjoyed on the first day. The rest of the afternoon was spent building and racing Lego cars before we finally called it a day.

Getting ready for the BEACH!

Graham could be a flip-flop model!

Overjoyed that Grandpa helped him find a crab

Grandpa, Gavin, Graham and me

I would give my left arm to get a good picture with my boys.

Playing in the sand before it was time to go.

Just the two of us!

Chocolate ice cream- G's favorite.

All of our loot from the Lego Store!

We had so much fun picking out Legos for G and G2, and we threw in an lunchbox for the new school year, just for good measure.

The aquarium was pretty cool, but Gavin's favorite part was building this Lego castle. He also loved the tide pools, like back in Oregon.

We stopped in for one more ride on the cars.

Graham and I spent a long time in the play area while D and G built cars.

Here it is, the winning car.

Checking out his new Legos while waiting for Big Bro to wrap it up with the cars.

Yay! The big winner!!

Gavin's last ride at Legoland.

The big winner back at the hotel, building his Legos.

And, at night while they did this, I did...

This :)

Honestly, this trip was riddled with small issues. Graham had diarrhea the entire time. Gavin is still battling sleep issues, and I ended up in his bed every single night. He was tired and cranky much of the time. And then, there was that thing with my phone. But I never go on vacation with my guys expecting it to be a totally kick-back, easy time. And dealing with kid issues on vacation is better than dealing with kid issues and never going on vacation. I was just glad to be with my family. It was worth every ounce of effort to see the experience light up Gavin's world. Graham might not have known much of a difference, but I know he had a great time. Especially on the playground and at the beach. The weather was perfect, too. How awesome it will be when both boys can do all the rides and get the full enjoyment out of it. While we think about our plans for buying a house, I'm beginning to scale back my dreams. After this trip, I just want to make sure we always have the freedom to take our kids on cool adventures. These next 15 years or so, while our kids are young and living with us, will be the best years of our lives, I think. I hope we are always able to make the most of it.

We made it back from California today, and my feelings are mixed. It's always nice to be in the comfort of one's own home after vacation. But...we've spent three of the last four weeks traveling, and these were our "big" trips that we've had planned several months. It's a little bit sad that this chapter is now behind us. On the flip side, traveling with the kids is a lot of work, and it's totally worth it...but it's just not so relaxing. This is probably the last time we'll do some serious traveling with a 1-year-old, and while some people may mourn the passage of time when thinking of things this way, I honestly can't find any reason to be anything but overjoyed by this reality. It's hard to keep a 1-year-old appeased on a long road trip, and they get into everything and wander away and need to be carried a lot and do lots of screaming and crying. Also, next time we fly somewhere, we'll be forced to buy Graham a ticket. Which is expensive, and it sucks, but it'll make air travel so much easier. It also means that travel by air to anywhere for almost any reason will rarely be worth it because who in the world can afford airfare for four? We'll probably go camping and do some weekend getaways in the near future, and that will be perfect.

The transition to being back home might be easier if it was a week for Dylan to be at home. But it's not...he leaves tomorrow for the whole week. I don't know, maybe it's better this way? Like ripping off a band-aid? We are getting back to the grind without delay. The boys have already been delivered to my parents since Dylan won't be here to wrangle them while I'm working from home in the morning. (The rare moment of peace and quiet tonight while I unpack and regroup is wonderful.) Gavin will get back into swim lessons this week for the first time in a month, and while I'm noticing that buttoning my pants has gotten a little more difficult, I've realized that I've been to the gym only one (1) time in the last four weeks. Yikes. I guess getting back to the grind might not be such a bad thing. With monsoon season upon us, the summer has become slightly more bearable. We will be A-ok and off on another adventure before we know it!