Saturday April 5th: We had just finished a very busy week at school and were very excited to have next week off for spring break! We spent the whole day together as a family watching conference. When conference was over we were gathered in the living room talking. "We should go to Legoland." I said. Then the kids started chanting "Legoland! Legoland! Legoland!" James and I talked about how much it would cost, how long it would take to get there, etc. The next thing I knew, we were packing bags and planning to leave for California in the morning! This is how our vacation began!
Sunday April 6th: We leave the house at 5 AM, headed to Cali!
I was actually very impressed with how well the kids did on the drive. It's such a long trip but they did awesome! I think they were so excited! Sunday night we arrived in Carlsbad around 5pm. We checked into our hotel then headed out for dinner. After dinner we went to the beach! We were hoping to get there in time to see the sunset but we were a little late. The sun was pretty much down but we walked around a bit and got our feet wet. It has been awhile since James or I had seen the ocean, Savanna was about a year old the last time she saw it, and Miles and Avery had never been. It was so fun to share that experience together. The waves kept coming in and Savanna's flip flops kept getting pulled out into the water. Amazingly, we found her shoes every time they were pushed back to shore! We got back to the hotel, washed the sand off the kids, and crashed into bed.
Monday April 6th: Legoland! First we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel. They had a make your own waffle station and those waffles were crazy good! I looked up what kind of mix they use and I ordered some so we can make them at home, yummy!
We got to the park right when they opened and everyone was super excited! We spent the entire day at Legoland. The rides were fun and because we have an odd number of people in our family, Savanna ended up riding some the rides alone, she thought that was super special! My favorite was the dragon roller coaster. I was sitting with Avery and she was smiling until we got to the top and started going down the hill. Her smile turned a little into a grimace, I told her she was ok and she said,"yeah, I know." After though she said she had fun! We had hot dogs and ice cream cones for lunch, saw mini-land with all the amazing places made out of lego's and rode more rides. It was getting pretty hot as the afternoon wore on so we stopped to play at the splash pad area. My kids were not in swim suits but they didn't care. They were soaked in a matter of minutes and the smiles never left their faces! As I was putting the kid's shoes back on after the water park one of my primary kids from church ran up to me and said Hi! I was so surprised! Our neighbors were at Legoland that very same day! Small world! We ended the day at the gift shop! Everyone got a souvenir, then we left the park, had dinner and went back to the hotel and crashed again.
Tuesday April 7th: Beach day! We got up, had breakfast, packed up and headed to the beach! It was a wonderfully sunny, beautiful day! We spent a couple hours playing in the ocean. The kids loved it! I loved it! James loved it! James took turns taking each kid out a little further into the water and letting the waves crash around them. The kids loved playing in the sand, getting in the water to wash off, then rolling around in the sand again. It was so wonderful, I want to go back right now!
After the beach we started heading home. We stopped that night to sleep in Las Vegas. We stayed at The Excalibur which was pretty cool for the kids but not much else about Vegas is cool, and it smells like cigarettes. The next morning we packed up and came home! The vacation was so, so, so fun! It was awesome to be spontaneous and just leave the house on a whim and go on a trip. It was good for us to get away as a family!
