Building a Good Day

Last night as we carried three exhausted children into the house, I also brought in a dozen new and exotic house guests, like an axe murderer, a convict, a sailor, a luchador, and an uber-yuppie with his coffee cup made of eco-friendly materials. Perhaps I should explain.  We went to Legoland.

Ever since we arrived in Tijuana, Jacob and Benjy have been watching commercials about Legoland.  Of course, they did not know what it was or how much it cost, but they did know they they love those Scandinavian-made building blocks that have defined childhoods for several generations.  (I recall hearing from some lucky braggart in elementary school that he had been in Denmark over the summer with his family and gone to a magical place called "Legoland" where everything was made out of Legos.  I never really believed that the place existed.)  Of course, now there are several parks, and "Legoland: California" is right up the coast, so when friends of ours invited us to join them and their kids for the day, we found ourselves sitting at the gate (McDonald's breakfast sandwiches in hand) waiting for it to open for the day.

Inside we found some truly fabulous sculptures (the kind that they used to have in toy sores at Christmas time), fun rides, an Xbox game playing center (featuring games like Lego: Star War, Lego: Batman, and Lego: Harry Potter), and, of course, Lego stores.

We scoured the map over a cup of coffee as we waited for the park to open, but once the gates were down all bets were off.  Within minutes, we were on the first roller coaster of the day.  Jacob swore them off after that with full blown tears running down his face only to have me force him on another later in the day.

We also rode the Legoland teacup equivalent...

I hope no one throws up on me...

And we flew air planes...

Do you know what you are doing?

And drove cars...

Go Speed Racer!

Can I drive like they do in Tijuana?

And rode boats...

That is so cool!

Oh no!  I'm getting seasick!

We visited New York...

San Fransico...

There's a good coffee shop right there.

Obviously, they haven't figured out how to make Lego fog.

L.A....

Las Vegas...

You're right, Mom!  This place is Awe -- wait for it -- Some.

D.C...

I've been there, you know.

Tatooine...

Hoth...

and the forest moon of Endor...

Don't worry, the Ewoks will be there soon.

Of course, one of the coolest things for the kids was that we bought them each a bag of build your own Lego figures.  As we went around the park for the day, the workers all had at least one Lego guy on their name tag, and if you liked the one that they had, you could ask them to trade. (They always said yes).  By the end of the day we had a wide variety of characters to take home, and three exhausted kids.

Not as fun as the one at El Vergel.

So, dear bratty kid from elementary school, I grew up and learned Spanish and went to Mexico instead of Denmark, but I still took my kids to Legoland -- for real.  What's up with you?