March: Lego Robotics Expo

Back in March, the boys' Lego Robotics team took part in the Jr FLL Expo at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. They had all worked so hard on their Lego models and it was finally time to show them off.

I'm not sure Aiden will do robotics again for a while - he clashes a little bit with one of the main coaches (causing me to not be her biggest fan either, as she tends to massively overreact when it comes to Aiden), but Nathan really enjoys it and does just fine. If Nathan decides to take part in it again, I think I'll need to step aside from helping. That being said, I am grateful for the opportunity for the boys to do something like Lego with their school friends.

 The team created an educational rooftop playground, with a crane that helped move plants so it could be a playground AND a garden. Because this is Jr FLL, the only robotic part is the crane and they don't compete - they just show it off. Way different from FLL where they have to design and program a robot to do different tasks and then compete against other teams. Jr is much less stressful!

 Explaining their design to one of the judges.

 Getting their certificates for a job well done.

Showing off their hard work under the Spruce Goose was super fun! Way to go Bobcats!

Vacation continued....Family and Science

After our one day at Legoland (which was plenty), we hopped in the car, grabbed dinner, and hit the road to visit with Brady and Carrie. It was a super relaxing visit, just playing games and spending time with the cutest nephews ever. Perfect after four days in amusement parks and hotel beds!

 Cousin bonding time!

After two fabulously fun days with the California Minthornes, we loaded the van back up and set out for Los Angeles. We had never been to the California Science Center and had also never seen an actual Space Shuttle in person. What a great time to experience both!

 Seeing the Endeavour was a great experience and we learned quite a bit throughout the entire Shuttle exhibit. The best part? The California Science Center is totally free. We only had to pay $2 per person to see the Space Shuttle, but admission to the rest of this amazing science center is completely free. Yeah yeah, I know California is broke, but man I wish we had a free science center here!

 We didn't have a ton of extra time to explore since we were headed as for North as we could get that day, but we tried to get in as much as we could.

 We spent about two hours there and then hopped back in the van to head to Redding for the night.

The drive home was fairly uneventful, except for some interesting weather, and we were very happy to sleep in our own beds after a very full week away.

Vacation continued....Legoland!

Back at it! I'm determined to get back on a regular blogging schedule!

Anyway, I left you with us finishing up our last day at Disneyland and heading on to Legoland.

The boys knew we were heading to Legoland, but did not know that we were staying in the Legoland Hotel. That was a huge surprise for them and they were not disappointed! Each room comes with a treasure hunt, ending with the combination to a Lego safe which holds one minifigure for each child listed on the hotel reservation. They thought it was very cool.

We had a pirate room, and the cool thing about the Legoland Hotel is that the parents bed and kids bunk beds are separated by the bathroom. So even though it's still one room, you've all got a little bit of privacy.

 Yes, I happily slept in a pirate bed.

 The boys LOVED the bunk beds with their own personal reading lights.

The lobby of the hotel is huge, including a gigantic pirate ship and castle, plus a couple pits 'o' legos for the kids to play in while mom and dad sit at the cafe sipping coffee. Breakfast was included in the stay, and it was a fantastic (and HUGE) buffet. I was seriously quite impressed with the Legoland hotel. Plus, it's literally about 100 feet away from the Legoland entrance. 

We were in right at opening, which didn't mean much, because there were maybe 15 people in line. Off season in Legoland is beans compared to Disneyland. Not a whole lot of people.

 This is a guy in a costume and was the one character we met that day.

We wandered around and did some rides and then discovered that they had the ACTUAL Lego Movie sets. Oh my gosh. You can't even imagine how excited we were!

 For those of you who have seen the Lego Movie, this is THE basement (steps and all) from the movie. Honestly, this was the highlight of the Legoland visit. It was so cool.

Cloud Cuckoo Land is in that box. Since, you know, they blew it up. :)

A lot of the rides were really cool and were very Lego based. We definitely had fun and it was nice that no line took longer than 10 minutes.

I will be honest and say that I was somewhat disappointed with Legoland. I know the boys had a lot of fun, which was the point, but I did feel like there weren't enough Lego-like rides. About halfway through the park, it starts feeling like Oaks Park (for the Portlanders reading this) with some Lego thrown in. Like they ran out of Lego ideas and filled the rest of the park with fairly generic amusement park rides. A lot of the time was spent watching the boys play with Legos at various Lego stations. The park was only open from 10-5 and I felt like we were running out of things to do by 4pm. That and the weather got oddly bad mid-afternoon. I thought it was supposed to be hotter down by San Diego.

I don't regret our visit, but I will say that the things that stood out weren't the rides but seeing all the amazing things made of out Legos instead. Trust me, I couldn't take enough pictures of all the cool things.

I think the boys were the perfect age for it and they loved it, but we probably won't go again unless we're ending up in that area for some other reason. I can't say enough good things about the Legoland Hotel though! That place was awesome.

Next, we get on the road to visit with Brady and Carrie Marie for a few days before we head home (with a quick stop in Los Angeles at the science center!).