Legoland

Almost without fail my long term plans change. Gasp! I know that phenomena comes as a complete shock and that it is an extraordinary occurrence only ever happening to me! [end sarcasm]. Back in January I looked at my blank calendar for the year and was content, nay excited, that it would be a non-traveling year. No big trips or excursions, just hanging out on the farm doing farmy stuff. Maybe even use the husband’s time off for a stay-cation to do even more farmy stuff! But then my sister-in-law invited us to an incredible beach house and the price of admission was playing with cousins. And then my grandparents invited us to an incredible resort down in Orlando and the price of admission was a few home-cooked dinners with stuff from the garden and pantry. Needless to say we did indeed travel to the Sunshine State and it was totally worth it. Now, Orlando is the the mecca of all epic vacation plans. As my husband had to stay home (he does still have a job and we do still have a lactating bovine tenant) I wasn’t about to tackle Disney anything. But Legoland…that I could manage. Not to mention their promotion for 1 kid free per adult ticket purchased made it financially feasible (we’ll go ahead and start saving now for the eventual Disney trip…I’m looking into the going rate for kidneys. Hey, I only need one, right?) Plus the more I read, the more I realized that my kids are the perfect ages for Legoland. Soon they’ll be ready for more (they’ll always be die hard Lego-ers but young adults do need more than duplo stations at somepoint). However, right now? This was just right. Few thoughts and lessons learned: Naomi is a roller-coaster, thrill-seeking fiend. Garyn needs more robotics in his life. I get why people think my little girls are twins. Lunch in air-conditioning is divine. Trading mini-figures actually was really fun. And last but not least, if they say on every sign possible on the ride that you will get wet…you will probably leave the ride drenched. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the eleventy billion that I took.

Lego Head Pinata

Enough said really. Ok, No. Not enough said. If you are like me you may have sniggered at the cheap “Dora” piñatas or the goofy tissue papered, cone-bedeckled monstrosities that can be found in any grocery store. Never again will I look down my nose at these products or the artisans who painstakingly craft them. Piñatas are difficult little beasties to make and I have a new found respect for them.

I’ve said before that I don’t know how people did anything new before the internet…and I’m not even on Pinterest! There was some brilliant soul who looked at a propane tank one summer day and said, “You know what? That looks like a huge Lego head!” Then they made a piñata and posted pictures on the internet for me to find.

  

I kind of just made this up because I thought paper mache is the easiest thing ever…flour, water, newspaper. Well turns out it is easy if you allow plenty of time to dry between layers. Tuesday night is when I remembered that I was even making this thing so yeah…that only left time for a few layers and not even very good layers. And I never have white flour on hand so whole wheat it was! Oh and another thing. Packing tape. Loves to stick to itself…not slightly damp newspaper and flour. So I had to bust out my glue gun to get it back together after cutting it off of the propane tank. I have a burn mark on my forearm to commemorate.

  

I did get it together only to realize that the namby pamby poster paints I bought wouldn’t cut it. However, I had a can of exterior grade latex paint from the aquaponics system that just happened to be the right obnoxious shade of yellow! I drew a face, cut it out, glued it on and we were in business. I was the only adult at the party so this is the best I could do picture wise after the stupid thing tore off of its string before the kids even dented it. Sigh.

  

In addition to the piñata and just playing Legos, we decorated Lego head cupcakes and then ate them…

  

Opened presents and played Princesses (well, Little girl did anyways…)

  

And all the kids got these nifty t-shirts as party favors. Garyn has worn his for three days straight now.

The little girls were babysat so that legos could happen free from interruption, which was a very good call. It was a small gathering, but really nice and laid back. I didn’t mind a small party so much, since he also got: a family dinner, a homeschool dance party, an almost week long trip to hang out with Grandpa in California, starting Cub Scouts tomorrow, and this coming weekend is his baptism…(more on all that later). I’d say it was a good way to turn eight.