Chicago’s Legoland

When the money that Rick made this summer actually came through we decided that we would be able to take the family trip to Chicago that we had hoped to take this summer.  Our family is growing up and we realize that we only have limited time to do things as a “whole” family before some of us start the leaving process.  So Chicago; we decided how much we had to spend and took into consideration what would interest the various age groups in our family and looked at Memberships that we have that would give us reciprocity in Chicago.  We realized that we wouldn’t be able to stay for three nights but if we got up early we would still have a half day for fun on the first day and we could spend the whole day there on our last day there and just get back home really late.  We did receive some “guff” from our older girls and after much grumbling and conversation we decided to offer them transportation, a hotel room and a meal at Uno’s as well as any food that we brought with us.  They could pay for their own fast food and any shows or admission fees to things that we were attending that interested them.  After initially being a little upset about this they did agree to it and this was an AMAZING learning experience for them.  It went really well and they were really thinking then about how to spend their money and why.  They did end up participating in everything with us (instead of laying in bed watching TV) and they had a great time.
This was the lightest trip we’ve packed for in probably 16 years… No stroller, no box of diapers, no porta-crib, no diaper bag, no booster seat with food tray.  Not even a sippy cup!!!  It was very strange.

So we saw plenty of wind turbines through Indiana… about the only other thing we saw there was corn so this shook it up a little.  I love the idea behind these but they do look weird.

More wind turbines.  I think they look eerie when they are lined up for as far as the eye can see.

And by about lunch time we entered Chicago!  With the exception of a fierce rain storm that lasted about 10 minutes the weather was fantastic.  We went to McDonalds for some lunch, then checked into our hotel rooms and got ready for a fun afternoon and evening at Legoland.

Tristan most especially wanted to go to Legoland and he has for years.  It was amazing for him to finally get there in person.  Some of the other kids were super excited about this place too and I admit it was better than I expected it to be.  But what do I know?  I don’t read the Lego Club Magazine.

They have a miniature Chicago… all made out of Legos.

More city scenes…

The carousel and Ferris wheel caught our eyes.

Oooo!  A tiger!  All made from Legos.

There was a whole Lego jungle.  The monkey was swinging, the hippo could have eaten Tristan and then there were the spiders.

The only way to leave the jungle was to walk  through a volcano.  And then Tristan found Harry Potter… who I’m grateful to for finally getting Tristan excited about reading.  And I believe it was Harry Potter’s birthday.

Some other favorite characters were there too; all Legos!

I got to see the President; Rick says he’s very plastic!!!  And a Lion about took off our heads as we moved on to a ride where we armed ourselves and shot at all sorts of things coming at us to see how many points we could get.  Very fun!

After a very fun demonstration of how Legos are made we moved on to two 4-D Lego movies.

We got our “nerd” glasses ready and I, having never even seen a 3-D movie before, was unprepared for how cool a 4-D movie would be.  This was amazing as we got wet and the wind actually blew at us.  At one point I was sure it was actually snowing and the soldiers were going to get us.  As the birds flew out to us at one point Nathan, trying to reach out for them coming at him, actually fell out of his chair.  So funny.

The kids went back and forth between riding this bicycle copter ride, running around on the playground and building with more Lego bricks in one place than you’ve ever seen in your life.

Nathan has Lego fever too and pretty soon he got his Dad to come over and play with him.

And then his Dad rode with him, too.  Kaitlyn found pink and purple Legos and Haley and I made some amazing looking flowers and cupcakes over in this section.

This boy can hop up on this ball swing all by himself… I was amazed.  Then he got his sister to give him pushes.  Weeee!

One of the “Master Builder’s” (Tristan’s dream job) came out toward the end of the day and told the kids that anyone who could build a faster car than him would win a prize so he and Lindsay got started on creating a car along with about 11 other kids.  It was like the Pinewood Derby all over again only there were just 30 minutes to put the car together and figure it out.

And guess what?  Tristan and Lindsay’s car WON!!!  They got the prize!

On our way out we saw a few more famous figures… all designed out of Legos.  Nathan was reminded that we’d better not be naughty or “Santa won’t come” which was really big with him last Christmas.

That evening we had a fun picnic in our hotel room with food we brought from home as we watched the Olympics and got kids through the bath.  Two bathrooms!!!  What a difference it is to have TWO!!!  Nathan adored playing with the Legos he bought at Legoland and he was excited to share a big bed with his sister, Kaitlyn.  After only two weeks in his own big boy bed it was ironically his sister who kept rolling out of bed later that night.