Nate & Marlene tre ja uff da: Florida

While we were in Florida, we told the kids about visiting Grandpa and Grandma Zeke. And going to Disney World.

But we didn't tell them we were making another stop.

They were keeping busy on the road, reading books and whatnot when we drove up to this place. We made it past this sign and they hadn't noticed anything unusual, but when we stopped to pay for our parking ticket, they started to realize that something was up.

Our surprise was a success! They were all super excited that we had this up our sleeve. Nate deserves all the credit - our master vacation planner (:

Of course we were up bright and early again, and I have to say, hotel breakfasts are the best. Yes, the continental ones. And this is why: while they're not exactly gourmet, our hotels had a great variety of breakfasty food to offer, and I did not have to prepare or clean up after the meal. You just walk out of your room, go down to the lobby, and eat as much as you please. Not to mention that Elin is capable of getting nearly all her food herself, and throwing her dishes and flatware away. I had to cut up a couple of pancakes but that was it. The combination of independent children and complete lack of preparation and clean-up on my part makes hotel breakfasts a win-win no matter what they serve. And you can bring your coffee with you!

Life doesn't get any better than that.

So out of the hotel lobby and back to Legoland again. The kids enjoyed a very tame medieval Lego horsey ride.

Then we went to Egypt.

The Lego Pharaoh.

And the camel too. It was a hot day! All those little plastic bricks were heating up quick!

Poor Elin attempted to sit on the donkey. She barely hung on for the photo though.

Viggo and Svea went to Lego Driving School and got licenses.

This ride was fun, but also a bit of a disappointment. There were a lot of kids, and every car was filled. That's not bad, but what was a little stinky was that Viggo and Svea and a few other kids' cars weren't activated. So when they were supposed to start driving, they . . . couldn't move. Precious time was wasted with the Lego employee getting them going.

But once they were going, all was well.
Might I add Viggo was an excellent driver.
Svea's driving can only be described as haphazard.

Elin and Nate enjoyed a boat ride together.

There was even a Lego show, which was just plain silly.

Lego carousel.

Viggo is such an advanced carousel rider, he doesn't even need to use his hands (:

Then we walked around and looked at the immense collection of Lego miniatures built.

The Kennedy Space Center was one of my favorites.

There was even a shuttle launch. Lots of smoke, and some noise, but sadly, nothing went into orbit.

A visit to our nation's capitol.

This big ship was my favorite.

I'm not sure what they did, but they certainly paid for it!

Svea with a Lego Chima something-or-other.
I don't know much about Chima, and I'm okay with that. But our kids like the characters.

Major Legoland highlight: trading minifigures. On our way to Legoland, Nate stopped at Target and secretly bought a couple of Star Wars sets that had a lot of minifigures. All the kids each got a few to trade (and so did Nate and I). The employees wear name tags with a minifigure on it. If you want to trade your minifig for theirs, all you have to do is ask. They have to trade, no matter how cool their minifigure is and how random and cobbled-together yours is.

So throughout the day, the kids traded and re-traded and re-traded again. They had a blast, and the people that worked there were always happy to trade. Viggo traded one of his Star Wars minifigs with an employee that was so excited to get it, the guy put it in his pocket and stuck a different one on his name tag to trade - the Star Wars one, he was keeping! We did not see a whole lot of trading going on between guests and employees, so I'm not sure how many people knew about this. But it is such a fun part of the Legoland experience. We highly recommend!

At the very end of the day, I traded my one character for what looked like a safari guy (Nate and I had a couple to trade also . . . I mean come on, why not). Lo and behold. It was Harry Potter wearing a safari hat. A really old Harry Potter (which makes it that much cooler). Viggo, I think, had tears in his eyes from sheer happiness. Being the thoughtful mom that I am, I ~~reluctantly~~ gifted Harry to him. Other traded treasures included a Viking woman, a train conductor and Santa.

Nate and Svea go on a Lego safari.

Meerkats were here too!

Back to some miniatures to look at. There was a massive Star Wars display.

I can't tell you the name of anything here other than I know those little guys are droids.
If Viggo was sitting here with me he could rattle off the name of every creature and vehicle here.

There is also ski show.
With a giant Lego ship!!

Sweltering heat; I could not believe that these guys were in these costumes for so long, and yes, they even skied dressed up in them.

The show was very fun. It's probably there because this park was once, before Lego took it over, Busch Gardens. It seems Lego inherited the ski show and kept it going.