Legoland's Holly Jolly Block Party

A few months ago we made plans with my folks and Wen and the kids to go to Legoland Dec 22nd. The kids would be out of school, and it would be early enough in the week we'd have time to go, plus it would be the beginning of the "Holly Jolly Block Party" at Legoland.

Legoland has become a very special place for our boys. They had never been until last year, when Mike took each of them alone for some Daddy & Son time for their birthdays. It was like they had gone to the North Pole. After much begging for return trips I found an amazing deal for annual passes for the kids on Ebay so now they and Mike are annual passholders. Legoland is really cool because they send out coupons for "bring a friend" days for the annual passholders. Sometimes it's for free, sometimes we have to pay a small amount, like $15 to get me in. During Nov & Dec Legoland gave our family 4 free "bring a friend for free" tickets. We could only use 3 of them (only 3 of us had annual passes) so we decided that we'd get me, and my folks in, leaving poor Wen and her kiddos to use their own coupon & free ticket. (Sorry Wen!)

We've been having such cold weather (for So. Calif, 40 degree nights and 50 degree days are cold!) that it didn't surprise us when the 22nd was slated for rain. Lots of rain. Soo, we changed the date, and went on the 23rd. Yes, the day before Christmas Eve. Sounds like madness, I know.

Despite the fact that I left the coupons at home (but I remembered about a mile from home) we all had a great time. My folks and Wen's family had never been before, so we gave them the grand tour, went on a few rides, saw the Lost Temple show, and spent some time seeing the Miniland USA area. That, hands down, is my favorite part. I do have to give Legoland credit for giving the kids a play area while the grownups stand in line for rides. (Mr W is happily building while Mike waits for a "Egypt ride". )

At one point we took the Legoland tour and Mike was able to get us all "Legoland HolidayBlock Party 2008" bricks for free. Love the free stuff and the man that can get it!

As the day progressed it would suddenly get really cold, then warm up again. We ate our packed in lunch (much to Mr. W's annoyance) and were ready to try driving at the volvo kids driving ride. It's like Autopia, but without the rail to keep you on the track. Our boys looooove it. My folks and Wen had decided it was time to go about 4pm, so we were going to walk them to the main gift shop then go use the last hour to see how much we could get the kids on. As we were walking it began to sprinkle. Then rain. Then it really opened up! Everyone in the area all ran to the gift shop we'd been headed to. It was like Heavenly Father had given us the gift of being together for the day, and had held off the rain until we were almost to the gift shop and ready to go. So we quickly ducked into the shop, got a grab bag of legos gifted to us plus a couple of little sets (Thank you!!) and hugged the family goodbye. After they left we debated on if the rain was going to let up or if we should just go. There was a pretty bell choir singing and ringing bells nearby so we enjoyed the music and left. All in all, a really nice day.