Happiness Is...

A Few of His Favorite things...Legos

Collin loves Legos.  Last Christmas he wrote Legos on his Christmas list 3 times.  It's his favorite thing to play with.  So we decided to take him to Legoland.  That's actually what we built the vacation around.  It just so happens that Legoland is conveniently located between San Diego and Hollywood, so it worked perfectly.  

Legoland has some rides but they're really made for smaller children.  But the creations they have that are made out of Legos are amazing.  We saw Harry Potter, Hagrid, Darth Vader, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Bob the Builder, as well as Las Vegas, Hollywood, San Francisco, and New York, just to name a few.  The coolest part about Legoland for us was seeing what people can build out of Legos.  I can't even imagine where one would start with those creations, but you can tell exactly what they're meant to be. 

I'm glad we went when we did, because even though the rides didn't thrill my kids, they were able to appreciate all of it.  And Collin loved it.  He and Brendan bought a Star Wars Lego set and had it put together within ours after we returned home.  

I took about 200 pictures at Legoland, so it's very hard to pick just a few to post.  

Brendan and Collin on the airplane ride.

Kaelin driving a boat.  These boats aren't on a track...you're actually driving them.

San Francisco.

New York City.

Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas.

Chewbacca and the kids.

Kaelin and me.

At the entrance to Legoland.  

The San Diego Zoo

We flew into San Diego around lunchtime, and, after we ate, headed for the zoo.  It's a great zoo, but a lot of the animals were resting in the shade, so we didn't see them.  You see, California was experiencing a heat wave, and it was almost 90 degrees while we were there.  So the animals headed for cooler places.  The kids got to see the animals they claimed were there favorites.  Kaelin's was a snow leopard.  I honestly don't remember what the boys wanted to see, except I think giraffes and bears are always exciting for kids.  But everybody was happy and when we had seen it all, we headed for the hotel pool.  

I've posted some pictures from the first day of our vacation.  It was July 4th, so we finished our day by watching fireworks.  

Kaelin and Collin waiting for the train ride at the zoo.

Angie, this one's for you.  And I have about 50 more pictures of flamingos because Kaelin kept telling me that flamingos are your favorite animal and we need to take some pictures for Ms. Angie.  

I have no idea what my sons are doing...I'm just glad the snake that Kaelin has her hand on is made of stone.

Some type of giant cactus.

I thought the hippo statue was cute so I made the kids sit in front of it so I could take a picture.

Every family should have their picture taken in front of a bush shaped like an elephant.

This is where we watched the fireworks.  It's only the second time in my life that I've worn a jacket to watch the fireworks.  The other time was 6 years ago when Cole and I were in Lake Tahoe for our 10th anniversary.  

Friends are Friends Forever...Even If 1 of Them Moves to California

That's right.  I just quoted a Michael W. Smith song (sort of).  In this situation it's fitting.  

I'm continuing on with posting pictures from our vacation, and one of my favorite things that we did was to visit my sweet friend, Jen, and her precious family.  Jen and I met 9 years ago when I was doing home daycare and she called me to see if I could watch Ben.  Ben is 2 months older than Kaelin and it worked out really well.  Ben and Kaelin grew up together for their first couple of years and Jen and I got to be really close friends.  She moved to California 7 years (I think I have the number right) ago and I've missed her ever since.  She's now married to a wonderful man and has 4 beautiful kids.  I  had never met 2 of her kiddos before, so it was a lot of fun for me to get to see her baby girls.  

Jen and Mark invited us over for burgers.  It was one of my favorite days of our vacation because (a) I got to see Jen!!  and (b) it was so nice to relax for a while and not eat in a restaurant.  We're so grateful for the time we got to spend with our friends.  Jen, I still miss you, but hopefully I will see you again very soon...like when someone we both know turns 40.  ; )

Mykenna and Kaelin...such pretty girls!  They could almost be sisters!

I got to meet Megan!  Enjoyed holding a baby again, but, no, it didn't make me want another one!!

The boys eating their burgers.

Beautiful, beautiful Megan.  Gorgeous blue eyes!!

Kaelin wanted to be in a picture with Megan.

Cole and Morgan playing ball.

Morgan really likes the pink ball!  So cute!

Ben and Kaelin.  Kaelin enjoys telling people she got to see her first best friend.  : )

The dads and Megan.

Brendan and Ben...I love Ben's GQ pose!

Jen and Megan.

All the kiddos.

And Jen and me. 

The Surf, The Sand, The Pictures

The strangest thing just happened.  I had typed a couple of paragraphs, then I uploaded 2 pictures, and now the paragraphs are gone.  Weird.  Gotta love technology - especially when it doesn't work.

Anyway, the point of this blogpost is to share some of my favorite pics from our vacation that we took almost a month ago.  I had planned to blog each night, but slow hotel internet connections prevented me from doing that.  Below you will find my favorite pics from our time spent at the beach in and around San Diego.  The picture of Brendan and Collin is one of my all-time favorites of those 2.  You can see the mischief written all over Collin's face.