Call Us Crazy: Celebrating 5 at Legoland!

Geoffrey's birthday lands in a particularly busy season, and this year was no exception when we planned to move to another state in the same month! Rather than go through the extra workload of planning a party for him, we found it fitting to surprise the kids with a weekend trip down to Legoland, seeing as we had never been before and it was our lego-loving son's birthday!

We hosted a small gathering for birthday cake and presents with some of our best friends, which brought laughter, sugar, beautiful chaos and birthday fun! It was the perfect decoy into making Geoffrey believe this was his birthday celebration (which it definitely was a part, but the big surprise was still to come!).

Our big 5 year old!

He wasn't excited at all.

Checking out his new Lite Brite with Hannah.

Typical Micah and Maddie.

Can you feel the energy that was pulsating in this room that night??

Brant and I packed the car after the kids went to bed, and tried to sleep well, despite our giddy-ness over what the morning was going to bring! We managed to plug through breakfast acting normal, with the usual questions from our kids, "What are we going to do today? I hope we do something other than stay around the house!" Much to their annoyance, we told them we were heading out to the Farmer's Market, and it was time to get in the car. We had placed a wrapped gift with a card on Geoffrey's seat, which contained The Lego Movie and our tickets into the park. The kids were beside themselves hearing we were heading to Legoland to the point that Maddie was brought to tears! I'd say that it was a successful surprise!

We made it!

The entire park is not made out of Legos, much to my disappointment, but it was incredibly clever and well planned for family fun!

Chillin' with the Lego Friends

Fun to see some Christmas cheer throughout the park!

We went on an "animal safari" ride to kick things off, taking us along a tour through the jungle.

That is one happy kid, still amazed at where we were for his birthday!

All made out of Legos - I don't even want to know how long that took!

And, of course, a dinosaur.

A snowman! And no idea just how much real snow we would be living in, within a few short weeks!

The coolest ride for all of us was the Ninjago ride, which catapulted Geoffrey's deep interest in the Ninjago stories and Lego sets.

Took this picture from the screen, and was immediately scolded by a worker, telling me I can only buy the photos...oops. Clearly, I am too trained in my Disneyland ways, where I snap photos of our rides all.the.time!

Not sure what character this is, but it was cool looking!

Going on a boat tour!

You guessed it: these are all made out of Legos! So cool!

We finally came across a roller coaster, which made this thrill-ride-seeking mama quite happy! It was called The Dragon, and the coolest part was the "story" inside the castle, as everything was made of legos and very impressive. The ride itself was a lot of fun, but not quite up to my high standards, where I unfortunately compare every roller coaster to California Screamin'. I know it, I'm such a snob.

I snapped two photos of us on the ride, before I was sternly asked to not take any pictures and put my camera away. At least I got two!

I can't possibly describe every single picture, as they all are fun snapshots of such a creative theme park. So, I won't!

That face gets me every time. Our big 5 year old!!

Of course there was a Lego-Santa!

Maddie, with "the real" Lego Friends!

I just don't know. But the kids thought standing with a blue Lego character was pretty sweet!

I'm pretty sure our kids went on this one ride well over a dozen times in a row - no joke! There was never a line, and the crew member let them stay in their seats and ride it over, and over, and over, and over...

Legoland does not stay open very late, and day 1 at the park came to an end around dinner time. We had a second surprise in store for our kids, as we met up with our dear friends, Brian, Poornima, Deven and Anya at the Olive Garden for dinner. All 4 kids had no idea we were meeting up, and the reunion in the restaurant was loud and priceless. I'm so bummed I didn't snap a picture! After dinner, we all went back to Poornima's parents' house, where they graciously hosted us for the night, complete with birthday cake for Geoffrey!

Pretty sure this boy had no wishes to make -- it was a pretty fantastic birthday!

And as if that all wasn't enough, all 4 kids cozied up in their sleeping bags for their first ever sleepover together! Best.day.EVER!!

Life just doesn't get much better; except it would the following morning --- returning to Legoland with our friends! Following the pattern of our trip thus far, we kept that information a secret from all the kids until the next morning, when they found out they'd accompany one another to the theme park!

Pals from the beginning. Literally!

We tried, but the sun was just too bright!

The day moved forward similar to the previous day, where we repeated our favorite attractions and found a few new ones. It was extra special to share the memories with such close friends, particularly this close to when we'd be moving away.