At the beginning of summer the kids and I made a summer list, a bucket list per se of the things we/they wanted to do this summer... Well, top of their list of course is 'stay at a hotel.' I think they would live in one and be soo happy if we had the money. :) (I wouldn't mind the maid service either!) Well, we got to cross this one of our list. For the week of the 8th thru the 12th we actually went on a family vacation - all of us, Jeff included! Yeah, it was so much fun and we made lots of great memories. We went to Carlsbad, California and stayed at the Ramada by the Sea in Carlsbad. We were very pleased with the Hotel. It had a great pool and jacuzzi, a little mini kitchen with fridge and microwave and hot free breakfast in the morning, plus free parking (which in some cases can be up to $12 a day) I was very pleased at these things, escpecially since they saved us some money. The kids loved it! Even though there was only one bed and they all slept camping style on the floor, no one seemed to mind! Here is Rachel, on the corner by the door. 
And the other three boys are snuggled over here, Eric didn't start out there, he was in front of the bed in his sleeping bag, with a shirt on, but somehow during the night he ended up over there. And notice Bryant under chair....I love watching were kids will and how they wake up.. some times it's just hilarious! :)
I think our favorite part of the hotel was swimming! The kids are getting so good at swimming that it's a lot less work than it used to be for me, so I enjoy thaking them a little more. The spa was so nice to relax in too and we had fun talking to and meeting people from around the country. Another favorite of the kids was riding the elevator up and down! We checked out the Beach - more on that later and also went to Legoland -another on the bucket list for the summer. The first thing we rode on was the coast cruise...all of us could go on it and see a lot of mini-land..which was very cool.
Here's a look at new york.
And an octopus/see rock band.
After the cruise, we checked out the rest of mini-land and found we were back in Las Vegas! :)
Even stupacks tower!
and there's the good ol' mgm
here's a little bit of new orleans...
More new york...I must say the details put into these things are amazing!
kids check ing it all out
They even had Obama on the steps of the white house..I liked the marching band my self!
then on to Star wars- I liked this a lot, made me want to go back and re watch all the movies again...apparently this is a new exhitbit this year.. we liked it!
the millenium falcom
Here's Eric and Darth Vader! :)
look,,,,it's Vader
Chewy and the kids! and don't forget R2-D2! Did you know one of my nicknames in high school was chewbaca? (had to do with becca) another was BOB...okay off the tangent.
After miniland, the kids wanted to head over and drive the cars...so that's were we headed. they have two age ranges...3-5 and 6-12. So I took Bryant and Eric and Jeff went and waiting in line with Rachel and Andrew. I got a few pictures! He looks like a happy little driver doesn't he?!
Smile mom, can I drive the van now? NOT!
There is andrew, stopping at the intercection! Good job!
Ah, mom, do you have to take pictures of everything? yep!
It's Mount Rushmore!
And the wildlife is great - probably saves on the feeding bills!
Can't believe that is made out of legos though, so cool!
There is rachel in her car, andrew ran over to meet her.
Poor Bryant, just wasn't old enough or tall enough for most of the rides, but he didn't complain, and was happy as a clam most of the time. We found this park built out of legos to play in and Bryant made quick friends.
Then he sat in a jail cell for awhile, didn't even want to be bailed out.
And found his own car to drive...that didn't really go anywhere.
Having a snack on a $4 churro- everyone gets a bite! Yum, yum! having fun!
Rachel at the desk of the adventure club. This was one of the kids favorite places. You have to go through and find keys hidden all over in different locations.
If you see, there are wild lego animals, aligators and snakes and theres a red key up there too.
I want my mummy! I love it!
Taking a break from looking for keys for a moment....bryant taking this break seriously....having his nap!
Eric and I with the wolves in the ice caves.
Look, we found all the keys! way to go explorers! :)
Okay, this ride here is probably the only part of Legoland that I regret, waiting in what said a 45 minute line for 1 1/2 hours...to find out it was a lame small log ride...it went around twice and up and down twice...don't waste your time on that one. Eric and Andrew liked it so I shouldn't complain, but I was silently relieved when it was closed the second day and we didn't have to wait in line for Rachel (we did a lot of trading off with the kids.)
Daddy took the kids on this one, can't remember what it was called, but they liked it and got cool and wet. Although the weather there the whole week was so great! Maybe up to 80! it was so hard to come back!
Here's Bryant waiting with Daddy as me and the rest of the kids go on a ride together! What a cutie!
There's daddy over there!
Hi, mom! I'm going on the ride with dad!
Mom, and kids, on the ride - we even got to shoot with lazers! 
Rachel and the princess!
Rachel Jousting the knight..."oh no, not again." "that wasn't so bad" (family joke)
She got to go on this one twice, since there wasn't a line and loved it. the second time Eric went on too, he was okay with it.
There's my boy!
Well, that takes us up to the end of the first day at lego land. I am going to end here for now and continue with the rest of the trip on the next post! So Stay tuned! :)
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