Family Vacation 2018: Florida and Legoland! 6/17 - 6/23/2018

Sunday June 17, 2018:

I got up early to get us all ready to go on our big trip.  It was a long drive and Doug did it all.  We stopped a few times but overall we made good time.  It rained a bit while driving.  We pulled into the World Mark around 11:30 eastern time but didn't find our room for another 30 minutes.  They gave us the wrong directions.  We finally got everyone all settled and Doug and I went to bed past 1:00, it was a long day.  

Monday June 18th: sleeping in on vacation is great!  We let the kids watch way too many cartoons, but that's ok.  I organized the kitchen and went to the grocery store for the things that I didn't bring from home.  We went to the water park that belongs to the resort where we were staying.  It had a lazy rive and one slide, a kiddie play area, and a big pool.  They also had a large outdoor chess set, ping-pong table, and pool table.  We had a brief afternoon thunderstorm but we waited it out and then had the lazy river almost to ourselves.  It was a fun evening.  

Tuesday June 19th: LegoLand!  We got there early and got onto the first rides without any line.  The kids like the little rides and the ones that just roll on a track and you shoot at things.  

There were lots of fun lego creations throughout the park. 

Ninjago World was fun!

 The lines started to get long in the afternoon, we waited for a long time to ride the boats.

 We had lunch at a diner themed place.

All the kids loved the driving school ride.  They could go where they wanted to and had to obey the traffic laws.  I only saw a few violations. :)

This Banyan tree was my favorite part of Legoland.  Truely awe inspiring.  It was planted in 1939 and has grown to be one of the largest in the world.  The tree produces runners from the branches that reach down and form a new trunk and root system to support the branch, allowing the tree to grow to an enormous size.  It was amazing!

We signed the kids up for a Lego programming class.  They built little robots that could go forward, make a sound, and make the light change colors. 

It was pretty hot and we were done by late afternoon.  Walking through the mini-land was cool though. 

Our resort was on the edge of a golf course.  The kids had a blast running up and down the hills.  We need hills in Texas! 

 Wednesday June 20th: We drove to the beach.  We decided to go to the Atlantic side.  It was the same distance either way.  We found a public beach that had bathrooms and a rinse off shower.  We at our lunch at some picnic benches and then had some fun in the sand and waves.  The boys, Doug and I did some body surfing.  Chris had to stop because he kept swallowing too much water and wasn't feeling well.  No one liked getting the water in their eyes or mouth, but it was still fun. 

 I made a sea turtle.  Everyone helped me to collect shells for the turtle's shell.

 

 It was a slow drive home.  There is some bad traffic in Florida due to small roads.  It was frustrating and we picked up our Dominoes pizza quick late because it took us so long to get back.

Thursday June 21st.  Legoland part 2.  We decided to go to the park again.  We didn't get to all of the rides the first day and the kids really liked playing the lego video games and building stations inside.  We knew it was going to rain so we tried to do all of the outdoor stuff first.  It started to rain about lunch time and all of the outdoor rides closed down.  We were able to play inside and watch some of the movie shows while we waited for the storm to pass. 

 We had the kids do another programming class.  This one was more advanced and the girls paired up with Doug and I.  We had to program an already made robot to move and transport things to complete our Space Mission.  The kids had a fun time.

 We spent a good hour making cars and racing them down the ramps.  All of the boys made some pretty good ones. 

 OH no, the girls are driving!

The kids had been saving their money and so before we left they got to buy their souvenirs.  Chris and girls bought Lego Mugs.  Damon and Tyler got playing cards.  The girls also bought some key chains.  I of course got a Christmas tree ornament. 

 Friday June 22nd.  We just chilled at our place.  It rained a bit on and off.  We swam when we could and went to the water park again.  It was closed because of thunder when we got there, but we only waited for a few minutes and it opened up and again we had the place to ourselves.

We also checked out the other pools in the resort, there were a lot of them.  There was even one on top of the main hotel on the 11th floor.  Another had a Foosball table, pool table, and arcade place.

 We played a lot of games throughout the week, with a couple of great games of Settlers.

 Saturday June 23.  I wanted to do something that would represent Florida so we went miniature golfing at a place that had alligators.  It was fun to see the gators and play, but it was sooo hot.  By the end the kids didn't want to play anymore, they just sat down and drank water.  Afterwards we went into the closest souvenir shop to cool off, and of course they bought a few more things. :)

Jenna lost her tooth the day before we left.  It was a week after Kaylee lost hers, the same tooth. Now they have matching smiles. 

We drove home on Sunday - we hit some bad traffic.  At one point they closed down I-10 and we turned around to find a different route around.  It was a great trip with lots of fun memories.