Legoland, Part 2: The recap

Ok, Tom fell asleep at 8:30 last night, and I wasn't long for the world after him. Seven hours at Legoland on a gorgeously sunny day will take you down, people. Awesomely but truly. Forewarned is forearmed. As such, I'm gonna recap our wonderful visit with a bunch of tips that helped us max out the experience in the most strategic way possible. Tips

• Don't buy your admission tickets in advance! Rather, if you're in the area a while before you go, look for coupons  (McDonald's, local PTA groups, etc) or if you have friends or family nearby, have them do that for you. Amy scored us two fabulous BOGO coupons, so we saved a full HALF off the rack rate ticket price. Huge! Also, you can go in and out of the park during the day if you wish. Just be sure to get your hand stamped before leaving the first time.
• On a related note, do arrive early, like right when the gates open at 9. Not only will you get a great parking spot in the regular rate lot ($15 versus the $25 preferred lot which is literally next to it), but also you'll be able to walk around, familiarizing yourself with the park in person and getting in line at the first area/ride in which you're interested.
• On that note, it's worth looking at a Legoland map online before you go to plan out which areas you most want to visit. You can do the whole park in a day (excluding the Waterpark and the Aquarium), but you will tire towards the end, so it's good to have a strategy of sorts.
• Everyone who works at Legoland is SO nice so don't hesitate to ask for assistance or guidance at any time. If you don't see an employee, you can email or text: Help@LEGOLAND.com and someone will come assist you. Also, you'll notice that park employees wear minifigures on their nametags. If you buy a minifigure ($3.49) in one of the gift shops, you can, if you're not thrilled with yours, ask any employee whose minifigure you like to switch with you. This is fun for the kids and hey, what a great way to practice observation skills. There are also minifigure trading stations throughout the park.
• You can bring in your own food and drinks (though no coolers). I recommend doing this because the Legoland food is overpriced and not very good. At least bring a big water bottle, some snacks and some wet wipes or the like. You'll be glad you did.
• Bring: sunglasses; sunscreen; sunhats or caps for the kiddos (I hate hats but if you like wearing them, it's not a bad idea at the park); and a camera.
• Wear: comfortable, sweat/water-resistant clothing that breathes well AND is easy enough to remove so that you can quickly pee if need be. No one wants to spend time in a crowded bathroom, mashed in a tiny small, trying to get a onesie or some bizarrely fastened outfit off, of yourself or your kids.
• In the Imagination Zone, the Lego Mindstorms exhibit offers a daily class. I think it's called Master Tutorial or something like that; they run about 45 minutes. Anyway, you have to sign up (which is all the more reason to go to the park early) and you have to be in 3rd grade and/or 9 years old (we enthusiastically white-lied about this with Jack since he's been Lego engineering for 80% of his life; hey, in this calendar year he'll be in 3rd grade). Jack and Tom enrolled in yesterday's class which involved programming robots. Each team got a computer and a robot and had to program the bot to retrieve the treasure from a clamshell. There were obstacles and traps all along the way. Both T and J raved about the class as one of the best parts of the day.

Favorite Rides/Activities

Imagination Zone

• Lego Technic Coaster
• Aquazone Wave Racers

Land of Adventure

• Beetle Bounce (this is so much fun)
• Lost Kingdom Adventure (family laser tag while riding in a car through a "kingdom")
• Pharoah's Revenge (for kids 12 and under; think clean and cooler Chuck E Cheese: plastic balls; cannons; stairs; tubes; generalized mayhem)
• Dune Raiders (you get a big chunk of cloth and race down wavy slides)

Fun Town

• Fun Town Police and Fire Academy (great family activity; you get in a fire truck and must pump and steer to drive your truck down to a "burning building." Then you have to work together to put out a fire, get back in your truck and pump and steer back. The pumping really takes some elbow grease so get ready and enjoy your cardio.
• We were on our way to the Sky Cruiser (you pedal cars around a track well above ground) when it encountered technical difficulties. This ride looked neat and I wish we'd gotten to do it.

Castle Hill was OK. I wanted to ride The Dragon coaster but no one wanted to wait in line. CH is good for smaller kids. The Joust was cute but the kids wouldn't have done it twice.

We did not do Dino Island or Duplo Village as the kids have always had an odd aversion to Duplo blocks. Pirate Shores looked fun but you're definitely going to get wet (there are family dryers which are hilarious to watch; $5) and we didn't feel like it.

Do Not Miss

Miniland USA is so extremely cool! In addition to an extensive, mind-boggling complex and cool Star Wars miniland (complete with all the major battle scenes or locales -Hoth, Naboo, Endor, etc- there are also many of the most popular SW characters. Then you've got an enormous array of "towns" to walk through and famous icons to see; NYC; Las Vegas; New Orleans; DC; the Taj Mahal; the Sydney Opera House... They're really magnificent, have incredible detail, moving parts, sounds, etc. We spent a lot of time in Miniland!

Last Bits

The gift shop Legos are NOT marked up so if you or your child really loves one, don't fear you're being ripped off. Channel your inner child and have a blast!.

Strawberry picking, sunny nap, burned thighs, tamales

When was the last time you got to fall asleep naturally, an afternoon nap unexpected but delightful, all the more because you're outside on a comfortable chaise lounge, a great book in hand, the sun shining down on your bare legs, a soft breeze blowing, and the clouds slowly swirling above as if you're looking through a giant kaleidoscope? It's been a long damn time for me, and though I now have sunburned thighs and a scarlet neck plus the attendant silly "tan" lines, it was unbelievably, completely worth it. You see, it'd really been quite a big day beforehand.

I awoke this morning from a very dark, macabre dream about the parents association I'm involved in at the boys school. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it was totally strange to watch many exceedingly lovely people I know acting in decidedly evil ways. Also I thought the palm tree scratching at my window screen was Oliver sneaking in along the floor to try and scare the pants off me. Clearly I was in a seriously somnolent state.

The forecast suggested afternoon rain so we decided to head right out and into the U-Pick strawberry fields just around the corner from our rental. It was totally expensive but honestly a ton of fun, and the berries are terrific. It wasn't long after picking that we made biscuits and whipped cream for some shortcake. But that was after a saunter through Encinitas where Ol saw a barber pole and finally agreed to a trim, and we happened across what looked like an incredible promising taco stand called Haggo's (terrible name).

Ol sat regally on the barber's throne and emerged shorn and proud. He then tried to convince us to buy him a large shark tooth necklace but we put our foot down there. At Haggo's, Jack ordered the chicken tacos and definitely chose most wisely. His were quite good but we were disappointed; the carne asada tacos were totally overpowered by a good but very strong blue cheese, not at all what I would ever expect and definitely not quite right in a corn tortilla. As well, the fish tacos needed a zip; we added salt, lime and avocado fairly liberally but those were only short-term fixes. We'd forgotten about lunch before we even left the parking lot. Poo.

We did encounter some spectacular flowers, succulents and generally striking foliage all around. Aren't these gorgeous?

 Now, lest you get the idea that the trip has been completely perfect, please disabuse yourself of that idea. I say that only because so many people get so stressed out about the seeming perfection of "everyone else's life" as they appear on Facebook or the like. I cannot tell you how many times I've both heard and read about the stress in comparison many people suffer when they see nothing but smiling faces, perfect poses, happiest-ever updates.

People, that is so NOT true for most everyone out there. And so you should know that J very nearly talked my head into spontaneous combustion before 1p today, Ol has developed a new tic (his second though the first was closely related) which is a fake cough every 2.5 seconds AND when we woke him from a nap just before 3, he undressed, would not redress and cried, naked, for a good half hour or 45 minutes because he did not want to go to the beach but also did not know what he wanted to do.

I finally force-dressed him and dragged him to a farmers market back in Encinitas while T and J went to the beach. Being that I was sunburned by this point and looked like Medusa because my hair doesn't do beach-sexy like I wish it did, I donned an enormous sunhat and sunglasses and didn't take them off once until we got home; then I immediately took a shower, futilely blow-dried and then flat-ironed my hair and slathered so much Solarcaine on myself that you'd have thought I'd OD. Alas, there is not as much Lidocaine in there as one might wish.

He recovered while at the market, asked for a baguette which he really tore into and ate 75% of, and I was off my head when I happened across a tamale stand that, I hope, will not disappoint when we chow down on them at dinner tonight- these gals and their tamales and salsas looked authentic, and I am psyched. I LOVE good tamales, LOVE them.

It is spectacularly gorgeous here, and I am so grateful to be outta DC. It's still well below freezing, and my pals there are sick of the snow that continues to fall. Y'all have my every sympathy. Hopefully we'll bring some of this California spring back with us! Off to steam tamales!

Carlsbad: outlets, more beach, Amy

We made our way to Carlsbad by way of the outlet mall; hey, we couldn't check in until 3 and if you've ever read Em-i-lis, you know how I love my fashion even though I spend 90% of my time in PJs or clothes like them. If I were of insane wealth I would shop and dress all the time. The fabrics, the cuts, the classics, the edgy. Gah!!!  And today did I score today or what!?!?!??!? Oh my god people. I was in a full-on, hardcore, otherworldly, crack-type reverie for a good half hour over a pair of Isabel Marant heels and a Barney's skirt I snapped up for absurdly good prices. T thinks the shoes are ludicrous and verging on ugly, but I know the truth and that is that they rock. ROCK!! Then to Target where oddly enough, J, O and I all had gift cards. I bought Wild by Cheryl Strayed, J purchased Battleship, and Ol became so overwhelmed in the Star Wars section that he dissolved into tears and decided he had to wait until another time to spend his credit. Poor darling, he was positively flummoxed as to whether an Anakin to Darth figure with a color-change light saber and sound effects was worth the entirety of his card. It took every parenting skill T and I had to successfully leave the store with an intact Ol. Fortunately we've heard no mention of the toy since. We have played Battleship about 85 times!

Amy brought her daughter and the baby up to visit us, and I nearly cried because I remember when Emma was born, nearly seven years ago, and I've longed to meet her since. She is beautiful and cool, and she and Jack were thick as thieves in the ocean before she and Ol bonded in a bubble bath afterwards. Amy and I just kept looking at each other like, "Oh isn't this WONderful? And how amazing would it be if we could all spend more time together!" I hereby declare San Diego as our annual Spring Break spot as an idea!

Look at this hole I dug, and look at these happy kids!