The Cronin family's first trip: LegoLand, Germany!
"We left our house at nap time and had a peaceful hour-and-a-half drive there, as planned," said Shamus.
When they arrived at LegoLand, Jay and Ben were really excited about pointing out everything in the Lego city of Ninjago.
The older boys were big enough to get their driver's license after a quick driving test.
"I can drive cars!" said Ben, after somehow still receiving a permit after purposefully causing an accident with his brother that turned into a 3-car pile up. "Ba-ha-ha-ha!" said the other kid, as he managed to maneuver his Lego car out of the wreckage. He received a hard-earned driver's license that day, thanks to Ben.
Although Zan was a bit too small to get a license, he still got a pretend joyride on the lego cars permanently parked nearby.
Next, they ventured into the galaxy to find... General Grievous! "This is my Grievous face, mom."
Then it was time to take a break from all this fun and play on a playground!
"Up! Up! MAAAHHH-AAAHHHMMM!! UP!" said Zan to his mom, about the helicopter that went up and down every time someone pushed the button.
That night, they went to a nice hotel in Ulm and swam in the indoor pool. "Ow!" said Shamus, as he wrestled the boys to the wall. "Can you swim the whole length of the pool, Jay?" said Karen as her son made it to the wall from over halfway across. "Yeah! Sure!" and off he went, all the way to the other side. "Hey mom, I can swim the short way across! Watch!" said Ben, and he did.
Shamus discovered the magic button on the wall in the pool!
The next morning, they went back to LegoLand. In Miniland, there is a wonderful collection of Star Wars scenes.
Zan was just as excited about Star Wars as his big brothers were.
Jay and Ben drove through the jungle and saw many animals - including lions, elephants, and flamingos to name a few! Zan rode with Shamus while Karen led the way with her camera.
Ben and Jay paddled through a prehistoric canal and saw several dinosaurs! "Look, mom, it's the one that has plates on it!" said Ben about the Lego stegosaurus.
The boys had fun climbing after going on a spooky ride through a tomb where they were given special guns to defend themselves from mummies and skeletons.
"Looks like I can't ride this one!" said Karen, about the pullied drop swing ride.
"Go dad! All the way to the top!" said Ben
"Aaaaagghhh!"
"Hi little wife!"
"Let's learn about pulleys here. Try pulling that one." said Shamus, whose engineering mind couldn't resist a teaching moment. "I really don't like teaching." says Shamus. And yet, he couldn't resist here. "Too heavy, dad." "Count the loops of rope on that one. Now try this one."
"Ugh ugh ugh!!" said Zan. "Sure, Zan, I'll help you pull this one. Arrgghhh!"
The next ride was a bird's eye view of LegoLand. "It's a good thing that Zan grew in the last month. He was definitely too short to go on any of the rides a month ago!" said Karen, after Zan got measured
again before being allowed to board the ride.
Shamus, Jay and Ben all went for a tour on rails of LegoLand.
Zan ate a cookie by a dragon.
There is a great play area near the "test" ride where kids were making vehicles and racing them. Zan and Karen played with the gears.
After a nice Bavarian lunch of pork sausage, Zan got to sit on a pig.
Karen was so impressed with the design of the bathroom doors that she took a photo. "My kids can't peek through the cracks here! It's great!" The door was wider than the opening. "Leave it to Lego to design the best bathroom doors ever. Unfortunately, this is the only place I've ever seen such a great design in use. I guess I still have to teach our kids to look for feet
under the door, not faces through the cracks next to the door, for all those times we use a public bathroom and we're not at LegoLand."
Back in MiniLand, Ben and Karen fought off Darth Vader.
"Aaaaaaagh!!!!"said Ben. "Wooooohoooooo!!" said Karen.
While Jay and Ben went to take another driver's test, Zan and Karen went back to Zan's favorite place: Miniland! They saw Berlin and Frankfurt and Zan's most favorite things were the boats driving along the water and the amusement park rides in Hamburg.
The signage for the restrooms was very helpful!
There was a show in the afternoon that was pretty fun for everyone. There was magical-super-fast-clothing-changing, juggling while riding a unicycle, juggling fire, spinning plates, and fun music.
After grabbing dinner at McDonald's and playing on the playground there, it was time to get cozy for the ride home. Parking the car, opening and closing the door, and turning on the lights had no effect on these sleepy boys. Who wouldn't be exhausted after that adventure?
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