LEGOLAND (2014) -- And Happy Holy Thursday!

If you've read my post on the Lego Movie, you are well aware that our boys have an undying love affair with all things Lego. We play Lego, watch Lego shows, carry Lego mini figures around continuously (only H-P at this point) and our dog even has copious amounts of mini heads coming out with his poop. Legoland, indeed. 

So it goes almost without saying (how would I blog about it without saying?) that we went to Legoland while on our trip. We met up with some old California friends (old in time, not age) and proceeded to have an amazing time. 

the Legoland hotel has been open for about a year. We drove down from the OC, but we will definitely be booking into it sometime this summer! There are so many cute Lego themed things to do just in the hotel. And it was not at all crowded - a big change from certain other theme parks! 

 Eventually, we made it into the actual park. The friends we met up with have 2 girls the same ages as Buck and C. They were all school friends while we lived in California. We were good friends with the entire family. 

One of the best things about L land is the amount of fun rides and activities that are available for a wide range of kids. Even H-P was able to ride most everything! 

C and H-P driving. H-P would get laughs for running into things, so he kept crashing. 

Buck and his buddy Ri-Ri were great drivers. Buck even stopped at all the stoplights. We all decided he can get his license and drive the other crazies around. 

There were a lot of rides where parents were required to ride with the shorties. 

My beautiful friend, Mich (like fish). 

Mich's hubby and daughter. He's also a friend but I can't think of a catchy name for him. "The Man", maybe? 

Mommy gets in the picture with her wild man. 

By far a favorite is the splash park. It's right in the middle of the park and there are even bathing suits for sale (of course). These are most of our kids going crazy in the water. 

Last, but not least, are the "apple fries and cream" that I've only ever seen available at Lland. They are very good and hit the spot while the kids climbed in a giant play land. Mich and The Man turned me on to them and they didn't disappoint. 

Disneyland 2014

It's a well known fact that I am a fan of Disneyland and RKZ …hates it. Rather, he hates crowds, "fake" things and anything "over the top." Disney can be all of these things at times. I counter with the fact that he never had to entertain 3 little boys of random ages while living in Southern California. Disneyland can save the tired mom with its safe clean entertainment. But, because our kids have been to D-land quite a few times, we thought we'd skip it this trip. 

Nope. 

Thankfully, our boys love Tom Sawyer's island (now Pirate's Island, I think). RKZ loves going through the tunnels and semi-escaping the crowds. Only, Disneyland is summer crowded for Spring Break. Suffocating, really. Hour long lines and crabby parents (and some of the other people in the park are bad too!) 

Still, Tom Sawyer's island/Pirateville charms. 

Also fun is that our boys are starting to take pictures with our camera. Check out these nostrils!! 

C is actually pretty good (if a little short). 

H-P and Daddy rested while Buck and C and I waited 1 hour for the Star Tours ride. If I had a dollar for all of the days I've spent in Tomorrow Land, I might be able to buy a yearly pass ;) 

Whale Watching in Newport

I have been whale watching a few times in my life -- Hawaii, Mexico and Victoria (off the coast of British Columbia). Each of these tours shares the common thread that any whales I saw were tiny blobs of black very far off in the distance. So, when my cousin, Rey, told us that she had recently been on a whale watching field trip with her son and had seen A TON of whales and dolphin, RKZ and I jumped at the chance. 

We chose Newport Landing Whale Watching mainly because it was the closest to where we were staying and because the friends coming with us had a coupon. It was a great choice. 

The day was overcast and a little rainy - a perfect day for watching whales. A girlfriend and her boys joined us for the trip. 

I honestly think that the boys were more interested in the cabin of the ship at first. 

RKZ and the boys loved checking out the view and searching for sea life 

C loved looking out for things. 

 H-P tried to figure out the binoculars

First, we saw sea lions hanging out. The boys were thrilled. 

Then, we saw a giant pod of dolphin! 

They estimated over 100 dolphin were in this pod. I couldn't capture on film how incredible it was as the dolphin swam in the wakes our boat created. It was too fun to watch! 

After about an hour, we were a bit discouraged that we hadn't seen any whales. Our boat headed back and then we were surprised by this! 

It was a wonderful trip and my first REAL whale experience. 

Where have you gone, Mrs. Robinson? Jesus loves you more than you will know

After a quick review of past posts, I am going to make a concerted effort to double check my their/there/they're use. So many mistakes!! Don't judge me teacher and editor friends!! 

Our first full day in California was spent with family, so, of course, I barely got any pictures. Too busy talking and catching up. We did get to Mass and hung out with one of our favorite Priests, Fr. Pat R at St. Norberts. We even bumped into a few friends at Mass (and after). 

It was much colder in So Cal than I expected. We did not hit the 90 degree + temps that seem to have hovered over the region. I am a classic weather jinx and bring unseasonable temps and weather wherever I go. It actually rained in a state plagued with drought almost the entire time we were there. Lucky! Here I am in my uncle G's jacket from the 70's. Such a fashionista! 

Everybody loves a fire, but a fire with wine and girl talk? The best. It was so nice to reconnect to my amazing cousins and Aunt on our first few days in Cal. 

Whale watching post tomorrow! And yes, we actually SAW whales! 

Springtime - the only pretty ring time

We went to California for a quick "visit-cation" for Spring Break. It was a very fast 5 days of fun and spending time with family. 

My Aunt K and Uncle G. I wonder how many people have stayed at their home? 

First stop? A birthday dinner for my beautiful young cousin. 

H-P is ready to go! 

Li. One of Buck's best friends (and a cousin)

We had dinner at a great restaurant on a hill. A lovely view for my cousin Nenna (left) and her bestie. 

My own cousin, Rey. A big night for us! 

"So we're movin on up!"

Packing by Grady. 

I have a hundred ideas for posts today, but zero time and inclination to get them going. Tomorrow slows down for us. In the meantime, I'm a sorting through nearly 20 giant garbage bags filled with random clothes. This is our new Master bedroom - I have 5 bags to fit into a "first year of marriage" closet. Thank goodness it's not our first year of marriage and I am able to migrate 3/4s of my stuff into RKZ's space. 

…Love…;) 

"Give a little time to me"

Because I've just started blogging again,  I completely took the week off when we went on vacation last week. Also, I didn't want to travel with my computer. It was good to have some time away and now I also have a week's worth of posts to write!! (with a few reviews thrown in - yeah!!) 

I have decided to start "tweaking" the blog a bit since I miss my old blog post titles being verses from songs - but I also like the idea of mixing it up a bit. The other tweak is that I'm going to email blast out to my family and friends to get the readership up (I'm such a pro, now - ha. ha.) 

Today, H-P had his first ophthalmology appointment. Looks like glasses for another brother!! 

H-P's iPhone shot of Mommy with a Mickey Mouse sticker. 

Eyes are blurry from drops but you can't tell with my crazy boy!!

Why I hate United Airlines part 1

Our family is traveling. I am furiously trying to figure out how to blog well on an iPad .
Sorry that you are my guinea pigs.

we've come back to so cal for spring break and it's going well (if slowly) so far.

I must put out there that I HATE United Airlines.

Why? We'll, I bought our tickets 2 months ago on-lline and there was no option to choose seats together without paying hundreds of dollars extra for the econo plus seats. Friday, I checked in our family of 5 a full twenty-four hours early and STILL no option of seats anywhere near each other. RKZ was actually not even given a seat assignment. We figured that we would be able to get it settled when we spoke to an agent. But, when we arrived at the counter, we had to print out our boarding passes at a kiosk where the agent only handed us baggage claim stickers. (On a side note, I payed $75 dollars for our bags when I first checked in on-line. It turns put that I shouldn't have had to pay for the third bag -car seats- but the agent "wasn't able to refund the money at this counter". Are you kidding me?)

When we arrived at the gate, the agent said, "I took you all off of the over-sold list and got you 2 seats in one row, two seats in another and one seat by itself." What? I proceeded to get very angry. Who should sit alone? My eight year old? My three year old? Should we have our five and eight year old sit together alone on an 8 o'clock flight? And what about the fact that we checked in 24 hours ahead?? Over-sold? What in the hell?

Of course, there was no one to complain to. The 15 year old agent was innocently confused and waiting in the customer service line would have made us miss our flight. Rkz recommended waiting for the flight attendants to sort it all out.

Long story longer - HP and I stood in the aisle until very last person was on the plane. They had double booked my seat so I didn't even have a place to sit. Buck and Coo did have to sit alone at first. But, throughout the course of the flight, two strangers, RKZ and Buck all switched seats at least once. It was only a two hour flight. Buck was in tears because he didn't want to sit with strangers and RKZ was irate.

On a positive note, the flight attendants were genuinely nice. They really tried to help us but were stymied by the airline's different policies. I will GO OUT of my way never to fly United again. But most of us fall victim to there huge amount of carriers and numbers of flights. And when I am forced to fly them again, I'll just be grateful for the flight attendants.

What to wear to your child's classroom...

I've noticed when I google "What to wear" that this option never comes up. It sounds dumb, but I get a lot of anxiety over how I should dress (as a mom) to go to a casual kids' function or to volunteer. As a teacher, of course I'd dress professionally (…mostly) but now I think there is a fine line between being stylish and becoming the "mom who is trying too hard and/or wants to pick up your husband." So, today's fashion-ish day is what I wore to my oldest's second grade classroom for his "mini-society sale" This is where he sold his pet rocks I mentioned a few posts back. 

 I am constantly being "love-attacked" by little boys, so I always opt for jeans or leggings and flat shoes. It's a little chilly here today, so I figured a shlub sweater (not sure if that's a real word) from H&M and J skinny jeans would do the trick.

My shoes are from TJ Maxx - black patent leather pointy-toed flats (Ivanka Trump, I think). I definitely rock the name tag :)

But, regardless of what I wear, this is the reason I help or visit the school anyway. Buck was very proud of his rocks and made a lot of "school money" from his friends.