Last week the Wassmer clan came up to hang out and finish up their Christmas shopping. Luckily I had all my shopping done so I opt’d out their 6+ hour shopping extravaganza. Since the ladies were shopping Carter, Grandpa, and I snuck out and went to a Lego show. Like last year, there were some pretty sweet Lego builds on display. There was even a real-life storm trooper! That night, Grandpa and Grandma were nice enough to babysit while us “kids” went out to dinner.
Hollywood studio’s and magic kingdom
We recently took the kids to Disney World for five short days and jammed as much fun into the trip as possible. We spent time at the pool, Downtown Disney, and the Boardwalk, but also hit up a few parks and a character breakfast.
The first park we went to was Hollywood Studios! The usual suspects, both Buzz, Woody, Lightening McQueen were there, but we also were able to get some face time with Santa Goofy! The park was adorned with holiday decor! Everyone’s favorite ride was the “toy story/buzz lightyear” game where you use lasers to get points. Julie only beat Carter by 300 points overall. Before we left, were able to see the Osborn lights show, which is made of a 3 million light display. It was really something to be seen and we are glad we were able to witness the display, as this is the last year they will be having it at the park.
The next day we went to a character breakfast at Cape May Cafe, which featured Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. It is safe to say that Emery is still not a fan of character costumes, as she did not enjoy getting too close to any of them. Carter loved taking pictures with them and giving them a high five! Both Emery and Carter agreed they love Mickey shaped waffles!
We spent the rest of that day at Magic Kingdom which also had all of its holiday decor up! Its very interesting to be sweating and taking a picture in front of a Christmas tree! Emery was in awe and really had fun all day! You could almost see the wheels turning in her hear as she was trying to figure out what she was seeing in rides like “It’s A Small World,” or “Dumbo.” Carter went on two roller coasters for the first time and he absolutely loved them! One of them was Splash Mountain, which includes a 50 foot drop into water! So fun!
Lastly, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to visit the Legoland Theme Park while we were in Florida. It is about an hour away from Disney and well worth the trip… if your kid(s) love Lego’s. Each part of the park was broken into different lego “themes,” i.e. Chima, Duplo’s, etc. As you would expect they have a lot of Lego sculptures throughout the park. Each piece had a sign that showed how many bricks it contained and how many hours it took to build. Carter got to meet one of his favorite Chima characters, Laval! He also loved being able to trade minifigures with any of the staff members. He walked away with three new minifigures. Emery loved climbing in the Duplo area! She kept going up and down the slide and didn’t want to stop!
It was such a great trip, and we can’t wait to go back!\
Each year The Goddard School closes a couple of times for faculty development day. We usually take those days off and have a long family fun weekend doing things in and around Chicago. I think we packed everything there was left to do on our summer bucket list, into one weekend!
We started by visiting Chicago. It was Emery’s first trip in the city. We went to Water Tower Place, did some shopping on Michigan Ave., and had a nice lunch at The Lux Cafe. We visited the Lego store, and Emery seemed in awe of all the people and sites to see.
While downtown Carter asked about the Laurie Children’s Hospital. Julie and I explained what the hospital was for and the kinds of patients the hospital treats.
Fast forward to Carter’s first lemonade stand…We’d been talking about having one for weeks. Carter decided he wanted to donate the proceeds from his lemonade stand to help the kids at the hospital. We are so proud of him for making that decision. The lemonade stand was a hit with the neighbors for the 34 minutes that it lasted, until a storm popped up out of no where. In that short amount of time, he raised over $30.
Then, on Saturday we went to the Brookfield Zoo. This was Emery’s second “first” for the weekend, as she had never been. She absolutely loves animals so we knew she would love the zoo, too. It was a hot day, so we had to cool off with some ice cream at the playground at the zoo.
We finished the weekend with our usually Sunday chores and a trip to the Ashbury fun fest at the pool. This is annual event, where they had a bouncy house, dunk tank, and DJ with fun prizes. Emery loves the water, and Carter is really doing great swimming on his own and holding his breath!
3 months ago we started on a journey to rebuild all of Carter’s Lego sets. Once we sorted the bricks and convinced Carter to leave everything together, the city started filling up. As you can see below things came together nicely. We still have another dozen sets, so wish us luck. Our goal is to get them together so we can get a brand new one. Its been a great family bonding experience for everyone. We really enjoy teaming together to find the right piece!
Saturday was a day to remember, we went to the LEGO Train Show in Wheaton. I thought Carter’s head was going to explode when we walked into the huge Conference room with Lego building after Lego building and trains weaving through it all. Everything from Ghostbusters to Harry Potter, from castles to Starwars. The Chicago city buildings were amazing, the Sears tower had to have been at least 6 feet.
To top it off there was a real life star trooper. Emery didn’t really know what to think but surprisingly Julie was pumped to get a picture with him.
Important reminder: Section 8 subsection 4 clearly states all Lego City vehicles must be properly parked before bedtime can begin.
We continued our Lego themed holiday break with a trip to LEGOLAND in Schaumburg. They had some pretty neat exhibits and a “4D” movie that was pretty entertaining. Carter’s favorite area was the build center where you sit and build whatever you want.
