[happyramblings]: LEGOLAND California!

You would think that the highlight of a trip to Southern California would be Disneyland. But I seem to have a ton more pictures from LEGOLAND. So get ready for a photo tour of this cool little park. Dad told me recently that I have a nervous trigger finger ... runs in the family! Here are the kids at the front gate.

We went to LEGOLAND on the 4th of July and we were immediately greeted by a very tall Uncle Sam.

Then the kids spotted some Star Wars stuff so they had to go investigate. They thought it was so cool that all of this stuff was made out of LEGO bricks. Someone must have A LOT of time on his hands to make these things. :-)

Next we ran across a very smart man. I thought maybe he would rub off on the kids if they stood by him.

And then we entered Miniland USA ... so cool! This section of the park includes reproductions of seven areas of the United States, all constructed with 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale. The areas included are Washington D.C., New Orleans, New York City, Florida, San Francisco, the Southern California coastline and Las Vegas. We began our tour in Las Vegas. Marty and I got married in Vegas so we had to get our picture taken by the Luxor which is where we stayed when we got married. (I also included a picture of us in August 1995 when we were really in Vegas.)

More Vegas ... I took these for you, Mom!

New York City...

Southern California...

Washington D.C. ...

San Francisco...

New Orleans...

And then we took a boat tour and saw a few other landmarks of the world. I'm hoping you will know what these things are without me having to tell you. (Or did you sleep through that class in high school?)

And then it was finally time for a few rides. The rides weren't really big or anything but the kids had fun. This first one was fun because Marty and I got to use a water bomb and try to get the kids wet when they passed by.

And then the kids pissed us off so we decided to cut their heads off. Ok ... maybe that isn't quite what's going on here but I needed to write something about these pictures.

Then we ran into Elvis and Marilyn. Marty was excited to get his picture with The King! And my obsession with kissing LEGO people began! Some things are just hard to explain.

And then the wait began ... the kids wanted to drive these little LEGO boats. Seemed like a good idea. It was NOT a good idea. The line didn't even look long but somehow it took like an hour for the kids to get on a boat. But, everything was fine and they had their little boat ride. Nick was excited. He got in the boat last but somehow finished the ride first. "Dad lets me drive slow around the marina." (Come on ... haven't you seen Rainman?)

Then we all got in the shark's mouth. And the kids sat on the captain's lap.

And like I said before ... we visited LEGOLAND on the 4th of July. So, we had to get a picture with the giant American flag made out of LEGOs. Read all about this flag under the picture.

Red, White & BOOM!

World's Largest United States Flag Made Entirely of LEGO Bricks

This American flag was built by visitors to LEGOLAND California on the Fourth of July, 2006. The flag measures over 6 feet high and 12 feet long. Each stripe contains 16 rows of 572 bricks. The entire flag contains approximately 125,000 LEGO elements and weighs about 360 pounds. Although none of the LEGO elements are glued together, the interlocking structure is reinforced with steel pipe to resist wind and ground movement.

And then the boys had to say hi to Indiana Jones.

And we found another ride. This one was pretty neat. The kids had to pull themselves up. It was a race to the top. I don't remember who won ... or at least I'm not saying!

While the kids rode some boat ride, Marty and I made out with a pirate. That picture of Marty is one of my favorites from the whole trip. He could NOT keep a straight face. He was laughing so hard and looking around because he was worried someone would see. I was like, "You don't know anyone here and so what if you did!"

And the sun finally set on our day of fun at LEGOLAND. They shot off fireworks over Miniland USA. But we watched from the parking lot. We didn't want to get stuck in all of the traffic! Gotta be practical sometimes!

If you ever go to Southern California, I highly recommend LEGOLAND. It was really neat. The rides are geared toward small children but the displays are great for all ages.

I've been thinking about the music for this post and I keep coming back to Pink Floyd: Another Brick in the Wall