Summer Fun Day--Legoland

This was my most adventurous attempt at Summer Fun Day.  My kids LOVE legos. Actually that's an understatement.  I think that if they had to choose between going to Disney World and giving up their legos, they'd choose the legos.  The majority of their days are spent building, creating, imagining worlds and then playing in those worlds with legos.  So what did I do? I took them to Legoland Chicago last Thursday.  Yes, just me.  Me and three kids.  Crazy?  Maybe.  Worth it?  Definitely.

Downtown Chicago

We used to go to Navy Pier a lot with Nate when he was a baby and we lived in Chicago.

Indiana Jones 

Noah wasn't so sure about the black light.

Noah was such a trooper.

Ferrarri

Look at Nate.  He's stealing Santa's bag.

I'm so happy that we went--I think that I won the coolest mom ever competition.  Noah was such a trooper on the trip.  He slept the ENTIRE way down, not even a peep.  We had lunch at Jamba Juice and Noah nursed while we drank our smoothies.  Then we went into Legoland and he had a really fun time.  He loved looking at the lights and displays.  He liked the Lego movies.  When he started to fuss in his stroller, I put him in the carrier and he fell back to sleep.  Once we finished in Legoland, we went out to the car where I fed him again.  Then we headed into Ikea for a quick look around.  He slept all through Ikea, too.  But then I guess that he'd had enough.

It was mostly my fault, the disaster that ensued.  Stupid me, leaving Chicago at 5:30PM.  The interstate was a parking lot (one of the main reasons we moved form Chicago).  I had planned to drive a little ways toward home, stop for dinner and to feed Noah again. But that little way ended up taking almost an hour because of the traffic and construction.  There was almost continuous construction from Chicago to Madison on I-90.  So we finally found a McDonald's, went through the drive-thru and ate in the car while I nursed Noah.  He fell asleep, so I was optimistic that the rest of the drive home would be peaceful, as he had already cried for most of that first hour.  But by the time we hit the road again, it was almost 7PM, i.e. Fussy Time.  And just being out of the state/in the car does not mean Fussy Time isn't going to happen.  Noah screamed and screamed and screamed.  I finally stopped in Janesville to try to feed him/soothe him again, but he was just as mad once he got back into his seat.  So I decided that we were just going to have to get home as fast as we could, even though he was so upset.  I honestly don't think I've ever sped that much in my life.  But with the construction, traffic and stops, it took us until 9PM to get home.  That was a 2 hour drive down and a 3 1/2 hour trip home.  Poor Noah.

Despite the disastrous return trip, I'm very glad that we went.  Nate said that his life dream had come true that day.  Abbie said that half her dream had come true.  (I bought them each a lego set from the lego store before we left Legoland, but Abbie's set had two parts and I was only willing to buy one...)  It was an awesome day and I feel proud of myself for driving all that way alone with the three kids.  I know that I was a good mom that day--This is something the kids will remember for a long time.