One Last Summer Getaway!!

We have had such a great summer with many family memories to always remember but its time to wind down our adventures and head back to school!

Trent and Davis are back in Canton, OH for the football Hall of Fame enshrinement and game for their last getaway which I am sure I will post something about when they return. So my mom and I set off to Capistrano Beach, CA and LEGOland for CJ and Eli's last fun adventure.

When we got there the first day we were able to meet up with my cousins Brad and Kristie that keep their boat at Dana Point, CA which is just a couple of minutes from where we were staying. They were just getting back from a trip to Catalina Island so we went out to the boat. My boys were excited that Tyler decided to stay with them and they went on a little adventure out in the dinghy near the boat.

After they did that for a while we went for a ride on the jet skies.

We started off out to look at the seals that were laying in the sun on the buoys in the harbor. Then we turned and went down the coastline to look at the beaches and the huge beach houses that look out over the ocean in this area. After a while down the beach, Brad led us out off the shoreline to see if we could find some dolphins before heading back. Sure enough about 2 miles out we spotted a huge pod of dolphins! It was so exciting especially for the boys as the dolphins love to swim right along the jet ski and then jump out of the water for quite a show! Eli said they looked like they were playing tag.

The next day when we got up we went to LEGOland. We were the first ones at the park because we decided to go to the new LEGOland aquarium that opens an hour before the big park.

It was great because it was not crowded that early in the morning.

They had many little tunnels and cut outs where the boys could pop up in a "bubble" that goes up in the tanks so that they feel like they are in the water with the fish.

There were also many posters and areas that were very educational about different types of sea life. The boys were especially interested in all the information about the sharks.

There were also many areas that were "hands on" so that the boys could touch many types of sea life and ask questions of the person working that area.

It was fun to see many types of creatures under the sea that we don't normally get to see. Some of the boys favorites were the jellyfish that "glowed" and the lion fish.

But the greatest part of the aquarium for my LEGO loving boys was the fact that they had giant sized LEGO sets put together in the tank.

We had a great time in the aquarium and finished in perfect time to enter LEGOland right when the gates were opened!

Many LEGO characters were out to welcome us to the park.

The boys absolutely love all of their favorite figures built out of LEGOs in life size form all around the park. Darth Vader is one of their favorites and they have great Star Wars poses to go with it!!

Look out for the dangerous LEGO shark.....it is eating CJ!!!

One of the greatest features of this park (which is geared toward younger kids) is that there are play areas in the middle of most of the lines for rides that are set up for the kids to play while the parents wait in line. The kids are then able to join in the line through an entry near the front of the line. It makes waiting for rides SO much easier!

Here are a few of the rides we went on.......even Grammy enjoyed riding the rides as she screamed and the boys laughed!!

The "kid powered" area is just what it says....the kids have to do the work to pull themselves up to the top then enjoy the ride down. The boys loved this and went on it many times!

The weather was absolutely perfect! The afternoon was nice and warm and perfect for the water area at the park. There is a water playground where the kids get to run around and get soaked! The boys played there for over an hour!!

While the boys played in the water, we of course had to get our favorite treat of popcorn and frozen lemonade while we watched them play!

Throughout the day there were also many great shows going on. One of the shows was in the Castle area. They had princesses voting on the sword fighting of the knights. Eli was picked as a volunteer in the show and did a fantastic job! I don't think the actor knew that he was getting a boy that has two older brother to sword fight with all the time!!!

The second show we saw was a stage show called Lost in the Temple and CJ was picked to be a volunteer in this show. He got to draw part of the code for the time machine and then play the air guitar to go with the music. He did a great job!!

As the day came to an end and it started to get colder outside, we headed to the imagination and creation area. In this area the kids are given some wheels and a ton of LEGOs to use to create a car with their own style. There are then ramps where they can race with the other kids to see who has the best and fastest car. It is really fun and the boys can learn what makes a faster car by watching and can go back and recreate. Here are the cars they created......

After we spent time creating we went to the BIG LEGO store (with everyone else getting ready to leave) and the boys got to pick out a LEGO set to bring home and build. CJ chose a Star Wars set and Eli chose a Power Miners set.

After we purchased our items we took a stroll through Miniland which has many great places from around the world all built with LEGOs. It is so fun to look at all of the details that are so perfect and many of them that are motorized to show the activity of the area. The boys are looking at New York city here.

We had a wonderful day that the boys said was "the best day ever"!!

So the next day we decided to stay around the Dana Point area and enjoy the beach for the day. We started in the nice cool morning by going to the tide pools in Dana Point. This is an area that has a small trail and you can explore down in the rocks but they ask that you leave everything as it is.

We were able to spot 3 starfish on a rock as the tide went out. They were each a good size and all different colors.

I love this picture of Eli looking out over the water......

.......and of course he was whistling in the quiet morning. I love it!

The boys loved having Grammy along for the trip!

CJ liked to venture farther down in the rocks but he did get caught down there by some bigger waves......he of course loved getting wet!

I loved spending time with the boys and my mom on this trip! What a great few days!

After we ate lunch we went down on the beach to build a sand castle with a large tunnel under it. It is not really a swimming beach in the area we went but we were able to find a lot of neat rocks and try to "skip" many of them in the water............

.........and we used the rocks to decorate the castle and make our name! What fun!!