A surprise vacation

Well, it was a surprise for the kids!  I packed the bags, the car, and the kids didn't have a clue.  After dinner Shayne said, I need to do some work in Vegas... who wants to go?!?  The kids looked us in disbelief but quickly understood they were going to miss a day of school (rare) and then we hopped in the car and drove till midnight!  We had a yummy hot breakfast then went to check out the pool facilities.  The pool was an iceberg - slightly melted.  But, there was a hot tub and we hung out there for a while.  Meanwhile, Shayne is prepping the kids with comments such as - gosh things aren't going as planned, we might have to go right back home, etc.  We sadly informed the kids at lunch time that we needed to go back home - our weekend in Vegas wasn't going to work out with Daddy's work.  So, we loaded the car and funny enough, the boys were very understanding and good sports about the whole situation.  We told them we'd be home before dark and thought at some point they would be suspicious considering we were in 18 lanes of traffic in California, or the fact that we drove next to the ocean for an hour.... nope.  CLUELESS.  We pulled into the Legoland Hotel and informed them that we were home.  When they finally looked out the windows...

"Legoland?"

"You drove to California!?!?!"

"Legoland!!!"

We spent that night at Legoland Hotel - which was a blast.  We did not go to the theme park (boys were a bit disappointed about that) but the hotel was definitely a highlight of our weekend excursion.  We went to that park a few years ago and we were not itching to go again... besides, we had other surprises up our sleeves.

Upon entering our pirate themed room, the boys had to complete a scavenger hunt to find a treasure.  This place was definitely made with kids in mind - loved it!  I think our favorite part was the elevator!!  Every elevator should have a disco ball and fun music after the doors close.

The next day, we went to the beach.  It was so great to be out in the sun and to be warm.  The water was COLD - but the boys still played in it.  It was a fantastic day to be on the beach, play in the sand, and just be together.  Skyler was one busy little toddler - running this way and that way - and every which way across that beach.  That's one busy little body!

After the beach, we drove back to Anaheim and once again, lied to our children saying that we'd be traveling home for the next couple days.  The pool at this hotel was FANTASTIC (it was warm) and we played in there for hours even after being on the beach all day.  A gentleman asked the boys if they went to Disneyland that day... they were once again CLUELESS that we were even in the vicinity of Disneyland.  They just said, no, we went to Legoland Hotel.  And they didn't even suspect anything.  Just before going to bed, Shayne wrote out "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" with a letter on each piece of paper.  Then handed the pile to them and said, figure out what we're doing tomorrow.  Unfortunately. he also left his "answer sheet" in the pile with the word on it... so they quickly got the word (ha, ha) but had no idea what we were alluding to.  Finally, we told them we were going to Disneyland.  

The next morning, we were on the first shuttle over to the park and we spent the day at California Adventures.  We wanted to see the new Car's Land and the boys were also excited for the Tower of Terror.  

Half-way through our day, our MOST AWESOME friends, Laura and Maynrad, came to join the party.  They treated our kids to ice cream (It was SOOOOOO hot, we were melting) and basically did whatever we wanted.  They were so patient and flexible with our whims and desires.  Love you guys - thanks for spending the day with us!!!

Two little monkeys...

The lot of us

Skyler was not a fan of the going down part on the ferris wheel - but other than that, he loved everything he was able to ride.

We were on the last shuttle back to the hotel at 11:30pm and this is what happened within seconds...

Our Surprise Vacation was a success!  I think the best part was that our kids rolled with the punches so well.  Who knows if they'll ever trust again though when we say let's get in the car and see where we end up!