Henri's 3!

Now I don't sound insane when I'm asked the kids' ages. 6, 3 & 1 sounds much more manageable than 6, 2 & 1!

We had a party at our house and 46 people came for hot dogs and hamburgers. Yeah, I really didn't realize how many we'd invited!

Taking a break from the madness...

Henri gets sung to and gets to pick out a book for his birthday at preschool.

Southern California-continued

So enough with birthday stuff (there will be some more in the next post) finishing out trip.  Henri wouldn't be able to spend his 3rd birthday with the grandparents so we got a Cake over at Costco...

We also spent another day at Sealife. Sealife is the aquarium at Legoland. Not super impressive, but it was included in our pass we got at Costco, indoors (the weather was supposed to be iffy, we actually got a great day) and what the boys loved was there were legos in the tanks, what momma loved is the tanks were all right at ground level meaning the kids could all walk themselves around and see, no holding anyone up to see in the tanks.

and, it's right next to Legoland, so you can finish what you started the first day...

Back to miniland to visit Henri's favorite guy:

San Francisco

Chinese Mann's theater

Hollywood Bowl


Valerie has an In N Out burger

We also hit Disneyland. While the week of Thanksgiving was not the best idea between Baby swap passes and Larry getting a scooter since his knee brace had been rubbing, we got out of lines pretty much (he's having surgery in January).

We did Casey's Circus Train

The Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World were decked out for Christmas (The Mansion is in the Nightmare before Christmas theme from Halloween through Christmas)

Disneyland was a hour drive from Carlsbad.

In the castle area

If you love Cake Wrecks, you are going to LOVE this post.

Have you seen the Cake Wrecks blog?  It's when professional cakes go horribly wrong. I'm pretty sure Henri's cake will be on by the end of the week.  Let me explain. So, when Carter turned 3, my mom used the same Lightning McQueen cake pan and make this great cake. 

I've seen my mom make hundreds of cakes over my lifetime, I thought, "how hard could it be?" Oh, my. Harder than you'd think. I pulled out my Pampered Chef Decorator Gun, not realizing the tips are probably way bigger than I should have been using, and this is how my cake ended up.

But I had a ton of fun playing with the tips on the cupcakes.  At first, I was terrified. Tomorrow is the party. My backup plan involves Costco on a Sunday. But a few glasses of wine later, I couldn't stop laughing at the poor thing.

Most fun and fastest to ice:

Day 3-San Diego Zoo

We headed over to the San Diego Zoo today.

Yes, that is a monkey on top of a pigmy hippo.

Queen of the stroller.

pushing Carter out of the stroller.

Paul tries to catch us some dinner.

napping panda

The skyfari over the zoo.

Train ride in Balboa park after the zoo.

The zoo required lots of walking, including lots of hills, however, in a long day, we didn't cover probably even 1/2 of it.  They have 2 amazing Aviaries and tons of animals.

Day 2-Legoland

Legoland is a Lego-themed Amusement park for the younger set.  Henri, a short almost 3 year old at 36 inches was able to ride most rides with an adult.  Some rides even allowed for 34 inches with an adult.  Henri did get checked for height on every single ride, so if you are thinking of going, be prepared.  The most intense ride, the test track, makes your tummy jump a little, but is pretty tame as far as roller coasters go.

We got 3 month passes from Costco for $70 (less than the cost of one day's entrance) which includes the Sealife aquarium, which we did not get to today, but not the Waterpark,which is not open this time of year. Legoland is normally closed 2 days a week, but this, the week before Thanksgiving, they are open every day.  It was about 4 miles from our hotel. Costco was almost across the street from Legoland.

We started in Dino Island at the Coastersaurus.  Henri decided the first fall is a little quick and scary, but the rest was fun.  Then was Duplo Village. After the Safari Trek ( a mini jeep through a forest of LEGO animals) The kids has fun playing in the play area (DUPLO Playtown) and playing with the interactive fountains (Waterworks) and riding on the Legoland Express train. 

Then was Fun town.  Paul and Carter tried the Kid Power Towers (Henri was too short)
Sky Cruiser (a pedal powered car in the sky) ; Sky Patrol (helicopter); Driving School-Henri got a different track than Carter. Henri's was just a round track that he didn't make it once around. In fact he had to wait longer because he refused to get in any car but the yellow car. Carter's track was like a little city with stop lights and everything, it was awesome and he got a driver's license. At the Fun Town Fire Academy Henri wanted to drive and me to pump, You really need 4 people for this ride. We walked throught the Lego Factory Tour and did Skipper School (driving boats) Henri was a bit rough in his boating skills. Luckily we got a yellow boat, but even though we started before Paul and Carter, we ended up 3 boats behind them.

We skipped Pirate Shores and Castle Hill and Imagination Zone, but checked out Miniland USA, which is awesome. Imagine every major city built out of legos.  I'll have to take more pictures next time we are there.  There was also an R2D2 lifesize there. Henri walked up to him and said, "I love him." Then he patted him and said, "he is so nice."  Then hugged him.

After Miniland, we started to realize how late it was and made our last stop in the Land of Adventure where we did the Lost Kingdom Adventure (lazer shooting from a jeep ride). Hint to those wanting to win: don't "shoot" hold the laser continuously and aim at the targets. Paul and I tried out the Technic Test track, which was fun, but had a higher height requirement.  Then we headed back to grab dinner at TGIFridays where Carter informed us," the food is really tasty but it's not very good for you." On the way home he asked, "Mom, if you weren't my mom, how old would you think I was.
Me: 7, you are smarter than an average 6 year old, but not taller.
C: Why am I not 7?
Me: your birthday hasn't happened yet.
C: I think you forgot to do one and I'm really 7."