"Yegoyand" Revisited

To celebrate a successful effort at reducing finger/thumb sucking and Tate's new status as a big brother, we ventured to Legoland last week. Aunt Rach, Tate, Gigi and Papa all flew down to join us. Sharing the adventure with family, combined with beautiful weather and virtually no lines, made for an all around great day.

We've only been to Legoland a few times, but each time we go I'm reminded why we love it. The park is clean, small, and perfectly suited for the preschool set with tons of simple -- yet to a 3 or 4 year old quite thrilling -- rides and playgrounds. This past trip was particularly special because it was Tate's first time, and Lucie and Ryan got to share all their favorite adventures with him. Our kids also got to try a few rides they hadn't been on before, now that they've reached age four.

Anything that the kids were able to steer themselves was declared the favorite of the day. Lucie particularly liked the car ride, and maneuvered her way around the mini-track with such ease and nonchalance it was as if she had done it hundreds of times before.

One morning a week ago Lucie woke up declaring that she had a dream that night where she drove a car "on the freeway, Mommy!!" So clearly, she'd had some recent practice at this.

Like last year, Ryan was a big fan of the boat ride, again because you could steer yourself. As co-captain, I gave him full control of the wheel and gas pedal. His captaining style involved jerking the boat all the way to the right and then all the way to the left, repeatedly, even spinning us in a full circle as we motored into the landing dock.

Ryan also kept one eye on the water, and the other on a fire fighting show going on right next to the boat ride. Boating while watching fire trucks -- what more could a little guy ask for?

When I asked Tate which ride he liked the best, he said he liked the "dinosaur" ride. Aunt Rach and I both tried to remember a ride with dinosaurs and couldn't come up with anything. Then Rachel remembered that there was a good view of some dinosaurs from one of the rides -- that had to be his favorite. Here he is with Papa, enjoying the view of the dinosaurs (and figuring out that you really didn't have to pedal to keep the train moving).