Moments from vacation #4.

This isn't a story so much as just things I don't want to forget.

Caleb, I think, was at just the perfect age to fully appreciate Legoland. The entire park is geared towards a younger audience, so none of the rides is designed with adrenaline in mind (though there are a few where you can choose how intense of an experience you want to have). At age four, though, Caleb was just as thrilled to go on a (dinky) train ride:

as he was to go on rollercoasters:

I was worried about the damper effect that waiting in lines might have, but there were enough things to do throughout the park where he didn't have to wait in line that I think it turned out okay. Examples:

Building legos with Daddy

Shedding clothing so as to more effectively jump on splash pads

Posing with/adopting life-size lego figures into his running daily imaginations

Finally, Caleb's "favorite ride" is worth mentioning. We asked him periodically which ride he thought he liked best, and each time he'd name a different one.

When we first got to Legoland, though, we asked him which ride he wanted to go on first, and he knew that he wanted to go on "the one with laser guns." So we walked past five or six things that looked fun and had no lines to the laser gun ride, where the line was more than half an hour long, but Paul and Caleb gamely got in line while I staked out a spot in the shade. This is the face I saw at the end of that first 45-minute wait:

Although that face may look distracted or semi-bored, don't be fooled. Believe me: that is the face of a little boy concentrating totally and only on shooting lasers at bad guys.

As any fool could predict, he immediately wanted to go on it again (which they did). All told, the boys went on the laser gun ride five times in two days.

So, each time we had the favorite ride discussion, we'd prod, "Not the laser gun ride?"

Every time he sighed, "Oh, I love that ride."