Day 1,499 - Everything is Awesome...at Legoland

"Everything is Awesome!"

I'm sure just saying those three words has that particular earworm burrowing deep inside the head of anyone who reads them. Just as a reminder, that song originated with The Lego Movie all the way back in 2014. Unbelievable that it was that long ago, right? While neither of my kids have ever seen the movie, Ethan can now say that he's visited an entire world of Lego. That's right; last Thursday, Ethan and I made our way to downtown Kansas City to visit Legoland!

Truth be told, we'd never actually had a strong desire to visit Legoland and our kids were relatively unaware of its existence. In fact, when I told Ethan where were going, his only response was "Ok." However, with the fundraiser card we purchased from Ellie's school this year having a BOGO coupon on it, there was no reason not for Ethan and me to visit.

As soon as we arrived at Legoland, Ethan began to get more excited upon seeing what all was there. The very first thing that we did upon our arrival was take part in the Stunt Champion Challenge. Ethan and I both built the very best car that we could and tested it on a variety of race tracks to see how well it would last. While they didn't do very well on the first build, we didn't give up and kept building and building until we reached a final design that we were very happy with. In case you're wondering, that design also crumbled into pieces each time we sent it down a test track. It looked cool though and I think that's the most important thing.

After that, Ethan and I headed into the Lego 4D Cinema for a showing of the LEGO Ninjago Movie. It was actually really cool as the theater had wind machines, water misters, and lights synced up  to operate in conjecture with what we were seeing on the screen. Ethan, for his part, was absolutely astonished the first time we started getting wet as the Lego bird we viewed on the screen flew through a waterfall. All together, there were three different films that showed on rotation throughout the day and we made sure to see every single one since they all were only about 15 minutes long.

After our first trip to the LEGO 4D Cinema, Ethan wanted to spend some time playing on the giant indoor playground. After doing that for around 20 minutes, Ethan was ready for a new adventure. With that in mind, I decided it was time for us to hit up the rides that Legoland had to offer. The first on our list was Kingdom Quest. Ethan and I were shown to a car on a fixed track. Once we climbed inside, we were handed a light gun and began to fire at the variety of targets we saw along the route. Personally, this was one of my favorite things about Legoland and Ethan enjoyed it a lot as well.

Next on our agenda was to check out the second ride, Merlin's Apprentice. Ethan and I climbed into our seats and strapped in for the ride. Once the ride began, as long as we pedaled the bicycle pedals in front of us very hard and fast, our seats would rise all the way up to the ceiling of the building. Stop pedaling and they would start dropping down to the ground. Honestly, this was Ethan's favorite part of the entire experience. We had to ride it four times and it was actually the last thing we did before going home.

The last, and honestly most impressive part of Legoland had to be Miniland. This was a section of Legoland where replicas of Kansas City's famous landmarks had been built using Lego bricks. Some landmarks featured included each of Kansas City's sports stadiums and the entire downtown area. The Kansas Speedway replica was probably Ethan's favorite as it allowed you to push buttons and make race cars speed around the track. We clearly spent a lot of time at that display.

Altogether, I'd say that our day at Legoland was a success. Even a walk through the gift shop proved pretty fun as I found something I lowkey want for Christmas. If you're searching for the perfect gift, you're welcome!

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Day 1,491 - The One From Saturday About Ellie

Ellie kind of gets the short end of things from time-to-time. A product of her spending her days at school and me being a stay-at-home dad with Ethan is that he gets to go and have adventures that she misses out on. While she's cool with it for the most part, there are definitely those instances where she feels tinges of jealousy towards her younger brother. As a parent, it's definitely hard to see that and not feel responsible. As a result, I try to include her in short errands that I have to run on evenings or weekends. While they may not be the most exciting things in the world, I like to think that it helps her and makes her feel valued.

A pretty accurate depiction of Ellie anytime she hears about Ethan and me having an adventure.

All of that being said, there is one good thing about Ellie being older than Ethan and that is that sometimes she gets the opportunity to do something special later in the evening that Ethan wouldn't be allowed to stay up for. One of those things happened on Saturday night as Ellie and I headed to the "Light the Night" Easter Egg Hunt.

The key word in the name of that event is "Light" because that draws attention to the fact that this wasn't just any ordinary Easter Egg Hunt. Instead, it was a glow-in-the-dark Easter Egg Hunt taking place at night! The Hunt took place at Northland Cathedral, which is a church near our house. While we had seen the event advertised for several years, this was the first year that we felt Ellie was old enough to stay up and take part as the hunting portion of the evening doesn't even start until 8:30!

Around 7:45 pm, Ellie and I piled into the Traverse and drove the short distance to Northland Cathedral where we found ourselves in a huge throng of people. While I knew that this was a heavily attended event, I really didn't have any idea how popular it was. There were literally hundreds of people there! The first thing we did upon arriving was sign in and get Ellie's wristband which would assign her to one of three egg hunting courses based upon her age. Then, we wandered over to the main stage area (yes, there was literally a stage for this event!) and found a place to hang out until things began at 8:00.

Once 8:00 arrived, the Northland Cathedral Kids Dance Crew took the stage and proceeded to lead the audience in worship and dance. Following that, there was a drawing that took place for prizes. While Ellie was noticeably disappointed to not win, I was secretly relieved. After all, I don't know what she would do with a longboard skateboard or an electric scooter. Next on the event was Northland Cathedral's youth minister, Joe, who delivered a message for those in attendance. While I've already forgotten the message, I certainly remember the awesome science experiment that accompanied it which resulted in green foam exploding out of the largest beaker I have ever seen.

Finally, it was time for the Egg Hunt to being. Ellie took her place at her designated area and waited for the command to begin. While she waited patiently, I took a minute to gaze at all of the eggs, blinking and flashing under the dark night sky. Finally, the command was issued, and the kids were off. Before I knew what had happened, Ellie completely disappeared into the mass of humanity in a frantic search for eggs. As quickly as it began, the hunt was over. Ellie happily wandered back over to me with a bucket overflowing with glowing Easter Eggs. Her biggest fear heading into the Hunt was only getting one or two eggs and I was happy to see that her fear was unfounded.

With that, we headed to the car and headed home to take stock of Ellie's find and get her into bed as it was nearly 9:00 pm. While that's not late for some kids, it certainly is for ours. That being said, part of being the older sibling is getting the opportunity to occasionally break bedtime for a cool outing with Mom or Dad. Seems like a pretty good deal to me; doesn't it you?

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Day 1,489 - The One From Saturday About Ethan (Mostly)

One of my favorite things right now is seeing Ethan's love of anything and everything with wheels. It's not uncommon for our house to be absolutely littered with toy cars in each room which can make walking safely quite a chore. One really cool thing though is that one of the last times we were at my parents, Ethan and I actually found my childhood stash of Hot Wheels toy cars. Of course, he brought the lot of them home to Kansas City with him which means he is actually playing with the same cars that I played with as a child. Crazy, right? While Ethan getting excited about toy cars is one thing, one has to wonder exactly how he'd respond if he got to see real-life versions of his favorite Hot Wheels cars. Well, after last Saturday, wonder no more.

Saturday was a fairly busy time for our family between dying our own Easter eggs at home (a favorite tradition in our household) and going to an Easter egg/cookout that our church was putting on. However, following that, Bethany and I had made plans to surprise Ethan by taking him to the birthday party of one of his friends. Now, you may wonder why we didn't tell him. It's because this party was unlike any other birthday party I've ever seen. It was actually a car show!  You see, Ethan's friend, Maverick, is also really into cars. Knowing that, his mom decided to reach out to the community via Facebook and was able to organize a car show in the parking lot of our local AMC Theater for Maverick and his friends to enjoy.

Just getting Ethan to the car show was quite the experience. We were definitely struggling to keep the little man awake as he was exhausted after his big morning of egg-related fun. However, as we pulled into the parking lot, Ethan's tiredness seemed to vanish almost immediately and was replaced by excitement. We parked the car and after a quick check-in with Maverick's mom, we began to wander the lot.

It didn't take long for Ethan to find the car of his dreams. As we walked by the very first car, much to Bethany's shock, Ethan exclaimed, "Look, a Ferrari!" while jumping up and down in excitement. From there, we continued on down the parking lot checking out the wide variety of cars represented in the show. When we reached the end of the show, we asked Ethan if there were any cars he wanted to see again. He replied, "Follow me," and led us back to the red Ferrari. This time, however, the owner let Ethan and Ellie take turns climbing behind the wheel of the car and even let them honk the horn. I didn't have the heart to tell Ethan that this would probably be the only time he sits behind the wheel of a Ferrari. Instead, I just let him bask in the moment.

By the time we left the party, Ethan had made at least four walks through the car show. While he found other cars he really enjoyed, such as a lemon-yellow Honda Civic or a silver Dodge Challenger with orange racing stripes, nothing occupies a place in his heart like that Ferrari. On a positive note, even if we can't get him the real thing, at least he has my Hot Wheels version to enjoy each and every day at home.

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See, Ellie matters too!