It truly was a surprise for all the children. While they completed their school work, I was secretly packing the van with a weekend of clothes and food. Then when Michael came home, we had a quick dinner. I told the children to get into their pajamas and go to the van. Somehow they got it in their heads that our library was having a pajama night so they were not even the least bit suspicious....how funny for them! As we did not turn toward the library but further south on a six hour drive! We did not arrive at the hotel until after midnight. This was also helpful as we approached our first destination in the dark of the night so the surprise would not be discovered until the next morning! The only bad thing...Zaira had slept the entire trip and was wide awake running around the room until after 2am...did not bother any of us as we were exhausted and slept without any problem. I hope the same was true for our next door neighbors!The next morning we were able to sleep in as we were on our way to LEGO Land and it did not open until 10am...we were only 15 minutes from the gates. The entire van went crazy when they realized where we were going for the day! We even enjoyed the wait in line for parking as there were LEGO creations along the way. That is the way the park would be throughout the day. A great park for children, but also designed to help parents and children both enjoy their time. Truthfully, his park is geared toward children 5-12 years old but the older ones were happy to be there also for this visit. I am not sure they would come here on a regular basis, but the newness was enough to make it a fun day. There are no big roller coaster rides but the mini replicas of cities and Star Wars special exhibit were amazing!
I took over 1500 photos throughout the day! Here are few of the highlights:
We do have a second day that can be used any time in the next three months so will probably go back for the Christmas season. The other great part about this park was the fact that it could be done in a day. So...going back later in the year, we will likely be able to enjoy the very favorite spots without racing around afraid we would not see it all. The one thing we did not do was the putt-putt golf so we hope we can go to that area next time. The best part of the park...even while waiting in line for rides...there were LEGO displays AND best of all LEGO play areas in the center to enjoy while we waited. Also, all the employees in the park had mini-figures to trade which was a lot of fun. What an amazing idea that made everyone happy! The most amazing thing to see...the creators of the display are constantly trying to make the experience better. As we all know...LEGO creations come apart...but that is ok because the displays that are broken are re-created in a new and improved way each time....adding seasonal aspects as they go along. It is very much like LEGOs in our home...nothing is ever completely destroyed only improved. So the next time we go to the park...things will be a little different and we love it!
Thankfully, they did not rush us out the gates at the end of the day...the park closed at 5pm but we were able to casually walk out the gates viewing things we did not notice as we rushed in that morning. And with the park closing at 5pm we were able to go back to our hotel and relax for the evening.
The next day we drove to Santa Monica along the beach route. We had thought we would stop but our desire to make it to another national park led us on our way into the mountains. We arrived at Santa Monica Mountain NRA for a short stop. We enjoyed watching the many artists who were painting along the grounds of the visitor center. This was land donated to the National Park system by the Gillette family. This included their mansion in the mountains. We did not take the tour of the mansion because we wanted to take Edward on another type of tour....
Yeah...we did it...the tour of the stars in Hollywood! We drove down the mountain road into Hollywood. We parked near Hollywood Blvd and walked down the path of stars that led us to the Chinese Theater. I am not sure why this interested Edward but he had talked about doing this since we mentioned the idea of coming to California. So, there were were with crowds of people taking snapshots of the stars we knew and placed our hands and feet in the molds of those we thought interesting in front of the famous theater. 
When we were back in the van heading to the Hollywood sign, I asked him if he enjoyed the walk of stars. He said...it was great and he never needed to do that again! LOL! I agree...the experience was a ONCE in a lifetime event. And the same was true of the famous sign. We did not get as close as we had hoped but we did get to the top of a hill and had our picture taken. SO glad we can have that touristy moment and move on.
We did learn about the history of the area and I was able to take some amazing pictures of the friendly and photogenic hummingbirds! We decided the best choice was to move along and make it home before midnight. 
However, just before leaving the visitor center the park ranger mentioned that we might be interested in viewing the lava tube on the way out of the park! So...off on a dirt covered back road we made our way...it was well worth the trip. We were able to walk down into the lava tube and light shone down on us for these amazing photos! We finally made it home late in the night...thankfully closer to 10pm instead of midnight. We were all exhausted....fitting for a whirl wind trip geared toward our little (growing up so fast) tornado! I hope Edward remembers the trip for years to come! And he was quick to tell us not to forget his REAL birthday this weekend! LOL! Of course not...he would not let us if we tried! God bless him!
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