a crane and three diggers: April's California trip

In early April, we all went to Oceanside, CA for a family trip and to watch Sebe compete in the Oceanside 1/2 Ironman race. While Sebe swam, biked and ran through the California coast, the boys discovered some female friends on the sidelines. These girls were a crack-up. They were well-versed in snails and soon had the boys picking up snails, holding them, and admiring them. Blake even whispered in my ear that he stepped on one.

From the sidelines, we cheered for Sebe, ate Cheetos, and talked with the girls.

Sebe in the Park City Triathlon Club tri suit

While the predominant reason to go to California -- in our minds -- was the race, Blake had a very different idea. It was all about Legoland. We paid the whopping fees and checked everything out. They have it figured out there. The store is right at the entrance. Blake demanded that we see the store, to make sure they had the sets that he had already decided he wanted (Lego Atlantis is the current favorite). Of course, upon seeing them, he wanted to buy them. We explained that we buy Legos at the end of the day, as we are leaving. He said, "I am done. I want to go now." Somehow we managed to get past that and enjoyed our day at Legoland. And he finally did get the haul that he wanted...

The good news for us is that he is still playing with these Legos and despite identifying many more sets that he would like to purchase, there have been no serious pleas. It also helps that our local store has an awful selection, so there can't even be a weak-moment Mommy cave-in because there's nothing on his list to buy here!

Another highlight of the trip was a visit from Kirsten, Dave and cousin Hudson. They came down from LA and the boys had fun digging in the sand.