Everything Is Awesome

Our short vacay to Legoland has come and gone. Being car-less for two days in Carlsbad was the perfect amount of time. Spending an entire day at Legoland was perfect, another day there would've been overkill. For those without kids, Legoland and the Legoland hotel is not worth it. For those with young kids, totally worth it (as long as you keep in mind that this vacation is for the kids and not for you)!

The lobby

 What the kids were doing while we were checking in

 Kids play area

 Kids' castle (play area continued)

As you can see, this hotel is unlike all your typical hotels. What other hotels have disco music AND a disco ball in the elevators? What hotels have a Whoopie cushion next to the elevator? What hotel has a Lego-themed room?

Now I want a whoopie cushion...

 Kids' sleeping area

This was our sleeping arrangement

Lucky Dad got to sleep in the "adult" area in a queen sized bed all to himself. Little homegirl fell off her bed both nights and wanted to snuggle with me in my twin. I did not have a great night's sleep. It was fun snuggling with her, but I would enjoy it much more in my king sized bed at home.

 Numerous ways to entertain the kids

Glued to the TV

Char hanging with her non-breathing BFF, Coocoogaga

Since we were car-less, our only source of dining was limited to the hotel and Legoland. Our first night, we spent a fortune dining at the buffet that was inside the hotel. It was basically cafeteria food which cost way too much (and didn't taste that great). 

 It did include a kid buffet though

 And both kids left with a balloon

Although we've never paid so much for cafeteria food, at least the kids had a blast. And this was a kids' vacation and not an adult one. The things parents do for their children...

Anyway, we woke up bright and early the next day for our adventures at Legoland! Char was free, and to my surprise, you seriously get what you paid for. She was unable to ride most of the rides and at this age, she was old enough to be very, very disappointed. It broke my heart to see her so sad when they asked her to get off the boat since she couldn't meet the height requirement. I also started cursing Legoland in my head since they caused my daughter so much pain. However, she quickly forgot about most of it as we found other ways to entertain the kids at Legoland.

Building a tower that's taller than you is fun!

So is riding in a Lego po-po car

.. and climbing through things

... and taking a selfie with Mommy in front of mini Chinatown

But the most fun of all was probably playing with Lucas

Oh rugrats...

One of the few rides Char could ride on

Somebody was not having it around naptime

 Lucas had a blast!

His favorite ride

 Where are your hands boy?!

 We spent quite a bit of time in Star Wars mini land

 Rare two smiling kids pic

 Char was not interested in taking pics

 Everything is awesome!!!

 Started the day with a selfie

 Ended the day with a selfie

Kids would LOVE Legoland. Adults, well, it was meh. We were surprised that Legoland closed at 5! That also meant all the restaurants inside the park closed at 5. So it turned out our meal options were very sparse. I don't think the kids really cared though. Overall, successful and fun trip. Now that Char is "of age", traveling is a lot more fun and we plan on doing it more often.

And Now It's 2015

Happy belated new year! For the past two Sundays, I felt great. No stress. No worries. No alarm clock. As I'm typing this at 9:00 tonight, all that is back. Tomorrow, life goes back to normal with waking up at 6:30 and working again. That two week break was awesome...

 These rascals thought it was awesome too!

After a very, very slow New Year's start, we ventured off to the mall... just because. Lucas found a baby Target shopping cart at our (my) favorite store and actually asked me to take a picture of him shopping.

 CHEEEEESEEEEE

He tried to get his sister to take a picture with him too, but Char was not into it. A few seconds later, homeboy was more interested in Char's cart than picture taking. 

 "Whoa, what's in there Char?"

 A hearty meal at the food court

And that was all I remembered doing on the first day of 2015! Did I make it to midnight? Nope, not a chance. I was already snoozing my life away by 10 or so. 

On January 2, we celebrated our five year anniversary! I remember walking around Napa (pregnant with Lu) on our one year anniversary. We were kidless, which meant we had all the freedom in the world. As we walked past French Laundry, we were talking about going there on our five year anniversary. Yup, didn't happen. But that's okay. I'm actually more excited about a birthday/Christmas/anniversary/Valentine's gift that should be coming next week!

 Anni breakfast @ Scramblz

 Complete family shot at Scramblz in the van

Another one of our many M&D selfies

After our family celebration, we dropped the kids off at the grandparent's house and had our own celebration. 

 Not too happy about this... j/k

 Guess where?

 Gary Danko's! Fine dining at its best!

On January 3, we had sushi making night. Most of my dinners (except Thanksgiving and Christmas) take around 30 minutes to make. When you're a working mom, have to tend to two kids, and come home around 5, you HAVE to be able to make these 30 minute meals or else things would not be good. This sushi dinner took close to two hours. Good thing I was on vacation, or it would've been a bad night for me!

 What Char & Dad were doing while the rest of us were in the kitchen

 Our little sous chef

 Dinner is served!

Yum yum

And now, it's January 4. I prepped enough to get by tomorrow. Good luck tomorrow to everyone going back to work!

Non-Snow Vacay

We had planned a snow vacation since both kids claimed they wanted to play in the snow. Being the money saving Chinese parents that we are, we stayed in Roseville since it's not that far of a drive from the snow (roughly an hour). We had planned to spend a couple hours in the snow, and the day of the trip, I realized that Lucas did not have snow gloves. So I went to literally EVERY store I could think of in Roseville to look for something for him and finally settled on a women's size small after going on a wild goose chase. 

After lunch, we set out for the snow and noticed that our dinky little Corolla was the only non SUV car driving up the mountain. As the temperature went from 48 degrees to below freezing, we were happy that we found snow an hour away! We spent $10 parking and $8 per person to go to a little snowy mountain. After spending 20 minutes changing the kids in the car, both kids decided that they were NOT fans of the snow and wanted to go "home" (aka hotel). When I asked Lucas in the car if he wanted to go back to the snow, he said no. "But we can sing about the snow!" 

Basically, this snow trip turned into a Roseville vacation. To our surprise, Roseville wasn't a bad place to vacation for a few days!

Happiest pic I got of Char

Happiest pic I got of Lu

NOT a happy snow bunny

Forced family selfie

We drove two hours to and from for this?!

Snow Roseville Vacation pics below

 $15 wine tasting/person to bypass the 1+ hr wait to get into the JB tour

 Homegirl loves jelly beans

 "Minnie Mouse!!!" - Char

 Great place to go if you're ever passing by Fairfield

Unlike the snow, Lucas had a great time at the JB Factory. "Can we go back to get more Jelly Bellies?" - Lu

 Checking into our home away from home hotel

Live Cookie Monster entertainment

 Complimentary dinner = saving $$$ for us

 Had more fun watching TV than playing in the snow

Girl can eat! 

Roseville is filled with shopping on every corner AND very, very affordable NEW houses. We could be living like royalty if we moved to Roseville. Daddy found a free train ride for the whole family.

 Selfie stick doing it's job

 Mommy/daughter selfie photo op

Happy family photo op

Before we left, we went to a bounce house place where the entire family paid a total of $7.50 to go! Is that amazing or is that amazing?! Why can't we have something here in the Bay Area?!

 

 Cutie Char

And that was our mini snow Roseville vacation. We decided that it doesn't matter where we go, the kids just like being away from home for a little while. "Vacation means not being home" - Lu. Well, in two weeks we are going to SD for Legoland! Let the vacationing begin!!!

 

Just give them a bed they can jump on and they're happy

I don't know what everyone else was doing at midnight last night, but I was already snoozing my life away by 10:30. Happy 2015 everyone!