Legoland Florida Review

It's been awhile since I've posted anything.

We took the boys to Legoland on Monday.  Here is a full review...

We went to Legoland yesterday (Monday, October 24, 2011).  It was a blast.  By far one of the best parks we've been to!!

A few things to note about our trip:

-we stayed in Orlando the night before and drove over to Legoland for the day.

-it was a school holiday for the county that Legoland is in.  So I am sure the crowds were more b/c of this (although as you'll read below, I did not find them to be bad).

-it was the first day that Legoland was offering their "free VIP" ticket.  That line was insane.  Hopefully, they've come up with a better system.

-the park opened at 10, so we got there at 9:45.  I would recommend getting there at 9:30 if the park opens at 10.  It takes a while to park, buy your tickets, etc.  

The good:

-Almost everything!  We had a great time!  

-Many of the lines have Lego Centers on the middle where the kids are gated in and can play with Legos instead of waiting in line with mom and dad. SO SMART!

-It is built on a lake and the surroundings are just beautiful.

The bad:

-The park says it is for 2 to 12 year olds. However, almost all the rides have height and/or age restrictions. Maddox is 3 (soon to be 4); he couldn't do a lot of the things. I don't think you should take a child under 3-1/2 years of age. If we didn't have Brewer (who is 6), I think we would have missed out on a lot of things.

-The park is huge...so be ready for A LOT of walking. The park hours were 10 to 5. They stayed open for an extended hour until 6. We got there at 9:45 and left when the park closed at 6. We didn't get to do everything...it's just massive and a ton to do!! (Sounds like a reason to go back soon!!)

The rides:

-We waited in line for about 30 minutes for the Coastersarus. Poor Maddox...it was a roller coaster with two very big drops. He hated it. But it was the only coaster that had a minimum rider height of 36”. So I thought it would be appropriate. I was wrong. BTW, you couldn't see the coaster from the line...so I had no idea.

-We waited in line for 5 minutes or less at Lost Kingdom Adventure (a laser shooting type ride), Safari Trek, AquaZone (but then once up to the front, Brewer decided he didn't want to ride b/c you get wet), Kid Power Tower, & Boating School.

-We walked right on Beetle Bounce, Big Rig Rally, Granny's Jalopies, The Dragon, Royal Joust, Merlin's Challenge, Test Track, Technicycle (kind of lame for Maddox b/c even though he met the height requirements, he couldn't reach the pedals), Rescue Academy (I was a rock star on that ride), Ford Driving School (for Brewer), & Ford JR. Driving School (for Maddox).

-Junior Fire Academy ride was closed for the day.

-We didn't make it on Flying School or Island in the Sky. Again, just ran out of time.

Maddox at the Jr. Driving School

The playgrounds:

-The park has awesome playgrounds. My kids loved Pharaoh's Revenge where they could fire the soft foam balls at other guests.

-The Forestmen's Hideout is a great climbing playground. Another area where they played and played!

-DUPLO farm was for ages 2 to 5. And Brewer was okay with not going in this area.

The Imagination Zone:

-Hero Factory, Build & Test, and Lego Mindstorms were a good break in the day from rides to have the kids inside to just play and use their imaginations.

-Miniland is amazing. You could spend a ton of time looking at all the Lego cities. Very neat!

The shows:

-We saw Pirate's Cove Live Water Ski show. It was cute.

-The park has a lot of shows but we ran out of time and couldn't see them all. In fact, we only made it to this one.

Things the park doesn't tell you:

-There is a ticket called the HERO TICKET. This is sold at the gate and will take you to the front of every line. The lines weren't bad when we were there. So I do not have firsthand knowledge on whether or not this is worth it.

-The employees wear minifigurines on their name tags. Have your kids take 2 to 3 minifigurines to trade with the workers. Lots of fun.

The food:

-It is a Pepsi property. YUCK! I don't even like the Pepsi brand bottled water. I wish I had known. I would have packed some water bottles of my own.

-There are no full-service restaurants. I thought the food was blah.

Hope this review helps. Feel free to ask any questions. Lou and I were both impressed. It is a great park! Loved it!  You should plan a trip sooner than later for your family.

New School Year - Teacher Gifts Ready

I really, really wanted to do the 4-pack bottles for our teachers this year.  If you don't know what I am talking about, click {here}.  As August started, I went on a last minute trip to Tampa (completely worth it for priceless time with a friend) and then to the Bahamas...so when we got back school.was.starting!  I had to get on it!  Both of the boys' teachers are Christians (praise the Lord).  So when I found these monogrammed tumblers at Lifeway on sale for $5.00, I knew they'd be fine to give even with the Bible verse printed on them. 

We filled the tumblers with a gift card to Target for the teacher to buy things for the classroom.  We also filled it with the single size serving packets of Crystal Light's pink lemonade.  

Next we added some ribbon and a straw flag that reads, "We are tickled pink you are our teacher".   (Get it...pink lemonade/tickled pink...)

It was easy and cute to put together!

Maddox on his first day of school with his cup for Mrs. Amy.

Back To School

I've already shared about my obsession with Pinterest.  I keep seeing great Back To School gift ideas for teachers.  I thought I'd post this blog about the gift we made for Brewer and Maddox's teachers last year.

Brewer had 2 teachers so each of them got a 4-pack of glass bottles.  On the back of each "container" is a pocket with a gift card to Walmart for supplies for the classroom.  The bottles are each filled with things like M&Ms, colored goldfish, erasers, paper clips, pencils, colored rubber bands, etc.


They turned out super cute!


Most of the things I do are "spin offs" of other ideas.  The original idea was for a Father's Day gift.  You can find that information by clicking {here}.  I remade the labels for each bottle and for the front of the container/holder...what's that cardboard thing called??  And ummm....I hope my organization was good...b/c I sure would like to use those labels again this year.  Guess I need to start searching my computer for those.

Christmas in July

Santa Hand Print Canvases with Brewer's Class

Do you ever have plans to blog about something and then other things in life take over?  Well, I think that's what happened here, so let's call this post "Christmas in July".


Volunteering in my kids' classroom is one of my most favorite things to do.  Honestly, I miss my kids when they are at school and being in their classroom helps cure this for me.  Brewer's teachers this past year were great about letting me in the classroom.  There was some discussion between the moms about the Christmas party craft.  All of the ones picked were not keepsakes in my opinion.  So I decided during my volunteer time we would make canvas Santa's out of the kids' hand prints...this would be a keepsake for sure.  


I think they turned out so cute!


Now, I will admit that once I get my mind on something, I will make it happen...no matter how long it takes me.  Sooooooo -- be warned ---- these take awhile.  I purchased the canvases at Michael's and I pre-painted the background.  Brewer only had 12 kids in his class this year, so it wasn't awful.  BUT it did take time.  You have to give the colors more than one coat and there is the drying time in between, etc.  After they were done, I added the ribbon to the canvases. Basically, it took over our kitchen for an entire weekend.  However, I think it was worth it (if I do say so myself)...I mean, LOOK AT THESE --> PRECIOUS!!


Working with the kids was a two step project.  One of my volunteer days, I came in and did my "regular" volunteer time.  I had pre-arranged with the teacher to stay after and call the kids out one at a time to have them place their painted hand print.  She said this would work and so that was step one.

Step One with Kids

Step two with the kids was adding the felt hat.  I had a pattern they traced and then cut out the hat, adding the pom poms, adding the eyes, the nose, etc.  


I hope to do these again -- I love a hand print keepsake.  Then again, I could use their foot and do a snowman.  It will be a new class of kids and parents...Hmmmm.....

Step Two with Kids - Finished canvases

Tuesday Teacher Day

Because I used to teach, I am going to dedicate some Tuesdays to blogging about things of the classroom.  

And man, do I wish blogs were popular when I taught b/c there are so many adorable ideas for the classroom in blogland.

One of the many things that is new to me is Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT).  What a fun idea and website!  A place teachers and go and sell and/or buy teaching materials.  One of my mottos when in the classroom was, "Why re-create the wheel?"  



When you're in the classroom with 22 8-year-olds, the tattle telling can be overwhelming.  I used a system where the kids could write down their tattles and put them into our tattle jar.  I would always read the tattles.  First of all, I wanted their voice to be heard.  But they were also very comical.  Sometimes tattles do need to be dealt with, so I did need to read them.  Check out this Tattle Turtle that you can buy for your classroom.  Cute, cute, cute!

Sending kids home at the end of the day used to stress me out, especially at the beginning of the year.  Now that I'm a mommy, it stresses me out from the parents' point of view also.  I found a blog with adorable stickers to print for your students to wear.  I am thinking of printing these for Brewer's teacher and including them in a little gift that we give her the first day of school.  Click {here} to see them.  How cute!

Generosity

Generosity of people is amazing!  I found this adorable blog (in fact, so adorable that I decided to copy her background pattern from CBOTB).  In this blog, Ms. Male writes about her classroom and things related to teaching.  She is a Mac user like me but knows SOOOOOOOO MMMMUUUUUCCCCHHHHHH MMMMMMOOOOOOORRRRRRREEEEEE SO MUCH MORE than me about the Mac!!!  She has been helpful with downloading fun fonts for the Mac and then she taught us blog readers how to capture an image from the computer screen.  Look at this --->

Came from Ms. Male's blog: http://brittmale.blogspot.com

This is a direct photo of her comments section on her blog.  It worked!!!  She taught me on the Mac if you want a screen shot, you 'command+shift+4'.  AMAZING! EASY!  LOVE!  I told Ms. Male she should post a Mac tip of the day on her blog!!!  I'm hooked!  Thank you, Ms. Male, for your generosity!  I can't wait to see what you teach us (well, me) next!  If you want to check out her blog, click {here}. 

How To Make Rainbow Jello

1. Select as many colors as you want for your rainbow.  I picked 4 colors.  Purchase those colors of the boxed Jello.

2. Make the color that you want on the bottom of your layering.  Put approximately 1/4 cup of that Jello in the bottom of each individual container and refrigerate for about 1 hour (make sure Jello is set before moving onto the next color).

3. In the photo shown above, you can see my first color was purple.  Next, I made green Jello and added a 1/4 cup of green Jello to each of the individual containers.  Refrigerate for about an hour or until the green Jello is set.

4. Make the next color of Jello.  I made yellow.  Put 1/4 cup of Jello in each container and refrigerate until set.

Look at how it is coming along!

5. Add your next color (mine was red) as in previous steps.

6. VIOLA!  Once the last color has set...you have your rainbow Jello!!

7. Add whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles (as shown in first photo) before serving to finish off your rainbow treat!