Spring Break 2018, Day 6 Part Two: After the OdySEA

Grandma made sure we had a spectacular day!  She got several add-ons so that the kids had a TON of memories.

The thing the kids looked forward to the most was bumper boats.  They had so much fun crashing into one another.

Love this face!  She really got into it!

Following my crowd up to the second level to get some really yummy ice cream!

So many things we could add on!  Grandma limited the kids to one add-on each, and most of them chose a gummy of some sort.

From outside on a balcony, one can barely see the four kids and Aaron devouring their scoops.

We passed this bakery and though we didn't buy anything there, I day dreamed a little over the lovely designs they did.

Another fun thing we did was a train ride.  Aaron watched the kids get their ride around the complex while Grandma and I got a few pretty souvenirs - earrings for each woman or girl.  I thought it was funny that the kids placed themselves in the different train cars by age.  

Evie claimed the front coal car...

...Lizzie took the first passenger car (see how she matches her car?)...

...Carson climbed in the next passenger car...

And Cole followed things up by taking a seat in the caboose.

Getting ready to pull off on their adventure!

Bye, kids!!

Something I considered in the novelty store were these cool-but-nasty-looking bugs in suckers.

This is the wall for the escalator, and even it was decorated!

In the laser and mirror maze rooms, we had some fun competition going on!  Evie, Lizzie, Carson, Cole and Grandma all took on the laser maze on their own, while Aaron and I tried to get a better score by being a team.  That didn't really work out.  Though we all did respectably well, the clear winner was GRANDMA!  It was so fun to watch!

The mirror maze required us to wear gloves, so we wouldn't smudge glass anywhere.

Aaron got a shock by realizing that at one point, he was looking at his own backside, with the unique placement of mirrors.

Feeling a little crazy by not being able to tell which way we were going!

Grandma tried to keep her phone going to catch our hilarity.

After finally getting out of both mazes, we headed for dinner.  As we left, I took a few pictures of the tiny, bright flowers that were everywhere.

Dinner that night was at Organ Stop, which we adored last time and loved still when we were here again.  Without a doubt, it's a tradition to have a meal here!  The organists are so talented and the food is pretty good, too!

Grandma taught Evie about flicking a straw with the ends sealed so it popped like a bubble.

Carson loved his Lego characters so much, they came along!

The kids raced ahead when we got back to the hotel, hoping to hurry into swimsuits for an evening swim.  They were chagrined that the slow adults were the ones with the keycards.

While Grandma took the girls swimming, Aaron and Cole chilled at the apartment, and Carson and I played a game of giant Chess.

After he beat me, he cheerfully set the board back up so that his sisters could play a round.

This was our last day with Grandma along, as her flight would depart early the next morning.  We certainly felt like we squeezed in every amount of fun that could possibly fit in the days we got with her!

Spring Break 2018, Day 4: Macarons and Legoland

Tuesday was an interesting day because we split up to have different kinds of fun.  Grandma, Evie and I met up with a couple of my cousins to make macarons, but first, we dropped off Aaron and the three younger kids at LegoLand.

Outside Legoland was a giant octopus made of legos as a fountain, and we spent a little time checking it out. 

There were some giant Lego men fighting with the octopus.

Inside the building, but outside the Legoland complex, there were neat seat screens.  The kids had fun playing with the designs that appeared on them.

Aaron took a few photos on his phone of the kids having fun at Legoland.  Here they are out side of the building, excited to spend the day inside it.

Lizzie made a snowman on a Lego board.  She followed a pattern to make it look right, and thought it was a fun thing to have done.

Carson built a cool mosaic.  His favorite activity at Legoland was just being around all the Legos.

Cole built a fun face onto his Lego board.  Cole really liked the rides, especially the one he went on with Aaron that went around and around.

At the end of their trip, each of the kids got to make three Lego characters to bring home.  I love how each of the boys is looking at the person older than himself.

Beware the scary Lego dinosaurs!!

Racing cars was easily a favorite activity!  The kids would have done this several times over!

MEANWHILE...

After dropping off the others, Grandma, Evie and I hit up a Walmart for some cute clothes to be worn later in the week, some benedryl that I took right away, (this one plays a role later) and lotion.  Then we got ourselves a little bit lost, but eventually made our way to my cousin Wesley's home, where we planned a few hours of macaron making and decorating with his wife, Darlene.  Her cats were aloof but ever present.  Darlene had already made one batch of macarons to be ready to decorate, but she tutored Evie through a new batch.

Evie got some very practical advice and practice while she worked the macaron batter.

I thought it was such a hoot that she was doing all the work for a time while all three of the adults present were taking photos of her working.

Look at that piping job!

Between them, Evie and Darlene did a couple pans of chocolate macaron shells.

Getting ready to put them in the oven after their resting time.

Darlene had so many toys for us all to play with to decorate!  There were shimmer powders, sparkle sprays, ways to make the powders into paints, stencils, several different kinds of fillings and so much more!  These are a few of Evie's decorating attempts.

Grandma, a watercolor artist, was in her element and did some beautiful paintings on her shells.

I just messed around with a little bit of everything I saw, so there was no continuity in what I did.  But I certainly had fun!

Darlene and Evie were a little frustrated that the chocolate batch didn't come up as perfectly as it ought to have, but they did taste divine!

Evie had so much fun!  She loved decorating and she loved eating them, too!

My cousin Amy joined after a little bit, and Darlene had pizza ordered in for us all.  It was a fun mess to make!

Grandma, Amy, Evie and Darlene in various stages of eating or decorating.

After taking those photos, I realized just how much the benedryl was effecting me.  From here until several hours later, my memory is a complete blur.  I know I sat drowsily on Darlene's couch, heard people talking.  I graciously allowed Jana to drive us from that point to the rest of the day.  Jana tells me that she drove to a yard ornament place, bought two pieces, drove to a gas station where Evie filled up the gas tank, drove to a post office to send her new yard ornaments home to herself, and then drove to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house. I was awake again after that to visit with Grandma and Grandpa, and to go to the pool with Aaron's cousin Megan and her kids.

Evie and her second-cousin Peyton had really hit it off and became such fast friends, Megan and I made a point of giving them an extra evening together.  They really enjoyed swimming, and Peyton's brothers had fun, too.  The older three jumped off the deep end lots of times, seeing if they could synchronize and seeing who could stay under the water longest. 

Evie, seeing there was no diving board, made her own fun ways to get into the water.  Several times, she did a cartwheel or roundoff in!

It was such a full day, and we were all so happy to be back in the apartment at the end of it!  The next day, we knew, would be very full at the Grand Canyon!