This month we are doing something different. We are all busy as the year comes to a close and some of us were traveling. So we left the them open for each blog contributor to show their own choice for the blog this month.

For me, Richard and I had a 10 road trip planned starting out at Legoland to celebrate our little guys 4th birthday. We have never been to Legoland and so we did not know what to expect, but it was going to be a family affair for sure. We opted to stay at a hotel outside of Legoland and walk into the park each day. It wasn’t that far but when you are pushing a stroller with a baby, having a 4 year old who is walking, me lugging my heavy camera (and big mistake I bought a canvas bag to carry my camera I quickly learned it weighed a ton). While I love it as a bag I don’t see myself using it for my camera at all. Looking at my photo’s somewhere along the way I switched from my camera to my cellphone. So you have a mix of camera and phone photos

Heads up, its going to be a long post as I would like to get Legoland all done in one blog.

When you are traveling with kids, you always have to make a pit stop. Mom and dad had Ella, but we had Luka as he had slept over the night before.

We have never been to Legoland and we were not sure what to expect, but there were definitely some fun Lego characters.

Having walked half the park, the family decided the needed to eat and so we walked all the way back to the entrance so that we could go an eat at the restaurant. Did I mention Legoland has a lot of walking. Think Disney and all the hidden treasures.

Luka had a hard time focusing on eating or playing with blocks and most of the time the blocks won.

Of course, poor Ella is stuck in a stroller. This is her resting face. Our little girl is one serious baby but when she cracks a smile her whole face lights up.

Back in the park and Luka enjoyed a circular train ride that was super speedy and while it looked like it may have been fun, Luka’s baba got off of it and vowed she was not going on another ride. Next was the Carousel. Amy went on that with him.

Then came the biggie for our little four year old. Daniel said let him ride the horse. None of us thought he would go on his own but he did and he loved it. This has resulted in horse riding lessons on a real horse.

One thing I love about these parks is there is always a lot of color. We are back at the Dinosaur roller coaster.

The weather was off so initially the Dinosaur roller coaster was shut down so we headed off to the laser tag. Richard, Amy and I went with Luka. He loved that. Then it was back to the roller coaster. I am not a fan of roller coasters and apparently Daniel is not either. So the adrenalin junkies, Richard and Amy headed off with Luka to ride the Dragon rollercoaster. Above was Luka after the rollercoaster.

Next was another first, and I am not sure I was too happy about this one but he did go on is own. It was kind of a tower of terror for kiddies. The seat went up and down. Luka grabbed on to a stranger kid and did not let go until he was off the ride.

Of course there is always and African section and it always draws me to it. When I see the animals (even it they were only made out of Lego) it reminds me of home and there are times when I miss the smell and sights of Africa.

It’s spooky season in preparation for Halloween and so there were a lot of ghostly Lego characters around the park.

While Richard, Daniel, Luka and Baba went into the Ninja activity, Amy and I took Ella to a park table to feed her, get her out of the stroller and give her some tummy time.

Next up was a water activity that Daniel and Luka rode. It basically went around in circles but he seemed to have fun with it.

We spent some time walking around trying to find a boat ride that Amy said was in the park but it appears it was shut down for some reason. Next up was the Lego city and I think this may have been my favorite part of the park. I walked around thinking, I have been there at some point.

Vegas, check

Vegas, Check

St Augustine, check.

Miami, South Beach, check

This is probably the section where I took the most photo’s but there was too many to add to the blog.

Finally at about 4:30pm we were all walked out and decided to head back on the marathon walk to the hotel. On the way out I snapped a family pic of Luka with his dad, Daniel and Daniels mom, Luka’s Baba. (which is grandmother in Macedonian)

To end off the evening we headed down to a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. Walking back there was a fireworks display that we would have seen had we stayed in the park.

The next morning we were back in the park and ready to visit the “Sea” section. It was going to be a short day for Rich and I. We needed to leave no later than 2 to arrive at our next stop on our road trip.

The aquarium was a lot of fun and Luka really enjoyed looking in the windows, walking in the tunnels, and heading into the pop ups to get a closer view. Of course, the photographer gets pictures of him with everyone but herself. I need to get in more with him.

Next we headed up to the waterpark, which of course was at the furthest part of the park. There were all sorts of activities involving water, a lazy river, a wave pool, waterslides. Luka has gone to the water park at Lion Country Safari often, but he has always stuck to the little slide, and so he started out there feeling quite comfortable. At some point Daniel took him up to the big slide and next thing we know he is heading down the slide on his own, and he kept going back. As Richard said, it appeared that this little guy had had a real boost to his confidence this weekend.

He even got to “ride” the waves in the wave pool with Daniel.

Overall Luka had a super fun 4 year old celebration. At this point we had to leave, but they stayed and had more fun with him and went to the fireworks celebration. The next day they headed to the coast and took him on a dolphin ride. We headed up to Tallahassee overnight on our next leg of our road trip to New Orleans.

Thank you for joining us on this photography loop. This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My talented friend Lupji of Lupji Photography is up next. I look forward to seeing what he has to share.

Until next time..

Stay well