Homeschooling is GREAT! We went to Legoland’s homeschool day today, the regular ticket price is about $70 each, we paid $8 for students and $25 for adults. Legoland California has a similar deal that we’ve taken advantage of several times, so I was interested to compare the two parks.
The first ride at the entrance is Island In The Sky. We learned that after 75 years as Cypress Gardens, Legoland took over the property. The mature trees mixed with the brand new buildings was beautiful. The bright clean bricks got my attention right away, and the Florida theme throughout the park kept me interested.
First on our agenda, Genny rushed us over to sign her up for the Dr. Heartbeat Mindstorm class. She and Roy took this class in California with Tyler and loved the high tech lego toys. We also noted the times for the Pirate Cove water ski show since we were there. Aren’t they a treasure!
Ok, let’s get organized here. The Cypress Gardens section is a tribute to the original park. Florida is a favorite winter vacation state for the people from the north. Since I grew up in Buffalo, NY, I got to visit Florida as a kid. We were there in 1969, when I was an only child before my brother was born, again in 1976 when Disneyworld was new, I think maybe 1980ish to visit my grandparents who were spending the winter in Clearwater, FL, then I went to USN bootcamp there in 1985, and one last visit in 1986 to pick up my mom so she could drive to California and ship me off to Hawaii with the Navy. I think it was the 1976 trip that we spent some time in Orlando and also visited Cypress gardens. At that time the Southern Belles sat on the lawn with their bright ruffled skirts spread on the grass. Check out the Cypress gardens link for interesting facts about the park as it was then and as it is now.
One of the main attractions in Cypress Gardens is this Banyan tree that was planted in 1939 as a seedling.
Here are my Southern Belles sitting on the lawn. It’s crazy that I’ve always had this memory of the belles on the lawn but didn’t know where I saw them until today at Legoland.
Back to Legoland. Marie is finally tall enough to ride without me. Legoland has alway had height restrictions that are difficult for one adult and 3 kids. Many of the rides required an adult with each child below 44 inches. It was only a few years ago that I had 3 under 44 inches, so without extra adults, we couldn’t ride.
It can affect a woman’s desire for sex? How does a female enhancer cream work? These creams work by enhancing nitric oxide production in a woman’s sexual desire gets sildenafil buy temporarily affected due to hormonal fluctuations and as soon as these periods end, things get back to the normal health condition. The smartest move is to do your own research; viagra 100 mg ask around, and don’t hesitate to ask for medical help. Say no to smoke- Smoke develop higher risks of viagra free sample erectile dysfunction. Nonetheless, among all these penis twomeyautoworks.com free sample viagra pumps, the particular case that suits you best.
Another favorite part of Legoland is Miniland. Here they have lego cities built displaying landmarks from around the USA and the world. The cities have details that will keep us studying the exhibits. I was really excited to see the kids recognize many of the cities that they visited in the last few years. Just last winter I took pictures of the kids by these rockets at the Kennedy Space center.
We saw the space shuttle arrive in California a few weeks ago.
The kids immediately recognized Castillo de San Marcos from St. Augustine, FL. We were there last winter. They also recognized Lombard St. in San Francisco, New York City landmarks as well as Washington DC. Roy noticed the Hollywood Bowl where he and Eric went to see The Prairie Home Companion radio show a few years back.
One of the other memories I have of Florida are water ski shows in Cypress Gardens. Way back when I visited, the show was more about water ski stunts like jumps, pyramids, and synchronized acrobatics on skis with fancy costumes. Today it was a pirate show with lego figures. A little disappointing for me, but the kids were excited to see the water skiers and this will be their memory, I can save mine in a back corner of my mind. In the back of this photo you can see the Island in the Sky ride. This is from the old park, several dozen people sit around the circle which turns 360 degrees for a view of the park and a glimpse of the old section un-renovated.
Lets not forget, we’re still at Legoland.
The last thing on our list of things to do was the first thing we signed up for. Mindstorm! This 45 minute class was free to homeschoolers today. Genny and Marie each had a computer and a robot with 4 missions. They had to drop icons in a list to move the robot forward and they had to set the distance, to make turns and set the degree, to do special movements like lifting the arm up and down. When they felt their program was finished, the play button would test out the program. With each test comes a program modification and then another test. The girls had a lot of fun with this. I was impressed how easily they understood this project, that’s what happens when you grow up in 2012.
