Michael Delving: Vacation!

It's been a few weeks now since the residents of Michael Delving returned from vacation, and an awesome vacation it was. We went down to beautiful Coronado with GranDma and Apu and spent a week there. Uncle Goose played gracious host and helped make us comfortable at our lovely beachside cabana (thank you, US Navy!). It was rough, and this picture of San Diego Harbor and Coronado captures the extreme suffering and hardship the hobbits suffered.

The cabana was practically brand new, on the beach, and is actually larger than Michael Delving, so needless to say, we had no trouble thoroughly enjoying it. Here are the hobbitlings enjoying a movie on the high-definition flat screen - a real treat when movies are usually watched on the Mayor's laptop with a single, 1-inch speaker!

The Hobbit Wife took wonderful care of meals, and the Mayor also helped, so she got at least a bit of a break.

We enjoyed some delicious food from our new favorite cookbook, The Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals

The Hobbit Wife brought an extensive collection of spices to liven up our mealtime. If you haven't done so, you have to try Smoked Paprika or Smoked Pepper - they will blow your mind!

After playing on the beach and running around every day, the hobbitlings were prime candidates for frequent baths!

Here's most of the residents posing at San Diego Zoo.

San Diego Zoo. Our overall review can be summarized in one word/gesture: "Ehhh (said with a shrug)" Woodland Park Zoo is actually more fun, in our humble opinion.

And now we come to the absolute highlight of the trip. It was all of our first time visiting the best theme park in the world - LEGOLAND! We actually visited twice - the first day, LEGOLAND was closed, so we drove home amid a shower of tears. The return visit was a non-stop overload of awesome!

The hobbitlings loved the Star Wars Miniland section. Here they are, pointing out details from "The Fairest Moon of Endor"

Fairest Moon of Endor

"Look! There's AT-AT-AT walkers!"

Boookie surveying the hangar (but not the scene) from which his nickname was derived. "Han, Han Ma Boookie..."

Seimi signing "More!"

Boookie sprinting ahead to the next thing

Ela is brave enough for any of the rides, but sadly, only just hit the 36 inch mark, so wasn't able to go on all the roller coasters with Mommy and Boookie. When she was sent off the teacup ride due to height restrictions, she sadly said, "Is it OK if I don't watch them on this ride? I'm too sad." The Mayor then took her off to enjoy some rides that nobody else got to go on, and that seemed to cure her sadness.

The best playground in the world

The boys on the best playground in the world

The residents of Michael Delving at the best playground in the world

The day we went to LEGOLAND, it was delightfully warm, so we were able to enjoy all the water attractions

Yes, Seimi is indeed drinking deeply from the free-flowing fount, which was closed a mere 10 minutes later due to "unexpected unsanitary conditions." For the record, said unsanitary conditions originated from a child not connected to our party, and the water was highly chlorinated.