It has been a loooonnng day but we are finally here in LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, California. Elliot and Oliver are in the middle of a treasure hunt in the hope to unlock their gifts that are securely stored in a safe in the hotel room 🙂

The flight was an hour delayed due to the fog in San Francisco which handily gave us the opportunity to feed the boys before departing. Virgin America did not let us down other than being a little delayed – the quality of the flight etc was absolutely spot on 🙂

The rental car thankfully is spot on too – a super large Chrysler Town and Country minivan with swish leather upholstery, 7 seats (two of which are now folded into the floor) and wait for it….. A DVD player in the back for the boys 🙂 Daddy *might* be off the hook for the crappy car we have endured for the last week

WINNER !

We are here for two nights so have given the car to the valet guys and the cocktails have been purchased 🙂

Happy days 🙂

Yesterday was our last full day in the bay so we had a leisurely breakfast at IHOP and the nipped to Saratoga for a few hours with the Folks 🙂 The boys enjoyed a couple of hours with Charlotte in Roy an Daisy’s pool before we all got in the car and headed out to San Ramon to have a BBQ at the Clephans with Ananth and Dave B (people daddy used to work with at AppSense a few years back).

It was lovely to see all the team and the boys really enjoyed playing with Christian’s lego and on their own games on his XBOX. Simon C is eagerly awaiting the delivery of his new Tesla Model S so daddy is highly jealous 🙂

Today we are heading down to LA via Virgin America flight 924 and then onwards to San Diego and Legoland 🙂

We have arranged for a minivan this time so we will hopefully not have the space issues associated with the last 7 days with the Toyota Prius Compact 🙂 it was certainly fun getting three suitcases plus all our hand luggage in it….

We did a little light shopping first things this morning followed by a couple of fun hours in Dave & Busters in Milpitas. The boys were ecstatic when they realised that D&B’s is essentially a Chuckee Cheese on steroids 🙂 We quickly dispensed $80 of credit and then found ourselves selecting $4 worth of ‘prizes’ – a worthy couple of hours nonetheless.

Quick lunch and then over to drop off Alex’ birthday present and then on to Golfland in Almaden for 18 holes of crazy golf. We dropped of the chocolate goodies at Muriel’s before reading out to Aqui’s in downtown Campbell for dinner – felt weird eating there without our bikes 🙁

A quick stop at YoghurtLand for frozen yoghurt and then back to the hotel where the boys are revving up for a quick dip in the pool before bed 🙂

A great day with tomorrow looking similarly good – few hours with Amy and Charlotte before adults dinner out at the Brazilian steakhouse on Santana Row 🙂

We set out for breakfast first thing (well 10am but that is first thing on holidays right?). We found a trader joes so breakfast and lunch were sorted in one hit – all for the price of a hotel breakfast 🙂

We drove on the 17mile drive around the golf courses and out at Pebble Beach next to Carmel.

We head down to Pfeiffer State Park where we had lunch and saw the waterfall before heading back to Carmel for the beach – we were not allowed on the beach at Pfeiffer sadly 🙁

Olly got soaked in the sea at Carmel so had to ride home in just a towel 🙁 obviously he was advised what would happen I he got wet but seemingly was not prepared to listen.

Finally an hour in the hotel pool before shower and out for pizza in the harbour area of Monterey.

We turned up at the hotel in Monterey this evening to find that yes Mr Rust we do have a booking for you – next Monday? Oh crap…. No sir, I am afraid we are fully booked tonight….

Then to top it all, it was a non-refundable booking … 🙁

Wasted £350 🙁

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