4th of July at Legoland

Last year for July 4th we spent the day in Hong Kong Disneyland and watched the castle fireworks as our July 4th fireworks. This year we wanted to do something special to celebrate Davis' birthday and his first official July 4th in the United States. Enter Legoland's "Red Brick Boom" celebration. We decided to use our passes and spent this July 4th there. It rained off and on but we still managed to have a good day together. Our first stop was for Davis - the new preschool area called Duplo Valley. 

Then we let the big brothers ride Legends of Chima and get soaking wet without us. 

Merlin's Challenge is always one of Davis' favorites - he kept yelling for it to go faster. 

Someone was finally old enough to ride the Royal Joust - you have to be 36 inches tall (he's 38in) AND at least four years old. He was so happy to ride the horses that we waited over 30 minutes in line even while the ride was shut down for the weather (Parker played legos). Davis was one super happy camper and the big brothers enjoyed the ride too. 

Time for a 4D movie. 

A new feature at the Imagination Station was this solar powered globe. We loved all the landmarks made of Legos placed on the globe, especially the ones we've seen, including Lady Liberty, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China. 

The big boys got to drive cars again. 

Mama and the boys all helped make big Lego bricks to be part of the large flag that was created for the 4th. It looked awesome when we saw it finished later on that day. 

Time for a refreshing icee tree while we watched an outdoor show - "The Big Test" 

We finally caught the last Pirate Show of the day at 5pm. We had been seated and waiting for the 3pm show when it was cancelled because of weather. Parker got soaked again - he got a seat by a water cannon and got to participate in the show going up against one of the pirates. 

The grand finale to the show - the big crane in the background is from the construction on the Legoland hotel that will be done next summer. 

The big brothers on the Kid Power Towers, with Davis anxiously watching their progress. 

We got to meet Emmett and Wyldfire from the Lego movie. Davis LOVES characters and kept trying to talk to them instead of standing for the picture. 

Baba and the big boys rode the Aquazone Wave Racers. 

Back for a different 4D movie - someone used the time for a nap. 

We got our special glasses for the fireworks and headed into one of the stadiums about 7:45 for the 9pm show. There was a dance party while we were waiting and the big guy felt like showing off some of his moves. 

The little brothers weren't really into dancing. 

Wesley mostly observed and sang along - Davis clapped. 

Emmett came back out with one of the hosts for the evening; the boys recognized him from the  pirate show earlier in the day. 

A view across the lawn full of people and the other stadium also full - big crowd for the fireworks. 

The fireworks lasted for 20 minutes and were really well done. The first ten minutes was all inspired from the Lego movie and the glasses made the fireworks look like lego bricks (you can't see that on the video). The last ten minutes of the show was a patriotic tribute and one of the Lego characters came out to stand on the stage with the flag.