Block by Block

We have been trying something for the last five months. When we catch the kids doing something special -- helping a sibling with a chore, holding the door for the family, finding something that needs to be done and doing it, having excellent behavior at the store, saying "yes, ma'am" and immediately obeying happily, and more -- we put a sticker on their personal chart. A full chart (25 stickers) earns $5 toward a special occassion. Once, they chose to have ice cream night out with the family. Another time, all four pooled theirs to buy a family Wii game. After a child fills a personal chart, they get a new chart and we put a sticker on the family chart. The kids worked together then, to fill the family chart -- we were hoping more for positive peer pressure and praise among them for filling a chart (rather than bitter jealosy.) Before we started the "program," the kids worked together to decide to fill the family chart for a trip to the Legoland in Grapevine (not quite as fancy as the theme park, but still a very special event for us.) It took about four and a half months, but the kids were all so excited when we put the last star on the family chart. They had even been saving their $5 bonuses to spend at Legoland.

We planned the trip for the weekend we would be in Dallas for our nephew's birthday, and, again, I was thankful for the flexibility homeschooling gave us. We were able to be at Legoland on a weekday when it wouldn't be so crowded. Nana went with our family, and we all had a really good time. 

After we went through all the prebuilt exhibits, we went to the playzones. Maddie and Nana built a castle in the pink princessy room.

Allen and Will spent a lot of time building towers of Lego to try out on the earthquake table.

Jon and Ben built and raced cars and other wheeled gadgets on the racetracks.

All of us worked together to build with the big blocks that were in the toddler-zone (but we did that, when we were among very few people there).

 I floated between them all and snapped pictures, though none turned out like I hoped. We arrived at the playground just after lunch, and we overlapped with a large school group for the first hour or so. After they left, either because it was a school day or because it was pouring rain outside, there was hardly anyone else there with us. We played for hours. We rode the Harry Potter ride two or three times. Four times, we rode through the tunnels, shooting laser-type guns at the bad guys.

We watched the 4D movie twice and realized that the center of the theater gets more of the dragon sneeze water spray. We all had a great time, but the shop disappointed the kids. (Two days later, we took them to Toys R Us to spend their bonuses, and no one even got Legos.)

We all had a great time, and the kids are already working on filling the charts to get to go back. We finished the weekend at Beckham's party, then headed home late Saturday night ... all of us exhausted, but still glowing in the fun we all had together.