Legoland 2008

I have been intending to tell you a bit more about our trip to Legoland last week. Originally the plan was that Embee would take a days holiday and come with us as he was very upset we didn't take him last year. However, since we returned from our trip to Portugal his asthma has been troubling him and he decided that he was not well enough to come!

Plan B was to see if I could get Beccy put on my car insurance so that she could drive~ this was not to be and to cut a long story short, the company I am insured with would not do it because she does not hold a UK driving license. The fact that she held one from the age of 17 until she moved to Ireland and then had to change didn't make any difference.

Plan C was that I had to drive and as Embee usually does all the long distance driving, together with the fact that since I retired I hardly drive any distance and it was not something I particularly wanted to do. Beccy assured me that once off the motorway she would navigate so no problems I thought!

The first little blip was that poor Ben had a nose bleed while we were driving on the motorway, we were nowhere near an exit or a service station so Beccy dealt with it best she could from the front seat. Ben was so good keeping all the blood contained with tissues and eventually it stopped.

Once we got off the motorway the traffic was practically stationary going into Windsor so we decided to take the alternative route across Windsor Great Park. It is longer but a much prettier drive and a lot less traffic..my navigator only missed one turning and we realised immediately and were soon back on route!

Once we were parked and into the grounds...Ben was busy choosing the order for the rides and his first choice was a new ride in the Land of the Vikings called River Splash. This was being built when we were there last year, it was great fun and I got very wet...Ben wanted to know why my trousers were see through...I hoped he was joking!!! While we were queuing I tried to get a shot of Windsor Castle which you can see beyond the trees. It was a bright day but the distance was hazy so it's not a good picture As we were walking away from this poor Ben got his second nose bleed of the day. He somehow feels them coming on so again we mopped him up and it soon stopped. We then headed for the Knights Kingdom for a ride on the Dragon (roller coaster). Ben then parted with some of his money in the shop to buy lego. It was soon after this that he had a slush puppy and after a couple of sips he felt yet another nose bleed. I think this one really frightened him as it was quite heavy and he wanted to know if he was going to die ( poor little chap he must have been so scared). We found a seat in the shade to rest for a while and generally have a chat about nose bleeds, which is quite common in boys (Dillon suffered when he was younger) but they usually grow out of it. Ben actually knows boys at school who suffer so we were able to reassure him. At this point he said he wanted to go home as he had done the two rides he wanted and done his shopping! We actually persuaded him this was not the best idea and he came and watched while Beccy and I went on the Pirate Falls (another wet one).
By this time he'd perked up a bit and decided he wanted to go to Boating School, he was delighted when he steered the boat around the course without getting stuck or bumping anyone else. We thought he did really well.

Close by was the Balloon School and as you can see below he put a lot of effort into getting the Balloon to rise! It was such hard work he needed a rest!
He reluctantly went on a boat ride through the Enchanted Forest but does this look like a child who is not enjoying himself......he was busily pointing out all the characters he recognised such as We actually spent more time queuing than going on the rides as one always does in a these places. At the end of the day we did manage to squeeze in a short 4D film which was great fun, with everyone ducking as missiles appeared to be coming straight for the audience!

The last little blip to the day was another wrong turn at a roundabout, again I blame my navigator, and we ended up getting back on the M4 via a short section of the M25 (this is a very busy motorway), we even passed an overturned lorry on the slip road. We finally arrived home at 10:30pm after stopping for a meal. I think Ben enjoyed the day so we did the right thing by staying..............

in case you are wondering there have been no more nose bleeds for Ben. When the family return here next week they intend to go to Alton Towers...not yet sure if I'm going!

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