Denmark

When you are blessed to have friends like family you hold on tight - through the years and the miles.  Back in 2009 we were blessed to have the Sorensens as neighbors and they became like family.  Their kids (Mads & Ida) were like our niece & nephew and we have had the pleasure to watch them grow from 4th & 6th graders to fantastic young adults.  Here is Mads, showing that he's not too cool to show the girls around.

Simon and Jonah, and then again later Allan and Anna, took a crazy ride on the swings.  Apparently you get a great view of Copenhagen and even into Sweden from those heights, and all the riders loved it!

Anna and a giraffe at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.  Given Anna's lovie is a giraffe, this choice is totally on point.

Ida & Mads posing with our kids in Hillerod with their town castle in the background.

What was once the castle in Hillerod has now been claimed by Julia as her new home.

King Jonah.  I think the crown suits him.

Julia also tried her hand out at royalty.  She quite liked it, even if it only lasted a few minutes.

Julia, with her Danish flag, fitting right in.

Brothers at the playground.

Jonah and his best Danish friend, Simba.  Jonah doesn't remember Simba from his baby days, but it didn't take long for them to get reacquainted
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The kids at Legoland.  This place blew all of our minds!  The hotel was so full of character and the park itself was perfect for our family.  The cruise may have exposed the kids to all sorts of culture, but it is the Legoland portion of our trip that will really stick with the kids in the years to come.

Anna and Indiana Jones - Lego style.

If there is a princess, Julia will find her.  This is of course the famous blue Lego princess.  Unlike Disney princesses, Lego princesses don't seem to have a persona they need to adhere to and are able to freely interact with visitors.  I don't know much about the blue Lego princess, but it was a lot of fun to meet her.

Jonah giving Julia a ride around Legoland.  Because of Jonah's disability, he got a special pass that allowed him and 3 "helpers" to by-pass all the lines.  His ability to have the pass was born out of this last year, so the cost was very high, but as we accept that this is the season we're in, it did help enhance our experience.

Noah and Anna now have Danish drivers license.  Ok, they're only valid in Legoland, but the kids were really proud - and also prepared to try and drive the rental van.

What's better and 1 giant cotton candy (candy floss if you're Danish)?  Clearly, 2 giant cotton candies.  Fear not, we managed to eat both of them with no trouble.

Jonah, doing his part to reduce our cotton candy burden.

The girls also did a nice job in cotton candy consumption.  The picture doesn't do justice to the blue sheen that covers Julia's face, nor the strange shade of blue that Anna's mouth is.  In the background, you see Noah & Simon skipping the cotton candy in favor of ice cream.  I may be bias, but I think the cotton candy crew were the winners in this afternoon snack.

The girls were so excited to see the Lego Friends characters!  I usually don't love gender specific toys, but for Lego Friends I make an exception.  There certainly are some general Legos that appeal to my girls, but more often than not, it's the Lego Friends camper, boat or airplane that catch their attention.  If it takes white and pink bricks instead of grey and green bricks to engage their sense of building and creation, I don't feel like that's a hill to die on.  It may or may not help that one of the Friends is named Stephanie - just saying....

The littles on a boat ride.  Although I'm sure the boat would never actually tip over, it wasn't a tight fit into the track and so you could get it to rock side to side a bit.  I'm happy to report that even after 2 times around neither Jonah nor Julia had managed to tip the boat over and they still had fun.

This frog jumper ride was Julia's favorite ride in all of Legoland.  I'm pretty sure that she rode it at least 6 times in 2 days and she would have kept going if we'd let her.  It was always just a touch more fun for her when Jonah would ride with her.

The bigs were barely small enough to ride the carousel.  This because obvious when they spent most of the riding trying to look like they were riding real horses instead of enjoying the ride.  They had a lot of fun though and I love that they figured out how to enjoy what would otherwise be considered a "baby ride" so that all the kids could be on the same ride together.

Jonah enjoyed the carousel ride simply for the ability to be on a fun ride.  Didn't you know that Spiderman rides a horse?

This is the "man" just inside Legoland from the hotel entrance.  The best part is that this is the uniform of the welcoming staff at the park.  The real "welcomer" was just behind that yellow sign and tried to photobomb the picture once he realized we were there.  Unfortunately his timing was off and he didn't make it, but we loved that he tried.  There was such a spirit of fun to be shared at Legoland!