Well, we’re back home now, with a full 24 hours since we got home from San Diego.  Six days of fun, sun, and a little bit of sleep.

It was a terrific vacation, all things considered, including two 12 hour drives to and from our destination.  We enjoyed 2 full days of fun at Legoland California as well as good times with our friends who helped to secure our 2BR/2BA housing accomodations through their timeshare.  We got to celebrate a child’s birthday, and that with a first-time-meeting-in-person family of eight that we’d met over the blogosphere.  We were privileged to meet up with old friends, worshipping with their new church family, Grace Bible Church, the day after we arrived in San Diego.  And what Ding family trip wouldn’t be complete without multiple trips to Costco, Target, and our favorite (and not locally available) fast food joint, Chick-Fil-A!

As for Lois and me, we were perhaps a bit unrealistic in our hopes for ourselves.  We packed 6 different books, hoping to get some reading time in.  Alas, as usual, parents are never truly on vacation.  We didn’t get to go out on our anniversary (which lands on the same date as the aforementioned birthday).  And somehow, mysteriously, our camera disappeared en route from our hotel to dinner at a friends’ place.  Thankfully, we were able to pick up a new one at the nearby Costco, while still mourning the loss of the old one, so we could continue photo-documenting our trip.

But all told, our worst fears weren’t realized (unending crying on the long drive, losing a child in the amusement park, etc.) and new fond memories were made.  Here are a few photos recording those memories…

Kids in the van, still in their jammies, and cheerful in spite of being awoken at 5am to begin the long drive down (maybe it’s the sugary snacks we rationed out every hour or two to help keep them looking forward to something positive!):

300+ miles later, we realized our van was badly overdue an oil change.  So we stopped at a quick-lube joint and were served “with excellence, humbly, with a servant’s heart.”  Hmmm, I think I’ve heard those expressions somewhere before.

As you might expect, Legoland CA was the highlight of our trip.  In fact, it was the main reason we chose this destination, as the park was hosting the last of its “homeschool” days which provided admission at a greatly reduced price.  At the end of our first day, though, we felt as if we’d barely covered a fraction of the park… and then discovered for a mere $15/person we could purchase tickets for a second visit (within 9 days).  And so we did so, and went back again a couple of days later.  Here are some photos from our Legoland visits.

Kids modeling with Bob the Builder (made of Legos, as much of the park’s features are):

Kids checking out a model of the White House in the “Miniland USA” feature at the park:

… and standing in front of the Luxor Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip:

“Hey that looks familiar!” as they look onto a Lego-art wall mural:

The kids got to do a bit of driving themselves…

… and I even got to be in one of our hundreds of photos, with my lovely wife…

Calissa (at right), had some precious time with her friend Mercy, who was born just two days after her:

I think we were hoping to get smarter by standing under the huge Lego sculpture of Albert Einstein:

And we enjoyed some rides as well…

What photo montage would be complete without our now traditional “make a monster face” pose?

Of course, with five kids ages 7 and under, many trips were made to certain facilities…

The closing act was a great time at the water play area…

And to prove we were all there at once…

One planned visit that turned out wonderfully was meeting a previously online-only acquaintance, the Fisher family, who live in the San Diego area.  We got to celebrate Calissa’s third birthday, enjoy some loving hospitality, and talk theology all at once.  Here’s a photo of the kids (9 out of a grand total of 11) together at the dinner table, making (of course) monster faces:

“Fishmama” and Lois together:

Other highlights of our trip included three (!) trips to Chick-Fil-A for delicious nuggets, hanging out in the hotel room and by the pool, “hotel schooling,” and yet another long but enjoyable drive home during which we listened to an entire audiobook presentation of The Wizard of Oz.

Enjoying lollipops at the halfway point of Kettleman City on the way home:

The sunset as we approached Los Banos on the way home:

Approaching Gilroy, the kids had endured/behaved so well on the long drive, we decided to reward them with some simple toys from Wal*Mart:

Wow.  We may not do it again soon… but we would most certainly love to do it again!