Living Our Best Life: Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham

We didn’t tell the boys we were going to Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham until we were about 25mins away. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up let alone Bilbo. And today has been a really, really good day. We’ve had so many laughs, giggles and normal parenting challenges…

Preparation

Yesterday I talked about how we are getting used to our new normal. To prepare for a day trip like this I had to prepare.

I had a chat with Bilbo’s nurse and doctors last week. Do we opt to take him for a day out or keep him wrapped up in cotton wool? Bilbo is bursting with energy from the food and steroids.  But he is also neutropenic. Dealing with this is going to be an ongoing part of our life so we need to take precautions. He will also start to have less energy, it is important we do what we can whilst we can.

I called Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham to get some basic information last week. I needed to know:

• What their quietest day might be.
• Whether they had large numbers of school trips booked in
• What the facilities would be like for Bilbo
• Could we bring our own food?

What is Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham?

It is basically heaven for any die hard lego fan like Bilbo. Unlike Legoland Windsor which is a HUGE theme park and mostly outside. This is a much smaller indoor place. Rich booked tickets last minute yesterday for 10am today, with it being term time it was lovely and quite in fact there was just a handful of families for the first half hour.

Where to begin?

We started with a ride on the Kingdom Quest. We all had a laser and had to shoot the spiders, trolls and skeletons, to save the princess and the “crown jewels” which was actually a dragon egg.

Then you walk through the model lego city. The entire room is modeled on Birmingham and the surrounding area and the boys came back here time and time again. There were lots of buttons for them to press and every 10mins the lights go dark and it turns into a night time cityscape complete with fireworks.

Once you’ve completed this room, you end up in the main section. A room full of lego themed fun:

• You can make vehicles to race in Build and Test
• Lego Friends has models to replicate
• A big tub of lego big enough for H to swim in…
• Huge Lego City  themed soft play
• A clock that every 15mins opens and a dragon comes out to the tune of “rock around the clock”
• 4D cinema
• Duplo Farm soft play
• Merlin’s Apprentice ride where you have to pedal to make it go up in the air
• Lego Master builders academy where you can learn from the experts

Since it was so quiet I felt less stressed about germs but i’m still paranoid. After each time Bilbo dipped in the buckets of lego we used antibacterial hand wash on all of us. We brought a picnic with us (not least because we had to feed Bilbo on the half hour)

Feeling Normal (whatever that is)

It was sooooo much fun! And for a few hours we forgot about everything we’ve been dealing with for the last few weeks. We felt normal and it felt good.

We debated heading to the German Christmas market but decided that it might be a step to far. On reflection we made the right decision…

Bilbo has a new craving…Pizza Express dough balls. Rich picked some up from Tesco and the rest of us enjoyed chicken, leek and bacon pie courtesy of our dear friend Jo ( thanks mate it was yummy).

And it is Monday so Hello Fresh arrived!!! HURRAH!!

Bilbo wanted to rest and very shortly after that he wanted to go to bed, it was 5:45pm, i’m noting his bedtime is getting earlier and earlier. He has at times looked tired today, we’re slowly seeing the chemo take its toll.

#parentingwins

But since this post is a positive one, I will focus on the normality of life. As Bilbo and I  cuddled up in his bed as we do every night he decided to trump on me before telling me to get out.

And H has chosen this week to explore the potty…yesterday we were treated to naked yoga as he hopped on and off for his first, second and third wee on a potty. And tonight after dinner H enjoyed some “free” time and used the potty again. He is so proud of himself and is also enjoying the excitement of getting to wash his hands like a big boy…

Today was a good day!

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