Leggo My LEGO!

The other day, I told you about something that I did special with my daughter.  She's not the only one who gets my undivided attention...

I don't know about you, but I love LEGOs.  I truly do.  They are one of the few toys from my childhood--aside from my Star Wars toys--that I still get a HUGE kick out of.  

And I'm passing this love on to my children, the Cub Reporters.  

A couple years ago, LEGO opened a store here in one of the malls.  It's become a favorite hang-out for the Cubs and me.  We could spend HOURS in there (running back and forth from there to the Williams-Sonoma store to grab a quick sample bite of whatever they have cooking), just looking and playing with the LEGOs they have in the large bins and playing with the designer computer and building the mini figs to get "just the right three" for our hard-earned $10.

But that's not all!

The first Tuesday of every month is LEGO Build Day.  For the first 250 (roughly) children in line, they get to build and take home a small LEGO set.  Each month it's something different.  Each month, it's an exclusive for that day only.  Unless, of course, they have a few sets left over--but I've never seen that happen.

So, the first Tuesday of every month, my schedule is to take off from work at 2:30pm, rush to the north side of the City to pick up my two oldest Cubs at 3:10 (when their school lets out), then drive like a mad-man to get to the mall so we can stake our place in line.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

For about an hour and forty-five minutes.

Do you know what it's like for two ADHD-addled children to have to wait in a line in a mall for an hour and forty-five minutes?  DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE THEIR PARENT?  That's OK.  They're medicated.  It's still difficult for them, but it's still worth it in the end.

This month, the exclusive set was a hockey player.  It was really cool--and it was rather difficult to make  It took the Cubs about twenty minutes to put together.  Why?  They're not mini-figs.  Nope.  These suckers are made of about fifty tiny LEGOs.  

And they are AWESOME.

January's was rather lame, in most people's opinions.  It was a small cobra, made of about ten pieces.  It was supposed to be a tie-in to the new Ninjago series that they have (Ninjago are basically Ninja mini-figs that you put little swords in their hands, snap them into a disk, and then spin at each other to see who flies off their disk first.  There are good guys and bad guys.  They hold my sons' attentions.)

Next month is a garden snake coming out of the ground, with some flowers and grass on top.  It's pretty cool, because it reminds me of Natural History museums displays of snakes in the ground or ant farms--you see the brown dirt, and it has a tunnel on the side.  The red snake snaps into two little holders that are buried in the back side of that tunnel.  The boys are EXCITED about this, let me assure you.

The LEGO store also has--twice a month--a LEGO Club meeting.  Both meetings a month are the exact same things, so you can go to either one you want, provided you pay to go.  I think they're $20, but they come with several things.  Each child gets a shirt, and they get to make a pretty cool exclusive model.  In March, it's Star Wars, which the Cubs are VERY excited about (yes, I'm bringing them up right!  See?!?!?  They're little geeks like me!), and the shirt is AWESOME.  It has a LEGO X-Wing on it.  While I have no idea what the model will be, it is Droid themed.  So, I'm hoping for an Astromech (R2-D2 was an Astromech) type droid.  But it doesn't really matter to me.  Droids are cool no matter what kind they are.

Also, in case you're wondering, they do birthday parties!  w00t!  My 9yo wants to have his 11th birthday party (yes, we plan YEARS in advance if we can!  This year it's M&Ms.) as a LEGO party.  I bought the stuff this past Tuesday, because it was on clearance for $20.  Each box contained 10 invites, 10 thank you notes, 10 birthday-exclusive mini-figs, 10 badges, a magnet, and a pop-up centerpiece.  My 3yo loves it, and now wants to have one for his 5th birthday (this year is Spider-Man).  

And, if you can get to a LEGO store during the second half of the month of March, you'll be able to help build the Death Star Trench Run scene out of LEGOs.  

We!  Cannot!!  Wait!!!