Done!!!
last update: 12/26 @ 11:24

Notice how dark it is outside.

We thought we might watch Wonder Woman after dinner.

But Mos Eisley took a good, long time to build.

Let’s see if Robert comments on the hours invested.

It does look really cool.

And will be in Robert’s collection for a long time.

He even added some extra storm troopers to help out on patrols.

Serious parental win on getting this before they sold out — Thank You SZap!

Construction resumes
last update: 12/26 @ 11:19

Robert was back at it after dinner.

His parents were nice enough to clean up while he was building.

And Sarah popped the chocolate molten lava cakes into the oven.

Robert was sure to need a bit more sustenance to finish up.

It was really taking shape by now.

And clearly it was going to be very cool when completed.

And Robert was really focused on finishing it in one day.

One, long, long day…

The work starts…
last update: 12/26 @ 11:05

After a break to relax and munch on something…

…Robert started building Mos Eisley.

It’s a pretty cool set; lots of detail, lots of guys.

And, as Robert noted, lots of cool play potential after it’s built.

Of course, that means building it comes first.

Or at least enough to have a scene to play in.

You’ll maybe notice as time passes, the change in light out the window.

It tool a while to put together.

Even a bit of snow!
last update: 12/25 @ 13:02

Conversational, but snow none the less!

(And yesterday’s high was 60 degrees.)

Sarah got the prize for largest box this year (5MB gif).

You’ll have to ask her what was carefully packed inside.

Robert got a pretty big box too!!!

We’ll see how long this keeps him busy.

Just in case, we added a couple leaves to the table so we can still eat there if he’s not finished with Mos Eisley by dinner time.

Interesting for this Lego set, there are multiple bags with the same number. While 18 was the largest number, there are closer to 30 bags of pieces to put together.

Florida Trip
last update: 12/06 @ 16:26
Lot’s more photos from our trip to Florida (Legoland was only the first part of the trip) are now in the vacations section.

Thank you Nick and Trish for the invitation to your stellar wedding.

Legoland!!!
last update: 12/02 @ 22:50
Is that not the picture of a happy boy?

We stopped at Legoland on our way to Marco Island for Nick and Trish’s wedding. It was a great time, lots of fun and more time that we were able to spend with the full Zapolsky clan in forever.

Besides Legoland (which may be Robert’s highlight — but it’s hard to tell), we had fun at the beach, checked out the alligators and celebrated a great wedding on a great day. CONGRATULATIONS Nick and Trish.

More photos later but I had to share both the before…

Lego Excitement
last update: 08/02 @ 21:20

This kind of puts our Lego brick collection into perspective: way more than anyone needs, but clearly not in the same league as the true serious aficionados.

The best part, is it seemed like everyone, both the folks who did the building and the gawkers, had a good time.

There was a sense of whimsy in most of the displays.

Even the serious battle scenes often had something fun to beak them up.

The less serious scenes took even more liberties: Batman and Catwoman on a Ferris Wheel, along with Emmet and Wildfire.

A cityscape taken from several movies that included motors hidden in the rafters so Superman could save the day as a small plane came down and almost crashed.

Then Lex Luthor showed up in a helicopter outside the Star Wars museum.

There were lots of space age creations.

And painfully accurate World War II models. Not to mention the Boar War, Civil War and many castles being stormed by hordes or defended by dragons — sometimes both.

And lots and lots of city scapes — Lego trains have really taken off (including one designed to look my DC’s Metro).

Brickfair
last update: 08/02 @ 21:07

I don’t have enough words to go with the photos.

Really, the photos tell it all.

We went to Brickfair again this year. This time, Sarah got tickets in advance (advertised as getting you into the show without waiting in the long lines).

Last time the line was so long, and it was so hot, we gave up, and had a good time at the Udvar Hazy Air and Space museum and Sushi-Go-Round.

This time, the pre-puchased ticked line (around 1:30, when we showed up) was about 45 minutes. We were told the purchase tickets day of line was longer — but we avoided that, fortunately.

Once inside, it was less crowded (rumor has it the fire marshal was being stricter on how many folks were allowed in at a time). And full of Lego constructions.

Robert was most interested in the various military displays. Star Wars displays were a close second. The adults were impressed at the time and effort that went into many of the creations — and wondered how many folks have houses big enough to build those things.

Of course, the Lego Movie had to make an appearance here and there. This version was fun as it showed the movie on the drive in’s screen.

Birthday week winding down
last update: 07/26 @ 18:58
Can you wind down with a bang?

As Robert’s birthday week of celebrations comes to a close, we took the new Silver Line metro out to Tyson’s Corner.

If you don’t know, Tyson’s Corner is the home of the Lego Store! New this year, Robert brought his own money and a Lego gift card. He was very careful in selecting what he wanted to get. Fortunately, the selection there is impressive.

For those keeping track, he still gravitates to Star Wars sets, but he did a good job looking over the whole store.

It’s tempting to say those are all Robert’s plates, but he did have some help making that stack. It’s both tasty and fun (and a bit crowded, especially if you want a table seat).

It seemed clear to us that the new metro line is a good thing for Tyson’s: there were a lot of folks there with the Silver Line pennants they were giving out at the new stations today.

We successfully delivered two Wimpy Kid books to it today — and Robert promptly read them both. We’ll have to look for something more substantial and get him all wired up to the Alexandria Library’s eBook collection (sorry Amazon).

Sucess
last update: 07/22 @ 21:28
AT-TE built and we made it to dinner! An excellent birthday all around!

The Minecraft Lego set is for tomorrow, Robert says.

Birthday Bash continues
last update: 07/22 @ 16:10
One of many gifts Robert received over the last couple days: Lego AT-TE from the Star Wars realm. Will we make it to our birthday dinner tonight? Will he finish it this afternoon or be willing to put it down? Inquiring minds want to know, but only time will tell…

Annual Art Shoot
last update: 06/28 @ 19:35
It’s time for the annual school art pictures. This year we’re adding a couple items from summer camp. This is Robert’s Dinosaur and Diorama camp diorama.

He really enjoyed the Smithsonian camp and the extra bonus of getting to ride the train in with Sarah — they mostly took the VRE, occasionally the metro. I don’t know if Robert realizes how good he has it to have some many transportation options at his fingertips.

Tableau Complete
last update: 05/11 @ 11:29
… at least for now.

Mother’s Day Legos
last update: 05/11 @ 09:27
The space port is coming along very well. Of course, Robert has the extra cool fighter, but Sarah’s ship has air breaks.

Team Brick-o-bot
last update: 03/02 @ 20:38
Robert and the rest of team Brick-o-bot working on their Lego Robotics project. It’s going to be a train with a mangler in one car when they are finished next week. The theme was what invention(s) has changed the lives of seniors. So they interviewed a senior and settled on trains and the old mechanical wringer (mangler) for washing clothes.

Christmas Tree!!!
last update: 12/09 @ 15:56
We walked over to the Christmas tree lot and picked out a good one this afternoon. As usual, there was a lot of sniffing from the kitties when we brought the tree inside.

Then we settled into decorating it — trying to keep the glass ornaments out of paw reach. With the ornaments came the Christmas books — and Robert can’t pass up a book…

Summer Camp
last update: 08/08 @ 17:26
Robert took his camera to Lego Camp last week. They did some free form building and some serious sets.

Robert said there were about 6 people working on the Tower Bridge over the course of the week. It looks pretty cool to me.

The bridge is a draw bridge and they had a boat going through it for a while.

The whole day was not devoted to Legos, they had a pool and other fun things to do as well. But the Legos were a big hit.

Legos winding down
last update: 06/15 @ 22:00
Robert and I hung out for a while in the Lego room at the National Building Museum between taking Zip Drive to the vet and our eyes to the ophthalmologist yesterday. I don’t think they will be extending it again so we’ll have to say goodbye to the excellent Lego room in September.

Kitchen Sink Whitewater
last update: 06/06 @ 21:18
Robert just announced that he wanted to play in the sink when he got home from work. I said it was very important to make sure all the water stayed in the sink.

When I came back, he had this whitewater course set up for his intrepid Lego boater! Maybe we’ll take the canoe out next week between school and camp…

Return to Legos
last update: 04/18 @ 19:14
Robert had a short day at school today so the faculty and staff could participate in a meeting with the re-accreditation team. That combined with the cool, drizzly weather seemed like a great reason to head back to the National Building Museum and their Lego room.

Robert and I built this bridge; well.. I built this bridge with encouragement from Robert (it didn’t take much encouragement). And then Robert wanted to add a little bridge keepers house at the top.

All was not lost, clearly. This is the bigger, stronger, faster bridge after being rebuilt. The museum staff who were cleaning up said they would leave the bridge up for a while — most structures get recycled after a couple hours. The bridge might make it overnight, since they were closing down as we left.

Legos
last update: 12/20 @ 19:05
Robert has been very into Legos of late. After we watched an Ultimate Factory TV show on the John Deere factory, he constructed much of the same equipment to build battle tanks.

Then the factory was left beside all the cool vehicles he could build. Like the revolutionary war, horse-drawn sled to carry his attack airplane with dual blasters. No one can fault his imagination.

Lego Brick Fair
last update: 08/07 @ 19:05
This was quite the gathering of Lego aficionados. It was actually a little scary how seriously some folk took this.

Then there was the the just for fun, like the “Grand Ball Contest.” A huge Rube Goldberg contraption for moving balls around several tables. In the background you see the tower, probably 15 feet tall — the balls were carried up by conveyor belt and dropped into a hopper.

From there they were shuffled onto the Ferris wheel and through a few more motorized constructions and a switch-back ramp just like Aaron has for marbles to the end of the line. A Lego train picked them up for the trip back down the tables, around the bend and up the tables on the other site to the starting line.

(Robert had a good time too.)

Fun day
last update: 03/06 @ 14:19
Yesterday was crazy busy but a lot of fun. Sarah started the day running some errands and finishing up the class project for the school auction. Then we headed over to the school to work on setting up the gym — we were part of the balloon inflation detail.

At noon we headed into DC for a Harlem Globetrotters game. Sue and Evan met up with us there. The boys had a great time and I regret that I don’t have a photo of the huge belly laughs after pants were pulled down at mid-court. It was fun for me to see that over the 30+ plus years since I’ve seen them, not too much has changed. The bucket of water that turned into the bucket of confetti was still part of the show. (The pre-game show with “Globey” singing and dancing was all new, if for no other reason than iPods were not around when I was Robert’s age.)

After a too brief visit with Sally, we saw her to the metro station and headed home for a parents night out at the big fundraising auction for the school. The food and drink were great, the conversations fun and we managed not to walk away with anything we didn’t really need. It was fun to watch the bidding war over the case of the best wine made — but $200 per bottle is too rich for our blood.

Lego Madness…
last update: 08/15 @ 17:07
Robert and I checked out the “Lego Architecture: Towering Ambition” exhibit at the Building Museum today. It was really cool. For the record, this skyscraper is too big for our house. A few more photos in Robert’s section.

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