Life with Dylan

Category: Lego’s

  • My obsession with organization meets LEGO

    Yes, LEGO is my son’s thing – but organization is mine. Aside from stepping on little pieces of plastic and coming to an abrupt halt midstream when I’m vacuuming, I have no problem with LEGO.
    Well, wait … maybe one little problem … organization.

    The majority of his LEGO pieces are nicely organized in plastic bins by color, but these tiny ones always seem to end up in a mish-mash of tiny containers and baggies. There has to be a better way to store the smaller LEGO pieces that will be easy enough for my son to keep up and satisfy my desire for organization.

    These are not the average LEGO pieces – these are the teenie-tiny ones. The ones that are so hard to find when needed for the finishing touch on your LEGO masterpiece.

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  • Wordless Wednesday – LEGO Star Wars and the Dark Side

    Once again, Dylan has gone to the Dark Side with Darth Vader at LEGOLAND California.

  • Wordless Wednesday – LEGO Portrait

    Thanks to the LEGO Photo App, Dylan has become one with his favorite building blocks.

  • Wordless Wednesday – LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon

    The gift that brought him so much excitement Christmas morning is now complete.

    1,254 pieces – 2 days of building – over 12 hours of hard work

    He is so excited and proud of himself – and so am I. Not sure what makes me happier – watching him open the gift Christmas morning or seeing his face when he showed me the completed Millennium Falcon.

  • Take a ride to the North Pole at Irvine Park Railroad

    Anyone can visit Santa at the mall – Why not visit the jolly man at the North Pole this year?

    Irvine Park Railroad has been transformed into a winter wonderland. Start in Santa’s Village with some cookie decorating and stories with Mrs. Claus – then board the train for a magical ride directly to the North Pole.

    Dylan and I went last week and had so much fun. He loved decorating sugar cookies.

    The train ride is my favorite part. The park is so beautiful at night with all the lights. You forget you are in a park and feel like you really are traveling to the North Pole.

    And before you know it, Santa is welcoming you with open arms.

    Make sure you bring your wish list with you … but in all the excitement you forget … don’t worry because Santa knows everything. He even knew that Dylan wanted Legos for Christmas!

    All the details, including pricing and hours can be found here.

    While at the park, don’t forget to visit the Orange County Zoo and wish the animals a Merry Christmas too! The zoo is decorated in holiday cheer and has this great picture spot by the waterfall at the entrance.

  • Christmas Shopping Plan of Attack

    Christmas shopping can seem like a difficult task for many people, but for a single parent – sometimes impossible. Finding the time to go shopping without the child takes some serious planning. Strategy is key.

    I knew what I needed to get. His list was simple.
    1. LEGO
    2. Star Wars LEGO
    3. Star Wars
    How hard can that be? Well, considering he already has every Star Wars LEGO under $40 I had some planning and budgeting to do. Imagine my excitement when I saw this ad in Sunday’s paper.
    A plan of attack was needed – and fast. At this price the shelves will be empty in no time.

  • Welcome to My World

    Those of you know me, know that I’m 100% girl. Not a tomboy – never have been. I grew up playing with Barbie and was one of those girls who put my makeup on after leaving the house. I quickly became an expert at applying eyeliner on the bumpy bus ride to middle school. I grew into a woman who loved makeup so much that I became a licensed esthetician and branded my own line of cosmetics for heaven sake.

    Then I gave birth to a little boy and my world forever changed. I was introduced to Matchbox cars, snakes and bugs, little shoes covered in mud, and the almighty building block. From the time Dylan was 16 months old he was playing with these large plastic things, Mega Blocks, that seemed to entertain him.

    December 2004

    It didn’t take long until he was playing with LEGO Duplo and then it happened. I bought him a LEGO set when he was 4 years old and shortly after took him to LEGOLAND. I made my first exceedingly large purchase to the LEGO store when he was 6 years old. Not realizing what I had started – until I saw the excitement on my child’s face – and our world has never been the same.

    December 2009

    Wooden blocks? Yeah, he played with them at preschool but never really asked for them at home. Rather than build something with the blocks, he would sort them by shape. He had Lincoln Logs and those seemed good – for a little while anyway. He made fences for his animals and would build the log cabin.

    Nothing held his attention longer than 30 minutes – that is until LEGO came into his life. I don’t even want to know how much I have spent on all the LEGO creations in his room, but how can I put a price on his happiness? (or the hours of silence I get when he is building)

    I recently wrote an article for OC Moms about why building blocks are great gifts for kids and after doing some research I learned a lot about the different types of blocks that are available for children.

    And over the years I have learned that the world of LEGO isn’t so bad – I actually like building with them – but don’t tell my son that. It might tarnish my reputation of being a girly-girl. I really hope that Santa brings him what he wants this year because I want to help build the Millennium Falcon!

    2011 Christmas Wish List LEGO

    What kind of building blocks do your kids play with?
    Do they have a special LEGO set on their Christmas list?

  • Brick-or-Treat Fun at @LEGOLAND_CA

    What could be better than spending a day at LEGOLAND California? Why going dressed in your Halloween costume and walking down Brick-or-Treat Trail of course!

    This is one of our newest Halloween traditions and quickly became our favorite. The park is decked out in all it’s LEGO glory – with a Halloween twist led by the good witch Hubble Bubble.

    From an over-sized LEGO Pumpkin and a Giant Ghost to the Candy Corn Scavenger Hunt and Brick-or-Treat Trails, this annual Halloween event has something for everyone.

    LEGOLAND looks at Halloween from a child’s perspective and brings all the creations of the tiny pieces of plastic to life. Great family fun at an unbeatable price … only $25! Annual pass members are free as long as you are in the park before 5 p.m.

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  • LEGO Club Weekend at @LEGOLAND_CA

    Another week, another visit to LEGOLAND, California! This time was extra special though because it was LEGO Club Weekend; which means lots of fun stuff, a special brick, and a scavenger hunt in Miniland USA for little green creatures, and what else … LEGO’s.

    LEGO Club Weekends are a blast because you never know what is going to be in store for you when you walk through the entrance. The first thing we saw was a black and green table with a crowd of people around it. Better stop by … here they were promoting LEGO Club Magazine (it’s free ya know) and the LEGO Club Weekend Alien Conquest Scavenger Hunt. Even though Dylan already subscribes to the magazine, they still gave him a copy of the latest LEGO Club Magazine and a LEGO Club pin to wear.

    Before hitting the scavenger hunt, we wanted to get our special LEGO Club Weekend Alien Conquest brick, so we headed over to the LEGO Club House located in Fun Town.

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  • Summer Vacation – Day 3 at @LEGOLAND_CA

    Last day of summer vacation. So far two days and two parks … can we make it three parks in three days?

    Of course we can … how could we drive right past one of Dylan’s favorite places and not stop?

    Besides animals, my son is addicted to all things LEGO … and his face lights up every time we visit LEGOLAND California!

    First stop, The Studio Store, to see what new STAR WARS items might be available. He didn’t even make it into the store before he spotted something he wanted. I foresee a very clean room in his future to earn enough money to buy this one!

    However, he did have enough money to buy a coveted Lego Minifigure. Of course, we had to open it right away to see which one it was.
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