for the love of LEGO

In recent months, I have become obsessed with LEGO. And by obsessed, I mean I even sleep with a constructed LEGO set at night. so cuddly. 

When it came time to prepare for our trip to the northwest, I showed great initiative and packed everything I would need. And please note that I got far more use out of what I packed than anything else that was packed on my behalf. 

When I wasn't outside enjoying the lake or the ocean or the mountains or the park or the zoo or my new soccer ball, I could be found on someone's floor playing LEGO. I even acquired a few new sets during my trip. (Thanks Mike.)

Keeping LEGO sets sorted out can make one a bit neurotic but I have (mostly) done an excellent job of keeping it all in order. When I returned from my trip, the little boy who fed my cats / checked mail / watered plants had scattered thousands of LEGO pieces throughout the house . . . in no order. I have been struggling to deal with the aftermath.

We've also been trying to get ready for school. Just as we thought we had made it through the summer, we learned that my new campus won't be ready on time so the start of school is delayed but we can talk about that later since there might be another delay coming. Before my trip, I went to the doctor for my annual check up. I am still the healthiest child in the world! The only concern was my eyes. I failed a vision screening but they couldn't be sure if I really couldn't see the chart or if I was just misidentifying the objects; I called the crescent moon a worm and the circle looked like a dot. So I was sent to a pediatric eye doctor.

And I need glasses.

After enduring an hour of tests, my eyes were dilated for even more testing. And I seemed a bit impaired for the rest of the day. (Look closely at how huge my pupils are in the photo above. I had to wear sunglasses all day. It's a good thing I had my Mariners sunglasses with me when I went to my appointment!) I was well enough to collect my free cookie from the bakery next door and then request a trip to the LEGO store.

After much indecision, I finally chose the LEGO Friends first aid jungle bike. I know that there was a lot of uproar about the Friends collection when it first came out. This is my first set from that collection. As a LEGO expert, I can tell you that the "girl" LEGO is considerably harder than the "boy" LEGO.

The most annoying thing that happened though was that a LEGO store employee (what do they call them? block experts? something like that) tried to talk me out of my purchase. I was standing in line giddily clutching my LEGO Friends set and he approached me and tried to get me to buy a Star Wars set instead and gave me a full demonstration with guns and shooting effects. I wanted my Friends set because it had a monkey and a banana. A LEGO banana! What's better than that?