the education of henry

14

2025-01-26

As you may recall from the last post, this week was my birthday adventure - which was already underway on Sunday of last week, when we went to stay in a hotel and I got my own room with a king-size bed! So many pictures this week, so let's get started.

Monday

Monday was Bricks and Minifigs Day! We went to three different locations, including one we had never been to before! The first shop was a bit of a bust - not much there I was interested in. But the second one we went to...wow! So much cool stuff.

Opening my present from Josh, Kara, and Freya.

More money for LEGO!

The Fire Nation ship! One of the rare Avatar sets.

Even though it was priced at $600, the guy at the store let me play with it and set up a battle.

Proof that I was there. Mom, too.

Of course, not everyone has my attention span for LEGO.

We didn't get a picture, but I did buy a big pile of minifigs at the second BAM - most of them were vikings, and almost all of them had Anglo-Saxon helmets. And then we had some lunch and went to the third shop of the day. Rob, the owner of two stores, was working, so we got to visit with him...and get a look around the expanded back room of the store, where I found some good stuff.

Examining the Battle for Geonosis set. It was a little pricey because it has a phase 1 Captain Rex.

In the back room - so much stuff just waiting to come home with me!

Looking it all over so I don't miss anything.

We talked to Rob for a quite a while, and he told us a great story of how he discovered and then caught some LEGO thieves. I also found a couple of nice smaller sets, including a Geonosian cannon with a couple of Geonosian minifigs for a great price.

Our plan was to go to the mall with Freya and Kara when we were done, but it was so cold (the high for the day was -6 F), and it got kind of late, so we just went by ourselves to get something to eat. And we stopped at the LEGO store while we were there, of course, and managed to get one of the Wolf Warrior minifigs that are so hard to find right now. Then back to the hotel to relax and enjoy my new LEGO. What a great day!

Tuesday

Another cold day, so cold that Freya's school was cancelled, so she was able to come to the mall with us to go on rides!

Freya getting some sugar for the day.

Ready for the first ride of the day!

Spin and swing, spin and swing...on the Mutant Masher!

Waiting to ride on Fly with Appa!

This ride was little calmer.

If you squint, you might be able to see Freya on the Splat-o-sphere.

My favorite ride: Avatar Airbender, or the skateboard, as we usually call it.

Kara tried some of Freya's sour candy.

Mom and Kara with Squidward.

Falafel for lunch (actually, we had this almost every day).

Dad and Freya.

Riding up to the movie theaters - I saw Moana 2 with Kara and Freya. Mom and Dad walked around by themselves while we were in the movie.

More rides after the movie - back on the Mutant Masher.

Kara and Freya.

I forget how many times I went on this one...but it was a lot.

Dad at the bookstore, where else?

Mom waiting for us to get done with the movie.

We hit the arcade for a little while before the day was done.

And that was it for the day - back to the hotel to rest up for the next day of fun.

Wednesday

My birthday!

Jonathan, Caroline, and Ned came up to celebrate with us, and go to yet another BAM store - this one is brand new and none of us had been there before.

Helping Jonathan hunt for bricks.

Our biggest haul of the trip: I bought the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set with a 30% off coupon, and Mom and Dad bought the Downtown Diner, the second-to-last modular building we needed to complete our set.

And then to the LEGO Store to build boxes!

We packed four boxes...

...and Jonathan's family packed four boxes.

Making sure I didn't miss anything.

The LEGO Store had the Jazz Club, the last modular building we needed, so we used some of our points to buy it, and now we have a complete set! I did not think that was going to happen on my birthday. It was very exciting - we've been waiting for years to get them all.

At the arcade with Jonathan, Caroline, and Ned.

We played a lot of skeeball...Jonathan was really good at it.

The baseball game was fun.

Jonathan was good at this one, too.

And he beat me at air hockey!

And he beat his Dad!

Jonathan agreed to go on the Orange Streak, even though he had never been on a roller coaster before.

If you look closely, you might be able to see my red hoodie, right in the middle of the picture.

Jonathan was not a fan of the roller coaster, and he was okay to wait while I went on a different ride - the skateboard. But, I forgot to take off my glasses...and they flew off at the top of the ride! We tried to figure out where they might have landed, but no luck. The ride operator called the maintenance crew and they found the glasses much farther away than any of us thought they would be. And they weren't even damaged! That was almost a very expensive mistake.

Mom waiting while the guy looks for my glasses.

The boys played mini golf. Eighteen holes! Lucky you, Dad only remembered to take a picture of the last one, or you'd be scrolling all day.

Dad and Ned tied, with Jonathan right there with them. I was a little wild, so my score was higher - I did get a hole-in-one, though!

We left the mall and dropped Mom off at the hotel to prepare for my little birthday party. Dad and I drove to yet another BAM and met Jonathan there. No pictures of that, but I did get a few more minifigures.

Back at the hotel, GG and Grandpa Kevin were there, and later Josh, Kara, and Freya came over. We had Little Caesar's pizza at my request, and Kara made a chocolate cake which was delicious!

Talking to GG and Grandpa Kevin.

Me and GG.

My card.

My present...I wonder what it is...

It was money - 100 $1 bills!

We had fun tossing the wad of cash around.

I even rolled in it.

Slo-mo money drop.

Playing Zelda with Freya.

And that was my birthday!

Thursday

And the fun continues! Back to the mall for more rides!

No glasses this time!

Mom and GG.

On the roller coaster.

Racing Grandpa Kevin. He won.

More skeeball!

Grandpa Kevin shooting some hoops.

GG playing some Monopoly.

On the Odd Coaster.

On the swings.

On the Rock Bottom Plunge with Freya. You probably can't see us.

We had some passes for the aquarium, so I went with GG, Grandpa Kevin, Freya, Josh, and Kara. It's been a few years since I've been there. Mom and Dad had some free time to shop with their own agenda. And guess where they ended up? The LEGO Store - they built two more boxes because some masonry brick got added to the pick-a-brick wall.

At the aquarium.

Not the aquarium - we made a short stop on our way to meet Mom and Dad.

And then we played mini golf again - another 18 holes. But this was in blacklight!

Dad had the best shirt for this.

Golfing with everyone was really fun. Dad and Josh both got a hole-in-one twice! I don't remember who won, but I think the score was close. And then we did some more rides.

Freya wanted to try the human crane game. I was fine to watch.

Another rock bottom plunge.

GG and Grandpa Kevin with Squidward.

And that was Thursday.

Friday

Friday was supposed to be another day of fun, but we had to change those plans. Mom was feeling sick when she woke up, and I was feeling ready to go home, so Freya and I did not go swimming. We went down for second breakfast, but Freya burned her finger on the waffle iron when she tried to get her waffle out, and we all agreed that it was maybe time to head home. So we did.

We had a lot to unpack when we got home. But before all the LEGO got put away, Dad insisted we make The Great Wall of LEGO Boxes (see the wall from last year and the year before). Now, this is all the boxes from LEGO Season, which is defined as Dad's birthday through my birthday. So it is all the LEGO we added to our collection. And yes, as usual we went a little overboard.

I'm in this one for scale.

Saturday

Mom was still feeling sick, so she is in quarantine. Dad and I had to go without her to the LEGO contest we signed up for. Jonathan and his family were there, too. Jonathan did the solo competition, and Dad and I were a team.

Jonathan getting started.

He made an underwater scene.

And he won!

And then it was our turn.

We struggled a little - we started over twice. Maybe three times. But we got there in the end: used all the pieces and built something interesting. Or at least weird.

Waiting for the judges.

Explaining my creation.

I won, too! I mean, we won, too!

The LEGO contest was fun. I hope rec center does it again soon. The rest of the day we just stayed at the house. I worked on LEGO projects. Dad and I watched a movie called Real Steel, which I really liked.

Sunday

We spent the day around the house. Mom was still sick, so she was resting and trying to get better. Dad decided to hang new smoke alarms. When we got home on Friday, the smoke alarms were going off. Nothing wrong in the house, but they were going off and would not stay quiet. The alarms were past their expiration dates, since it was more than ten years ago we replaced them (it was right after this happened.)

Dad installing one of the alarms.

And there you have it - my birthday week. You made it all the way through the 100+ pictures. Thanks to everyone who helped in the fun and in the funding of the fun. I know that wall of boxes is impressive, but I didn't even spend all the money I had saved up - so there is some left over for the next adventure, whatever that might be.

That's all folks! Take care!