The stuffed animals on the trampoline – hilarious.

Let me try to sum up our feelings – we were disappointed and enoyed it at the same time. That’s the parental view. My daughter couldn’t have cared less either way. My son had a pretty good time.

It felt a little too much like we paid $20 a ticket to play with someone else’s Lego collection. I think I expected less “here you go, have at it” and more “look at this, here’s how this works, try this” from things. It seemed like too many of the areas were just “build something here” stations presented in different ways. For instance:

- There were Monochromatic Group Build areas. A neat idea. Tons of 2×4 bricks in one color for you to get creative on – by yourself and with others. Particularly notable creations got placed on pedastals and dispalyed for the duration of the session. Neat enough. Except that there were four of these areas (one pink, one green, one blue and one yellow). On top of that there was a Target-sponsored area that was essentially the same thing with red bricks and the added twist that you were designing a structure for the Target dog (whatever its name is – spot?). So five of the activity areas were building something with one color and one size of brick.

- There were a couple of different areas that were essentially the same ‘free-build’ areas presented under different pemises. Creation Nation took your creation and placed in on a large, blank floor map of the USA, creating a sort of skyline from the things the kids built. The Lego Construction Zone was the same thing, expect instead of a on a map, your creation was placed in one of several glass display cases where it stayed until more room was needed. The Big Brick Pile was just a big-ass pile of legos that kids were climbing on and throwing at each other. A neat idea on paper, but just a bunch of Lego bricks to dick around with in reality. Two large areas were also taken up by Duplo Build Areas where younger kids could fuck around with the oversized baby version of Lego bricks. The Mystery Mural Build let you take a small, numbered tile place colored 1×1′s in a predetermined patter on it and then place it on a big lego wall that, when finished, created a 2D mural of a city skyline with a nod or two to Pittsburgh tossed in. The Race Ramps was more of the same but with wheel pieces. There were some small ramps set up so you could race with friends or family or whatever, but nothing organized. Mostly kids whipping he cars down the ramp to crash and break them.

- The Model Museum and Brickscapes were essentially the same thing – cool Lego creations you could look at and take photos of. The Brickscapes were in glass display cases and often little “Eye Spy” things you could try to find. The Model Museum was just a small collection of those bigger statue-like creations…and even then, it turns out those are hollow with steel skeltons. They also has an “Adult Fans Of Lego” area where bonafide grown-ups were showing off creations. Simultaneously interesting and horrifying.

- Lego Games was exactly what it sounds like – sign up and wait 10 or 15 minutes to play one of the Lego games they sell. Lego Universe? Same thing. Wait in line for 20 minutes and sample the Lego Universe online game. The Video Game Gallery consisted of two (yes two!) kiosks. One had Lego Rock Band 2 set up to try (one game) and the other had three DS units attached running the Ninjago DS game. That’s right. A total of four kids at any given time could be checking out the video games.

- The Lego Retail Store and the Lego Marketplace were exactly what they sound like – chances to spend money. The catch was that the Marketplace had next to nothing beyond what looked like a small collection of the least popular licensed Lego items – watches, bracelets, shirts in odd sizes and a Bissel Brick Sweeper thing. Looked like a non-powered push vaccum to me. The Retail Store had nothing you couldn’t find in any Wal-Mart, Target or Toys R Us…and it had a 20-to-30 minute line the entire time. People were waiting a half hour to buy Lego sets that they can get anywhere.

- There were also some areas with local groups trying to sell you something – Boy Scouts, Radio Stations, Schools, the Pirates, whatever. There were raffles and Legoland info with a Legoland trip giveaway too.

- The best parts (and what I expected more of) were the areas with actual Lego builders interacting with the kids. The Master Builder Academy was a chance to get hands-on with the MBA product (yes, a sell, but…) and have a Master Builder there to answer questions and help out and stuff. The catch was that there was a limited number of classes. We got in line to sign up within 10 minutes of entering, waited 15 minutes and got one of the last spots of the day. The Activity Area also has a Master Builder on hand with various group activities and games going on. It felt a little unstructured, but was fun. There were also supposed to be Master Builders there with live Demonstrations, but we either missed them or they weren’t very prominent (I suspect the latter).

And that was it. The place really started clearing out about halfway through. We left about 45 minute or an hour early and felt like we were stretching to make it that long. As I said, I expected less “here you go, have at it” and more “look at this, here’s how this works, try this” – the Builders are fucking Rock Stars to these kids. There should have been more opportunity to see, hear and talk to them and less piles of Legos lying around for you to dick with presented as something more than Legos lying there to dick with. Set up little clinic areas. Set up a small stage and chairs and let these guys talk to groups all day. Let them give tips, answer questions and get the kids excited about the product and the possibilities. That’s where this thing really missed the boat to us.

With all of that said, I’d still give the experience a positive review. Definitely go and check it out. The price is right and you can blow a few hours surrounded by all things Lego. On the same note, I wouldn’t go again unless I knew there were major changes made. There’d really be no reason to.

Not sure how it’s possible to think of something positively, but also be able to say it was disappointing. Somehow Lego pulled it off.

When we get dressed for football practice and my son is adjusting his cup I’ll say, “Make sure it’s protecting the weiner and the nuggets” and get a pretty good giggle out of him. Bonus points if my daughter is within earshot because at her on-the-verge-of-being-a-teen-too-cool-for-you age, she rolls her eyes all overdramatically and says, “Why do you always have to say that when I’m around!”

Classic dad stuff.

Practice started this past Monday. Practice is 5 nights a week for two hours until school starts and then three nights a week for an hour and a half until the end of the season. Games are on either Saturday or Sunday starting in three weeks. It’s a bit of a commitment.

So we show up on day one and find our way around to where we need to be. The age groups are broken down by grade with each division being one grade level except for the youngest which is first and second graders put together. So many kids play football around here that each age group has three teams – White, Orange and Black. Once you’re drafted to a team you will play on that team all the way through the program until you outgrow the program after 6th grade. So this means that coming in to things, the second graders already are part of a team and the first graders need drafted.

What they do the first week is break the new kids into three groups and have them practice with the teams. They rotate each day so they get a chance to practice with each team one day then on the fourth day (Thursday) they do a draft and by Friday you know which team you will be spending your pee wee football career with.

Anyway, we show up on day one and get through all the initial stuff. The group my son was put into got to practice with the White team on the first day. It was a disaster. Everything that it shouldn’t be. In addition to the fact that this was new to my son and the fact that he’s not exactly talented at football, the White team took this much more seriously than I expected going into this whole thing. They really pushed and expected a lot from their kids and if you couldn’t do it, rather than help you, you kind of got pushed to the side. The coaches had an attitude and weren’t very likable. My son left the day saying he thought it was ok, but my wife and I were more than discouraged after two hours of watching my son trip over himself and essentially get ignored for the most part. To make it worse, the White team parents were already yelling and srcreaming and cheering on their kids – on the first day of practice. It was like every bad stereotype of childhood sprts happening at once.

We show up on day two with great hesitation. We were sure if we needed to rotate to the Black team or the Orange. (things were understandably chaotic the first few days) So I took my son and headed over towards the Orange team coaches and asked where he should be today. We struck up a conversation and something just clicked. These guys were personable, talked to my son like a human being who wanted to learn and generally gave off a good vibe.

Soon enough day 2 practice began with the Ornage team. It was the exact opposite of the White team experience. The coashes took there time with the kids showing them one-on-one the things they didn’t know or weren’t able to do. The stressed fun and learning over winning. They were nice guys who you could tell genuinely loved the game and the kids. After practice my son came running over sayng, “That was fun! I really like those guys.” We decided to really try to make an impact and after i had talked for a bit with the one coach before practice (by sheer luck), we made a point to approach them again afterwards and let them know how much fun my son had. (doesn’t hurt to put in face time and kiss a little ass to get what you want)

There was hope.

On Wednesday we rotated to the Black team. They were kind of the middle of the road. The coashes were decent guys who expected the kids to try hard and do well, but also showed them what to do if they couldn’t. The only catch here were some of the kids on the Black team didn’t take so kindly to the newer kids who were struggling a little (and that group included my son) – still it wasn’t that bad. Also the parent of this group were incredibly annoying. The real gossipy, team-mom types that you just want to slap with your dick. Still, the experience was livable and again my son claimed to have enjoyed himself.

So after seeing all three teams we were obviously hoping to be drafted by the Orange team. It was clearly the best envronment for a kid like mine who had everything to learn and it was more in line with what we think this should be for him at this point – learning and fun.

On Thursday we show up and find out that the draft won’t happen until later in the evening and the kids are instructed to practice with the same team they practiced with on Wednesday. We sat through another Black team practice and got the same impression as the day before. Nice guys. Work hard. Help out. Play to Win. Kind of a mix of White & Orange’s approach.

By the end of Practice on Thursday we still hadn’t gotten word and weren’t finished working it out yet and we’d find out when we showed up the next day. One more night of crossing fingers.

We show up Friday, anxious and apprehensive. I swear my wife was ready to pull my son from playing if he got the White team. There was still general confusion about the place every day until things got rolling and today was even crazier with parents and kids trying to figure out where to go, what team they were on and all of that. We hung back and walked around the perimeter of the field. We got near the Black teams practice area and one of those mothers came running towards up screeching, “Did you find out what team you’re on yet!?” We told her we hadn’t and as luck would have it, she had the Black team list in her hands.

Our son wasn’t on it.

It was all or nothing at this point.

I decided to bite the bullet and just go ask the White team coaches. I found one of the particularly unlikeable ones and was informed that the head coach was off getting his list and that they’d probably do something real quick where they gathered the kids and called off names to get everyone in the right place.

We backed off still nervous and after a few minutes it was clear that the gathering and name calling weren’t going to happen so I took my son and made the long march across the field to where the Orange coaches were gathering their team. I walked up and butted my way into their conversation and asked, “Do you guys have your team list yet? We’re still trying to figure out which team we’re on and not everyone has their lists yet.”

One coach said, “Yeah, right here.” and went to hand me the list and just as I grabbed it the coach I had talked to on Tuesday looked up from his papers and said, “Yeah, he’s on our team.” with a smile.

It took everything I had not to cheer like a little girl. Not only did we luck out and get picked to the Orange team, but the coach remembered us enough that he didn’t even need to check the list. Nice!

Friday’s practice went well and I can already see improvement in my son over the five days he practiced this week. It’s pretty cool to see him out there taking handoffs and doing push-ups in an awkward little 6-year-old style.

We go this afternoon to pick up his equipment and starting this week, the kids have to wear their pads (including tiny little cups – tee hee) to practice. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

On a side note, one of the cute little things they do is let each kid pick a nickname that gets printed on the team shirts and used in announcing the players – like, Jimmy “The Rocket” Smith or Billy “Mad Dog” Jones. Just a little element of fun that lets the kids add a some individuality.

My son rejected my initial suggestions of “Balls” and “Meat” (too young to know Porky’s, I guess) and while he has a week to come up with something, I’m hoping to influence the decision. He’s going to go with something cliched and generic like “Bulldog” or “Pitbull” (two ideas he’s been throwing around) and I think he needs something cooler, flashier and cockier.

I’ve got a week to convince him.

It just came to my attention again last night as we were watching TV and my son insisted a little boy on the show we were watching was in his Kindergarten class. Obviously, it wasn’t the same kid, but being the good dad I am, I challeneged him in a good natured and fun way. After a little back and forth I just gave him, “That kid looks exactly like the boy in your class?”

Little man’s response was great, “Yeah…except he (the boy in his class) has darker colored skin.”

Now at first some of the wackos out there are going to think that’s a bad thing. Here’s a six year old already noticing the ‘color of the skin’ thing. But I thought just the opposite. It was in the completely nonchalant way he said it – as if he were saying “No, he has a different color of hair” or “No, he’s taller” or something like that.

In his world people just have different colors of skin the same way they have different colored eyes or hair or whatever. I think that’s awesome.

Props to my Little Man who totally sold it. I think I’ll start calling him Mugsy.

A few more appeared:

A few moments later all of the little goslings showed up and started picking around for stuff to eat. They’ve grown a bit since their last appearance:

A little while later this couple tried to cross the street with some smaller babies and when traffic would come by the momma goose would give the car absolute hell:

The funny thing is everybody in town is pretty cool about the geese that live around here. I’ve literally seen 6 lanes of traffic just sitting and waiting for a row of geese to strut their way across the road. They run this town and they know it.

Then just for fun I took stupid pictures like only I can. Such gems as this:

I couldn’t believe how much the zoom lens compressed that shot. The intersection in the background is about a quarter mile beyond the hydrant (and I used Streets & Trips to measure). I’ll have to remember that for future use…somewhere.

The worst part is that until about a month ago you couldn’t even see that intersection through all the trees that lined the pond there. They cleared it out and I suspect office-type buildings to go in to match the ones they put in on the other side of the main road. It’s amazing how much that whole little area at the entrance to our little ‘community’ has changed just since we moved in – and that was less than a year ago. Meh, whatever – Little Man has a great view of all the excavation and construction vehicles from his bedroom window and I’ve caught him just hanging out watching them work a few times.

It was just a really nice evening out. :)