Lego Mania!

On Saturday Griffin and I went to the Marsh Memorial Children's home fete. (Quinn was still away after a sleep over at a friend's house). This fete has become an annual event for us, it was our third year attending. It is just around the corner from where we live.

They take donations of toys, puzzles, books, clothes, bric-a-brac, baked goods etc and sell them very cheaply to raise money for the home. We donate a heap of stuff each year, and have fun spotting it again on the tables at the fete ;)

The things we find there are just awesome! Last year we got 4 full Bionicles in their cases, and in perfect condition, for R15 each. (They cos about R100 new)

So this year we were there at 8:50, in the pouring rain, in time for the 9am start, and it was well worth it...

Because this year we got Lego ** at R10 a bag!!! (Those see through bags like to get at fruit & veg city, or that you put your milk or rolls in at PnP). I got 4 of those and 2 big green flat pieces (whatever you call them, the things you build on). All for R44! SCORE.

Up to now the boys haven't really had Lego, as we have a big set of Duplo -both the real and generic kind - and the boys have been very creative with that. With just different sized and shaped plain bricks they made amazing things. Ships, jets, robots, dinosaurs, even transformers! So I didn't want to mess with that, and introduce fiddly specific lego pieces that are pre-shaped. Also I'll admit the mess factor was a consideration too, Duplo is much easier to pack up. But they are bigger now, and their room is more organised, so the only remaining constraint was cost. Lego is DAMNED expensive!

Over the past few birthdays they have recived a few small Lego sets, like a racing car and driver, or guy with skateboards, but not enough to really go wild with, so it doesn't get played with much on it's own.

But I suspect the Duplo is going to be forgotten now... Because when we got home and unpacked our stash we found EVERYTHING in there, sharks, horses, owls, windows, roof tiles, digger trucks, palm trees, police men, space ships, cowboys and Indians, Egyptian Pharaohs, skeletons, water skis, scuba gear, and even Harry Potter and friends (including Dobbie!), and Darth Vader & Yoda from Star wars! I kid you not. It's awesome!

Can you tell I am pretty excited about this? As I bought it, the man at the stall said, 'Your kids are going to love you' and I told him 'I think I am going to love me!'


It's play time!

It's hard to see it on this busy carpet, but this is the stash we got.

These are just some of the people in the set. We have since found wine glasses, a magnifying glass, spell book, broom stick,

** I also got a 100 piece puzzle of a baby fox, very cute for R10 and a stunning book for Quinn called Incredible Cross Sections "This dazzling book offers spread after spread of cutaway illustrations that reveal the hidden architecture of 18 celebrated structures, from a Gothic cathedral to a coal mine to the space shuttle. Details are so intricate that the reader will be tempted to reach for a magnifying glass--somehow Biesty conveys a sense of both the proverbial forest and its trees." for just R25.