Wouldn't it be nice if the world was LEGO....

As a child, LEGO was one of my favorite toys. Sure I had Barbies but it was LEGO that I kept returning to. My Barbie narratives revolved largely around getting married to one of my Brother's He-Men figures (I never did get an actual Ken doll. Read into that what you will.) Even in the case of my favorite Barbie, the independent and professional Dr. Barbie, she still went and got herself married to this guy, time and time again.
With LEGO though, my avatar was a scientist, a detective, she built her own house, albeit without walls, and all without the help of a cowboy or a spaceman, sometimes she was even the spaceman too.

So given this admiration for the wonderful and empowering imaginative substance that is LEGO, you can understand my excitement when I was invited to go to LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, California.

This place is big, but as we were there with children we didn't get to all the rides. Having said that, the roller-coaster-loving four year old went on more rides then any of us, while the seven year old was happily occupied in a giant room of Xbox.
What most excited me, however, was the miniatures, and you know how I love me a miniature.
Look its a tiny LEGO Hollywood Bowl;

   
and a tiny LEGO Guggenhiem;

and a tiny LEGO Sydney Opera House;

and a tiny LEGO chick getting pulled over by the Po-po.

A-Mazing.

But it wasn't all tiny LEGO things. There were GIANT LEGO thing too.
Look, he's Giant LEGO Einstein;

and Giant LEGO dancing giraffes;

and a creepy italian man with a camel;

Look here, I made a car!

I remember going to LEGO exhibitions as a kid somewhere in Sydney when the city was still a magical and geographically confusing place. The exhibitions consisted of rooms and rooms of entirely LEGO tableaus. Then we got to ride the monorail. Weeeeeeeeeeeee. Thanks for that, Mum.

To cap off a lovely rainy day at LEGOLAND I found the most awesomely cool bit of LEGO merch ever invented. "Cooler than LEGO man ice-cube trays?" I hear you say. Yes, kids. Oh yes.

My new LEGO Mp3 Player