A boy and his love of all things LEGO, especially LEGO Star Wars

After we were done at the LEGO Store we headed down into Chinook Mall's main foyer to help Dan the Master Builder construct the 8 foot tall LEGO Buzz Lightyear. Jesse wasted no time getting in on the action.

Buzz was getting close to completion. Dan was sitting up on a ladder working on finishing Buzz's upper torso. He had a smaller scale model of Buzz that he using as a reference for building the larger one, at a scale of 1:4. Each stud on the small model was equal to 4 studs on the large one).

Tables were set up in the building area, and each had a couple bins of a specific color of 2x4 bricks. In front of each bin was instructions as to what to build using the bricks in the bin, but I believe they were all basically the same thing: a 4x version of 2x4 brick. Once you were done building a brick you gave it Dan to work into the model.

Jesse and I had a go at building a bunch of bricks, and then I took a break to snap some pics of the other cool models they had set-up in the area including a large Woody, a cowgirl, a couple dioramas, and a great LEGO mosaic for the Calgary Stampede which was build by local AFOL Brickwares.

After building a bunch more bricks, we called it a day. Jesse came back the next day to take his cousins to the LEGO store, and to see the finished Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately it was no where to be found. We're guessing they packed it up over night, perhaps to ship to be built again at another event. It was a bit of a bummer. I'm not sure why they wouldn't leave it up for a week or two so that the people that took part in building it could have a chance to see it completed.

Other than the disappointment over not getting to see the finished 8 foot tall Buzz Lightyear, I have to say that LEGO sure know how to throw a helluva Grand Opening Celebration. The LEGO Store is a great addition to Calgary, and we look forward to visiting over, and over, and over, and over...

Where does the time go? Two Sunday's ago, Jesse, Julie, and I headed down to Chinook Centre to take part in the last day of the Grand Opening Celebration of the Calgary LEGO Store.

The first 300 people to spend $35 at the LEGO Store on Sunday would receive a limited edition minifigure shirt. 300 seemed like a lot of shirts so we weren't in a mad rush to get there, and we arrived just as the doors were opening. We probably should have arrived a little earlier as there was a decent sized line and we ended up waiting an hour to get into the store.

The LEGO staff was on top of keeping us entertained while we waited. They handed out copies of the latest LEGO Club magazine, and one of the staff would go up and down the line asking LEGO trivia questions. Answer correctly and you would get a commemorative LEGO Duplo brick featuring Buzz Lightyear. Jesse had the answer to a few of his questions, but unfortunately wasn't loud enough to be heard over all the other people yelling out answers.

Finally our time came, and after yelling "LEGO!!!" at the top of our lungs we were allowed into the store. I gotta tell you, even though we had been to the LEGO Store in Seattle a couple years ago, it felt pretty awesome to walk into our very own store. I never thought in a million years we would get one so soon. The place was pretty packed. Jesse grabbed the Atlantis Deep Sea Striker, we each filled a couple of canisters full of bulk LEGO, and then waited in line to pay for our goods.

List Price: $19.99 Sale Price: $12.99 Rating: Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Eligible For Free Shipping

Again the LEGO Store was on top of their game, asking customers waiting to pay if they would like to sign up for the LEGO VIP program. Each dollar spent will get you 1 LEGO VIP point. 100 points gets you $5 your next purchase. Of course we signed up. We also had a frequent buyer card from our trip to Seattle with over $100 accumulated on it, and we were a little worried that it would no longer be valid. There was nothing to fear though because the cashier kindly transferred the $100 spent to our new LEGO VIP account, earning us $5 our next purchase. And to top it off they through in one of the commemorative LEGO Duplo bricks that we missed out on earlier. Yeah haw! LEGO rules, and boy do they know how to throw a party.

Then it was off to help build the 8 foot tall LEGO Buzz Lightyear with Dan the Master Builder. But I'll save that story for next time.