THE Big Fat Panda

 

I've got the ridiculous panda suit on again, and it's super fun!  This morning we continued our "Path of the Warrior" series, and Mom had the idea of me wearing this inflatable panda suit again.  It got some big laughs and excitement.  It was a good morning today at KidPak, and Maddie got some really excellent pictures as always, also taking pictures of the younger ones down at KidPak Discovery.  Here are just a few of the pictures of our service that Maddie took this morning.

Super morning, and a relaxing afternoon that followed.  One really fun thing that happened this morning was outside of service, but one of our friends from KidPak gave me something because he was thinking of me, and it was more meaningful than he actually realized.  A few weeks ago, BravesVision offered us some tickets to go see a game, and I picked a day where we could get a bobblehead doll of Javy Lopez if we arrived early enough.  I got the parking garage tickets all set up and we were ready to go until... Mom wasn't well enough to go.  And I wasn't going to go by myself.  So I gave the tickets to our nephew, and he had a great time, although I don't think he got there in time to get a bobblehead.  So I was bummed about that.  But lo and behold, God was looking out for me here with this minor little thing:  our friend went to that game the other night, part of a business-related perk, and he even got the bobblehead doll.  He doesn't collect these, and so he began to think about who to give it to... so yes!  I got my Javy Lopez bobblehead doll after all!  Super, super cool!

So the rest of the afternoon was a bit of relaxing.  I'm still marching along virtually through Yellowstone walking by the Firehole River area now.  The POV hiking videos have been so great to watch as I'm on this treadmill.  Today I was walking a trail to Mystic Falls, but there are so many other trails to wander along.  

Maddie's been doing homework, something that's on the increase lately of course.  We did go and take a break though, heading over to Dairy Queen and using our BOGO card yet again to get a couple of Blizzards.

The Braves won their game today against the Brewers at a little league field in front of a lot of those young players, and it was a really neat thing to hear... we were listening to that while I was working on the next LEGO project in the dining room.  Tonight's movie was the third Men in Black movie, which we like a lot - actually, all three are pretty fun, and a definite tradition each year.

We read tonight before bed, moving along with "Soul Music," where the band is coming together to play for a huge crowd in this massive cavern.  Susan is visiting to see what's going on here, because technically, the lead singer and guitarist should be dead by now!  We'll see what happens next as we move along.

The evening was closed out with prayers, and getting all those members of the Plush Entourage down the hall and safely in bed.  Mom and I did a few puzzles before bedtime, and she was actually doing some shopping online.  But now... it's time for some sleep!

Brick Fan Event

This afternoon we went down to a Brick Fan Event, basically a huge opportunity to see LEGO Master Builders and some of the incredible things they've been creating.  We got stuck in some atrocious GDOT traffic on the way down on I-85 costing us all an hour of our lives.  Pathetic planning there by the GDOT as usual.

BUT...  we still had plenty of time to wander into this exhibition hall.  Fortunately we were in no hurry.  Anyway, we were there at the same building where we saw the Festival of Christmas Trees a few years ago.  This was a smaller area set aside, but it was absolutely packed with some stunning LEGO displays and creations made by LEGO Master Builders.  Maddie and Nate went off to look around, while Mom and I spent some time visiting with displays and having extensive conversations with some of these Master Builders, learning all kinds of things about their ideas and efforts.  Below are some pictures from our visit:

The Bat Cave!  Super cool display of Batman's vehicles!

Of course, this is our favorite, the 60's Batmobile!

Unikitty as Batman!

This is our generations' Batmobile - epic!

So many amazing Star Wars LEGO builds.  This one is huge!

A tiny opening in the side with a display of tie fighter pilot helmets

Laser cannons up top, and a class on how to aim properly below.

Look at this - it's huge!

A lot of Imperials busy at whatever tasks LEGO Imperial people do!

One more look at the landing bay.

More of the side of this same structure.

Another build, a big area where the Republic army is getting prepped.

Here come the Republic tanks

Another angle of this huge build.  It's impressive... most impressive!

This castle is so tall - this a beautiful construction.

Ah, here we go to the Lord of the Rings! 

Boromir is about to whoop up on some orcs!

Our heroes believe they have a ghost of a chance!

Elves.  Am I right?

This one guy made all these Star Wars and Lord of the Rings displays.  Amazing.

This one was my favorite of the Lord of the Rings displays.

We spoke with this Master Builder for a bit, an awesome guy.  He combines his love of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture with Star Wars themes.  

Darth Vader is visiting his LEGO palace on Mustafar... we'll call it "Falling Lava."

Naboo Guards enjoy the gardens.

This Naboo palace looks fantastic.

Ah, and here's another Wright-inspired palace of Duchess Satine.

And there's Obi-Wan having a private conversation with the Duchess.

Plo Koon talks with Commander Wolf as they make their assault.

Clone Troopers head into the jungle!

Another immense display here - just amazing!  So many details, so incredible!

This was massive!

Okay, this was fun - Nate and Maddie made their own LEGO mini-figures as souvenirs today.  

Nate also got a Bionicle set he was pretty happy with.  

The merchants had plenty for sale, including a lot of mini-figures.

That white Boba Fett - or Mandalorian - is valued at $600.  What?

Amazing!  There was this mini-figure arcade with a "Street Bricker II" game!

This is just a small portion of the mini-figures for sale.

Muppets!  Rowlf the Dog!

Here's our mini-figures.  Nate's with the axe, then my scared pirate, then Mom's Bob Ross, and Maddie's robot in handcuffs.

An amazing jazz performance.

A huge concert!

These are pretty cool - a great Japanese display.

Maddie and Nate look on

Dinos having fun!

This display is incredible, so creative and colorful.

The Pink Pig makes its return to Gwinnett.

A pretty crowded Marvel street!

Look, there's Jamie Lynn!  We have that one at home, a sentimental friend from so long ago, saved by Maddie from being traded at LEGOLAND, and then staying with us to become one of the mascots for our KidPak LEGO series.

Check out all the details in this Punisher logo, the little pieces used to make the skull.

Scarlet Witch!

The train is just zooming by!

LOVE this Nightmare Before Christmas wreath!

Inedible LEGO food!

It was a super nice visit!  We all went over to Aurelio's afterwards, because it was on the way home and it's one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  And there wasn't much in the way of traffic either, so that was cool.

We watched another Men in Black movie tonight, as the Braves game was in the afternoon.  After that, we read from "Soul Music" for a little bit, and got ourselves to sleep.  Got a church service in the morning!