Brick by Brick

After a week of frigid temperatures, we had a beautiful and warm weekend.  Unfortunately for the first time ever, Fayetteville Public Schools decided to hold a make-up snow day on a Saturday.  So Alli went from a four day week (she was supposed to be off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday) to a six day week.  She was not too happy Saturday morning when we took her in, she said she was afraid we were going to do something fun without her.

I've got news for her - we did.  But fortunately for Alli it wasn't kid-fun, it was both of us getting our workouts on the elliptical done, playing on the floor with Riley, and enjoying coffee and grown-up talk.  So she didn't miss much.

I went to make the rounds at the Fayetteville antique stores that we love - 410 Vintage, Flying Dog, and Fayetteville Trading Post - before picking Alli up at 2PM.  Good news - she wasn't the only kid that went to school and she actually had a good time.  We went home to get Ryan and Riley, and then went dropped by our most favorite Fayetteville antique store In Retrospect.  We aren't looking for anything in  particular, but you just never know what you'll find.  I was in love with a fully restored ride-on pony called Jigger, but at "$3500 FIRM," Ryan said no way.

To make up for the horror of going to school on a Saturday, we got to take Alli to a new place called Brick by Brick.  We weren't too sure about the concept, but it was Lego-focused, so my two Lego-holics decided to give it a try.

Here's the deal - you walk in to a Lego-themed room (Lego characters on the walls, primary colors everywhere, posters of Legos, paintings of Legos…there were even Legos in the soap jars.  One wall is lined with boxes of Lego sets, which you can "check out" and put together.  There are also endless totes of random bricks, wheels, men, and plates.  On the other wall, there's a play kitchen and grocery store, a chalkboard, and a play area for the littles with Duplo blocks, coloring books, and plastic animals.

Things started a little slow.  Alli was quiet and not sure what to think, and Ryan was afraid of being "that dad" who got a kit and built it himself.  So they decided on a Lego City tractor trailer to start out.

They worked together for a little while, but once all of the policemen and the criminals were put together, Alli wandered off to do a little grocery shopping.  Ryan powered through alone.

He secretly liked it better that way so he could focus, methinks.  I played with Riley on the floor, and we got super close to crawling.

After Ryan got his police tractor trailer put together and Alli played with it, she grabbed some of the random Legos and put together this awesome intricate set of people doing a race.  She's so amazingly creative.

Brick by Brick was a super place.  We will definitely be going back - it was $15 for the four of us (Riley was free) to play for two hours.  They do drop offs and Parents Night Out, so you can even drop your kiddo off if you so desire.  The staff was extremely friendly, the decor was very creative, and Alli even made some new friends.

Now if I can just get them to do a Dad's Night In so that I can drop Ryan off to do the Ewok Village - all 1,500 pieces!  If you've got a Lego-crazy kid (or spouse), you really need to swing by Brick by Brick and try it out.  My Lego maniacs gave it four thumbs up.