Lego Americana Roadshow - If You Build It

We love Legos!  We love them to the point of surrendering a chunk of our house to storage and creation areas and have Lego Minifigs proudly displayed on our walls.  We also have an affinity for  history and architecture. So when we heard that the Lego Americana Roadshow was coming to Alderwood Mall, we knew we had to go.

The Lego Americana Roadshow is a traveling exhibit of American monuments that travels the country to wow crowds and sneaks in a bit of history to boot (including a life-size Liberty Bell!)

 The structures are incredibly detailed with even the smallest features represented in Legoes.   The exhibit is free and will be at the Alderwood Mall through October 30th.

Archie Mcphee - Wonderfully Weird

Anytime we are in the Wallingford neighborhood, we are tempted to go to Archie McPhee. Established in 1983, Archie McPhee has been entertaining shoppers with storefronts in Fremont, Ballard and now in Wallingford.  The colorful storefront only hints at the spectacular finds inside.

Plus anthropomorphic Bacon!

The store is a smorgasbord for the senses.  Some of favorites are:

The mass variety of mints (everything from banana to absinthe, with unflavored available for your nihilist friends and brain flavored to slow down the zombies.);

Band-aids of every size and style; 

Costume basics such as mustaches, hats and embelishments; 

the plethora of hand accessories;
 

Coffee cups that strike from the deep;

The Wallingford Beast;

Caution tape for every occasion;

Soap opera music boxes;

and amazing masks such as this Banana Slug.  

Whomever you may be shopping for, Archie McPhee probably has what you are looking for.... and some things you didn't know you needed. 

8-bit Fuse Beads - The Family That Creates Together

Our family has many passions: the outdoors, music, food, travel... but creating and pop culture near the top of the list.  So when my boys pulled out the fuse beads we could see an idea forming. 
If you are unfamiliar with fuse beads, they are small beads in all colors that can be melted together with an iron. (We like the Perler brand as they melt evenly and they offer an amazing array of colors)  Generally, you would use a special pegboard to lay out the design you are working towards before you iron them.   Perler's square boards also have a simple way of interlocking that allows for you to create much larger images. 

Our youngest was planning several fuse bead recreations of 8-bit video game art 

Power Up?

Apparently power-up mushrooms are big Charmander Fans

while our oldest was planning something more ambitious. 

After doing a bit of research, he started to adapt an image of  the Pokemon Snorlax using cross-stitch methodology. After one night the outline started to solidify.

The process was a study in patience as the outline slowly started to fill in.

It was truly amazing to watch as the beginning shapes filled with various colors and gradients, giving the piece form and texture. 

Once he was finished with placing all of the fuse beads, we ironed it very carefully. 

We covered Snorlax with parchment paper and, using an iron on it's medium setting, we carefully moved it over the entire piece to ensure each bead was attached to its neighbor. 

When we were done, we flipped him over and ironed the other side as well, to give him some stability. 

The completed art is awesome!  Just need to fit it in a frame. 

We now have a permanent Pokemon to join our sci-fi fantasy art wall. 

If you want to try it for yourself, Amazon has a great inexpensive starter kit. 

If You Build It- Adventure Playground

In a time where people are perhaps too focused on protecting their kids from every bump and bruise, there is a place you can take your kids where they can hammer, saw, construct and watch their imaginations take shape.  

Adventure Playground, located in Deane's Children's Park  on Mercer Island, is a build-it-yourself play zone that will satisfy anyone's craving for design and fabrication. 

Upon checking in at the front, kids are given a toolbox, safety gear (including a hard hat and goggles) and nails.  After that they are let into the construction zone.  

The current construction zone has a tree house theme!

All children under 12 must have adult supervision, but really, why wouldn't you stay to create with your kids. 

All in all we spent several hours 

hammering,

Sketching, 

Climbing, 

and building. 

 The best part was watching all of the various projects slowly emerge from the materials at hand. 

Adventure Playground is open Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. from July 5th through September 25th. The program is run by donation.  All participants, including adults, must have closed toe shoes to enter.