The Art of the Brick

Hey Colorado friends! 

Are a big Lego fan like me? Do you love art? 

If you answered yes to both questions then get yourself to Denver Museum of Nature & Science for The Art of the Brick exhibition!

This amazing exhibition by artist Nathan Sawaya has been on display at the museum for quite a while now and we actually visited back over Summer break. I've been meaning to share it with you for such a long time. It actually closes in eleven days so I figured it was about time I shared it with you all. Better late than never, right?

If you've been here a long time (a really long time), then you'll know that this isn't our first visit to Art of the Brick. In fact, we checked it out in Melbourne, Australia way back in 2011! You can check it out here. Since that first visit Nathan Sawaya has created a LOT of art, so while there were a few pieces that we recognized from 9 years ago, most of the pieces were new to us.

Let's take a look...

Legoland California

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Legoland. All opinions are my own.

Travelling with young kids isn't always easy. Sometimes it can be downright hard, especially when long distances in a car are involved. Hell, I get bored sitting in a car for hours and hours on end too. But, in my experience at least, the positives always outweigh any negatives. The experiences that our children will remember for a lifetime always trump the non-stop "Are we there yet?" questions that we try to block out from the back of the car.

Most of the advantages of travelling with kids benefit the kids themselves. Broader horizons, experiencing new places and cultures, having fun etc etc... But there's one big advantage for us adults too that I'm going admit right now... Travelling with kids gives us the perfect excuse to visit super fun places we wouldn't normally go to as an adult. Places that you wanted to visit as a child but never got the chance to. Places that are super fun but feel kind of weird to go to on your own as a grown up. 

One such place that we visited over the Winter break fell right into this category - Legoland!

I've been wanting to visit Legoland for as long as I can remember. As I kid I loved Lego. It was always one of my favorite toys to play with. My favorites were always the Fabuland characters, the ones with the animal heads - anyone else remember those? I'm pleased to say that my girls are all just as fond of Lego as I was. In fact, Mathilde is building with Duplo next to my desk as I type this. Note to self, check the ground for stray Duplo pieces before getting up for that next coffee break! Lego is fun, but damn, does it hurt to step on!

Lego and nostrils don't mix

I think the title of this post gives away what happened today!

This morning I was on the phone (ironically, to the doctor) when Lola came running over to my desk, clearly distressed with tears running down her face and a finger shoved firmly up one nostril. There was obviously something wrong with her nose but it was only when I pulled her finger out that she told me what the problem was: there was a piece of Lego stuck in there.

Upon close inspection with a torch I could just see it. There it was, shoved right up the top of her nostril: a teeny, tiny round piece of Lego. It was too far up for me to reach with anything and none of Lola's attempts at blowing it out helped. In fact, each time I asked her to blow her nose she took a deep breath in through her nose instead, potentially lodging it further up.

With no way to dislodge the piece of Lego we called her pediatrician and headed straight to the clinic. Poor Lola was absolutely terrified of just what her doctor might do to get the Lego out. Would he cut her nose to get it out? Would he suck it out with a vacuum cleaner? She was pretty upset the whole walking to the clinic but had calmed down by the time we arrived. She was a brave girl and sat very still while her doctor inspected her nose. 

Lola waits patiently for the doctor to inspect her nose

Merry Christmas 2013

Christmas is now over for another year but I'm still a little behind with the Christmas posts - as usual!

So let's start the catch up with a look at our Christmas Day...

As soon as the girls woke up on Christmas morning they knew that they'd made Santa's nice list thanks to the trail of sparkly, snowy footprints he'd left in the hallway overnight. You can find out how Santa left these footprints here. The footprints lead all the way from our Christmas tree in the lounge room, down our entry hallway and out our apartment door. The girls followed the footprints and discovered that, just like previous years, the footprints lead all the way to our nearest fire stairwell which was obviously Santa's point of entry.

Looks like we've had a jolly visitor overnight

LEGO KidsFest

Last Sunday we headed down to San Jose for an afternoon of Lego fun at Lego KidsFest.

There were Lego bricks as far as the eye could see. And kids as far as the eye could see too. The whole event was sold out so it was incredibly busy with excited kids rushing around everywhere.

Of course, our two were among the excited kids rushing around. They wanted to try and do everything all at once: looking at Lego sculptures, building cars to race, building little houses, burying each other in Lego blocks, making Lego angels in the piles of Lego and Duplo, making artworks to display...

So much Lego fun to be had.

Here's a look at our afternoon at Lego KidsFest...

Excited to arrive at Lego KidsFest

Happy (Australian) Father's Day 2013

Yesterday was Father's Day number two for the year, otherwise known as Australian Father's Day. Lucky Kim gets to celebrate Father's Day twice each year (American Father's Day was back in June), while I get just one Mother's Day.

We had organised to spend the day at Lego KidsFest in San Jose so I figured that a Lego themed card would be just the thing for this Father's Day. I played around with a few different ideas (trying to write out different messages in Lego) but kept coming back to the simplicity of a Lego heart. Much easier to make than a Lego message and it ties in nicely with this year's Mother's Day cards, which you can see here.

Here's a look at our Lego inspired cards plus a few shots from our photo shoot. I really wanted to take photos up on our roof but as always the wind came out as soon as the camera did so Ava has some interesting looking hair! 

Don't "Lego" my heart!

LEGO® KidsFest Give Away

UPDATE: This give away is now closed.


Do you live in the Bay Area? 

Do your kids love LEGO®? Let's face it, who doesn't love LEGO!

If you answered "Yes" to both of those questions then keep on reading because do I have a treat for you...

LEGO KidsFest is coming to the San Jose Convention Center Friday August 30th through to Sunday September 1st. 
This fun event is filled with interactive, creative and educational activities for the whole family. There will be hands on fun for all ages with LEGO and DUPLO® Construction Zones, LEGO games, dozens of large scale and miniature LEGO models and displays, group builds, LEGO Master Builders and much more! 

I have two (2) tickets to give away to one lucky reader. The winner will receive two (2) tickets to the opening night session on Friday, August 30th 2013 (4pm - 8:30pm).

To enter simply click HERE and you'll be taken through to the entry form. How easy is that?

The winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday August 14th and announced here on Little Hiccups (and by email) so stay tuned.

This amazing event is extremely popular and has sold out quickly in other cities. The Bay Area event is likely to sell out too so to avoid disappointment it's best to purchase your tickets in advance online.
You can purchase tickets here: http://legokidsfest.com/sanjose/index.html

In the meantime make sure to like LEGO KidsFest on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for all the latest info.

Good luck!

The Art of the Brick

A few week's back Ava, Lola and I travelled to Melbourne to visit the USA consulate to attend our visa interview. Due to an early morning interview time and the available flight times we had to arrive in Melbourne the day before our interview. I decided to make a trip of it and show the girls a little bit of Melbourne before we head off to the USA.

Being the cultural and artistic heart of Australia, Melbourne always seems to have at least one or two wonderful exhibitions on the go at any given time. This time was no exception with Federation Square playing host to New York artist Nathan Sawaya's The Art of the Brick.

Now, an art exhibition may not sound like the most exciting place to visit for a four year old until you realise the medium chosen by Nathan Sawaya for his work: LEGO!

Is it a horse?

Yesterday Ava created this cute Duplo creature.

I asked "Is it a horse?".

The answer was "No".

I asked "Is it a giraffe?".

The answer was "No".

Before I could guess again (and I'm not sure what I was going to go for this time) I got the answer:

"It's a llama".

Ah, that's right... Ava is learning about South America at pre-school!