Tuesday, August 2, 2011

7 sets per second

Did you know Lego sells 7 sets every second? Yep, for real.
I know this because Husband got an email from Lego today. He loves Legos. A lot. So do Oldest, Middle, and Youngest. We probably have enough Lego sets at our house to qualify as a small store.

The email came because Husband and Youngest were putting together a 1,000+ piece set last night and there was 1 white piece missing. Over 1,000 pieces put together and 1 not there. They called Lego (did you know you can get a real person at Lego at 9pm?) and were told a new piece would be sent out right away. The confirmation email that came today included the fact. Seven sets per second. That's a lot of Legos.

My dining room table currently doubles as a display space for the most recently assembled pieces, and Husband's office has several more. Lego sculptures adorn spaces here and there around our home--some are sets imagined and created by Lego, and others were crafted by my own team of visionary Lego experts who live and work right here.

Our basement holds tubs of Legos--some sorted by set, but many dumped together into large containers meant to store things like bed linens or winter clothes. They don't stay in storage; they are periodically brought upstairs to litter one room or another for a day or a week or so.  Oldest has dumped multiple boxes of Legos out on the floor of his room. He's been sorting for days. Youngest started to do the same, but lost steam. Or maybe interest. He did build a really cool......something. I don't know what's happened to the sets in Middle's room. Over time all 3 have created buildings, spaceships, castles, forts, room layouts, cars, planes and lots of other stuff, all full of extraordinary detail.

Our front room was once carpeted with Harry Potter Legos for over 2 months. There are a lot of Harry Potter sets at our house, and they were all out at once. I shudder to think about the lack of opportunity for vacuuming, but have wonderful pictures of Husband and kids surrounded by piles of brightly colored blocks, sorting and building together. We all worked on it--it was a big project. We never really finished, but with Legos, can you ever really finish? I'm not sure.

On our trip this summer, a much-anticipated destination was the Lego store in Mall of America. If you've never seen it, you really are missing something. There are stunning models that can be seen from inside the first floor store, but even better from the second level of the mall. They are huge--larger than life huge. Even teenage Oldest was impressed. We visited the store several different times, waiting until the very end of the day to make purchasing decisions. I didn't watch the lady ring things up. Sometimes I'm better off not knowing.

What I do know is that Lego sells 7 sets per second, and we're a part of it.

10 comments:

  1. My younger cousin, who is a doctoral student now, was OBSESSED with Legos when he was a child. It seems like there are MANY more people like your husband and my cousin out there.

    BTW: Love that stat.

    SAS

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you been to Legoland in California? I have. The Lego exhibits are incredible! What about Nathan Sawaya? His Lego exhibit is fantastic. I got to see it last winter. Wow! I sound like a Lego nut, but they are fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
  3. so, what you are saying is that if some go missing from your house, you might never notice??? :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a wonderful post of shared moments and an outstanding fact. 7 sets per second huh! We are contributing too...Lego vehicles share my dining room table. I love the concentration on my son's face as he works. Such a great toy for the imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this glimpse into your family! These are the things your 3 will remember. You should submit this to Lego!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I didn't know they had Lego's stores. I can just picture your Lego-filled home. I really like the lines about your "not watching the lady ring things up. Sometimes I'm better off now knowing."

    ReplyDelete
  7. We just visited the lego story in Denver, & although fun, it was nothing like you described at the Mall of America My grandson has been to Legoland, & the sites there are amazing. We still have a box of parts for my grandson to mess about with when he visits. What a wonderful thing your family does, a tradition with no rules, but just fun! I wish you'd shown us photos, too, & I imagine the carpet can wait.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The post about your team of visionary Lego experts was entertaining to read. What I like about Lego is that it can engage both genders and almost all ages except the really small ones. I sometimes have my three daughters (6, 14, 16) building together with their dad. Lovely picture.
    Terje

    ReplyDelete
  9. When Middle says there is nothing to write about this year, I will say, "LEGOS!" :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. We just visited the Lego store in Chicago's Water Tower Mall. Brilliant creations. Your family shares a special talent and will have memories for a life time.

    ReplyDelete