Brickfest Live!

Yesterday we went to Brickfest Live! at the Maryland State Fairgrounds with our two friends, David & Melissa.  Brickfest Live is a Lego Fan festival that I saw on Living Social and thought it might be fun to go.  So the four of us went and it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get into the fairgrounds because the traffic was so horrible to get to the parking lot.  But we finally got there and walked in to see lots and lots of vendors selling Legos.  The website and the Living Social deal made it sound like there would be lots of exhibits of Lego creations and there was some of that but most of it was booths selling Legos.  Not quite what we were looking for unfortunately.  It was also really hot in there because there were so many people.  Now, there were some fun things for kids to do, like Lego miniature golf,  building Lego cars and racing them, Lego video games, etc. but the lines were incredibly long.  I didn't want to stand in them let alone standing in them with a kid!  Needless to say, we all agreed that the event was not what we thought it was and a bit of a bust.  And we were so glad we didn't pay full price for the event!  If you're a Lego collector, then it would be more your style but for us, we said we could've just gone to a Lego store to see the same things.  I did take some pictures of the few creations that were there and some were really good!

 

We think this was supposed to be the Baltimore convention center.

 

Camden Yards!

 

There were hundreds of Lego figures you could buy.

 

This was a photo booth where you could put on Lego heads or Minecraft heads for pictures.

 

This was where you could build a car and then race it against other cars.  Please take note of part of the line to the left of the picture.  It was insane!

 

A Lego city where you could build on to the city.

 

You Only Live Once!

We enjoyed our time there but it just wasn't what we thought it would be.  We finished looking at everything in about 45 minutes.  It took us longer to get in and park!  I think it would be great for kids if you're willing to wait in line for all of the fun stuff and possibly spend some money on Lego sets. 

Hope you had a good weekend!

Weekend Recap

Wow, what a busy weekend!  Well, for me at least.  But a busy weekend for me means Ben gets to do what he wants, which usually involves the driving range, whatever TV show he wants, and video games :)

Yesterday, I went to the Beth Moore Simulcast that was being held by my church.  If you haven't heard of Beth Moore, then you're missing out!  She leads a women's ministry called Life Point Ministry out of Texas and she is hilarious!  Her energy is amazing and you well definitely not fall asleep if you listen to her speak.  She also writes books and bible studies, some of which I have read before.  You should check out her website, Living Proof Ministry when you can.  I love Beth Moore!

I went to the simulcast with my mom, my mother-in-law, one of her friends, and 4 friends of mine.  Two were from high school, one was from college, and one was from my current small group.  We had a great time at the simulcast and enjoyed the fellowship with each other.  It was a long day but full of laughter and talks.

 

Kayla, Kara, Me, and Kaitlyn

Apparently I only like to be friends with people with K names.  I meant to get a group picture but forgot!  Just pretend the others are in the picture.

After the simulcast, the four of us (pictured above) went out to dinner at PF Changs and had a fabulous time.  It was a great day/evening of girly fellowship!

Kara stayed the night with us and today, Kara and I went to Baltimore to check out the Star Spangled Spectacular.  Apparently it is the 200th birthday of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner and there was lots going on in the Inner Harbor and at Fort McHenry.  

*Fun Fact: The Star Spangled Banner has been around since September 14, 1814 but wasn't actually adopted as our national anthem until 1931!!!!  We had no idea it took so long to become our anthem!

Kara and I had a bunch of plans for the Spectacular but none of them actually worked out haha.  We tried to get to Baltimore early so that we could catch the raising of the (replica) flag at Fort McHenry.  We kept looking for the bus to take us over there and finally asked some EMTs that were there for a 5K and they told us the bus wasn't running due to the 5K.

 

The beginning of the 5K

 

A piece of wreckage from one of the Twin Towers in NYC as a memorial for all in Maryland who lost their lives on 9/11/01.

 

Since none of the other Spectacular activities started until later in the day, Kara and I decided to walk to Fort McHenry....which turned out to be two miles.  We got our exercise in and were wiped by the time we got there.  We got a lot of great views along the way though!

 

One of the Tall Ships docked in the Inner Harbor.

 

 Kara and I have decided that we would like to live here.

Finally after about an hour of walking and navigating, we made it to Fort McHenry!  We both agreed that it was crazy how a fort that looks kind of small made it through the night of the British attacking us.

 

Firing the cannons

 

Some more modern day cannons.  We weren't sure if they were actually cannons or just really big guns.

 Replica of the flag that flew 200 years ago.  The actual flag is on display at the National Museum of American History in DC.

 

We stood up here and tried to imagine the British coming.

 

And then Kara started misbehaving so I put her in jail.

After touring the fort, we ate lunch and (thankfully) caught a shuttle back to the Inner Harbor.  We wanted to tour some of the boats that were docked there but the lines were sooo incredibly long!  I don't know how parents were standing in them with little kids!  Around 1pm we decided to go ahead and get a good seat for the Blue Angels show that started at 2pm.  According to the website, we would be able to see the show from the Inner Harbor so we found some good seats and enjoyed relaxing.  We even ran into someone who used to work for Maryland Cru!  We also got some sunburn but we didn't realize that until we got home later.  I have a nice sunglasses tan on my face.

The show was supposed to start at 2pm...well, 2pm came and went.  Finally, at around 3:15pm, we saw our first Blue Angel flying.  We got to see them do a bunch of formations and fly bys but they never flew over the Inner Harbor where we were.  They flew around the Harbor but a lot of their good tricks were done closer to the fort.  We were disappointed that we had waited all that time and didn't get to see much of the show.  I did get some great pictures (thank you zoom!) so it looks like we were right there.  

 

And then all of a sudden, they were gone.  We waited for a little while and then realized that the show must be over so we joined the mass of people trying to leave the harbor.  Overall, we had a great time, it was just a bummer that everything we tried to do didn't work out.  Guess we will try again at the tricentennial celebration of the Star Spangled Banner!