If you build it, they will come!

Tom loves Lego. I can't tell you how much of an understatement that is! It is pretty much the only toy he plays with. We had promised him a trip to Legoland during the summer holidays, but didn't fancy traipsing all the way down to Windsor and paying the exorbitant entrance fees. Luckily for us, the new Legoland Discovery Centre has recently opened in Manchester, a mere hours journey from us. It is much smaller than the Windsor one and correspondingly cheaper (though by no means cheap!), so it seemed like the right thing to do!
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We had to queue for 45 minutes to get in, but Mark took Tom and Lily into the shop to kill time and Emma was happy in her pram, so no problems there. Lego Miniland was lovely, though nothing compared to the one in Windsor (Mark and I went many years ago, before we had children). The real attraction of this place was the hands on nature of the main part of the centre. There is Lego everywhere and it is all for the children to play with. Tom took up residence in the enormous Lego pool and didn't move for 90 minutes. Lily, being by nature more flighty, played with the normal Lego, princess Lego (wish they had that when I was little!), Duplo, giant Lego and the adventure play area. There were other things there that we didn't actually bother with because the Podlings were happy enough with what they were doing.

To complete the treat, we told Tom and Lily they could choose something from the shop. Lily chose a very girly stable set (complete with horses) and Tom chose many, many Lego men. Tom has a bit of an obsession with Lego men and spends hours swapping heads, bodies and legs around. Imagine his delight when the gift shop had a whole 'build your own Lego man' stand. He was one happy bunny!
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Our visit made one Lego-obsessed little boy very happy and we all had such a lovely time that we decided to buy the annual pass, which allows us to go as many times as we like over the course of the year. It also gives us 10% off in the shop, something that will come in handy around Christmas and birthdays!
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I've never been to the real Blackpool, but I was rather taken with the Lego version, complete with illuminations. Emma enjoyed the 'fireworks'
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Tom played in the pool of Lego for an hour and a half and constructed an elaborate Lego city. He didn't budge from this spot until it was time to leave. I've rarely seen him so content!

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Dipping her toes in the Lego pool
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Emma loved the Lego pool and was kicking her feet and 'splashing' like she was in water.

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Lily has taken to pulling some peculiar faces when I want to take her photo! The tower ended up taller than her, but it fell over before I got a picture of it.
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Tom has a real obsession with Lego men and was really taken with this Lego football stadium with its huge crowd of Lego spectators. I had a great deal of trouble getting him away from it!
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Tom's love of both Lego and Star Wars is not surprising. Mark has an impressive collection of Lego Star Wars and I couldn't resist taking this picture of him with Lego Darth Vader. May the Force be with you!

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