My older son is a Lego aficionado. No, that doesn't mean he completes Lego sets with a snifter of brandy and a fine Cuban cigar. He can't get Cuban cigars because they are illegal and he's a Good Boy.
His Lego enthusiasm makes him long for the biggest, most complex Lego sets available. At least he's still focused on the sets, and he's not planning to spend years designing his own gigantic replica of famous landmarks, like OSU stadium, i.e. "The Shoe".
His first request was the Taj Mahal. This little beauty used to cost a mere $300. Then David Beckham said he works on a Lego Taj Mahal to relax, and the price skyrocketed to nearly $1,000. Thanks supply and demand! Sorry Max...
But it's OK, because my son also wants the London Tower Bridge set. This is much more affordable at $214.99 on Amazon.com. (NOTE: The Tower Bridge is not to be confused with London Bridge, as I learned earlier this year on a trip to England.)
He also wants a remote control helicopter (he actually wants a real helicopter, but I talked him down), a ripstick (a mutant skateboard designed by the insurance industry as a way to expedite the denial of accident and injury claims), and cold hard cash.
My younger son is a different matter. The first item on his list:
A robot snake.
"Where did you see one of those?" My wife asked him, hoping to get a head start on her shopping.
"Nowhere," he said. "I just thought it sounded cool."
As if keeping up with with commercials, ads, and grade-school fads isn't enough, now we have to satisfy the unbridled imagination of a seven-year-old boy.
Fortunately, my wife, being the ultra-pro shopper that she is, found a robot snake. We're still working our way through the rest of the list...
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