Pirate Teamwork

Before I get into this week’s Lego of the week, I want to thank Mandy and the boys for such a wonderful Father’s day. I got coffee in bed in my new Utes mug, had homemade biscuits for breakfast, got some Utes gear, some Poopperi (Google it. It’s really a gift for the whole family), went on a hike, went and saw How to Train Your Dragon 2 (awesome), had dinner at Park Stone at Station Park (three words: Tri-Tip, BBQ, Sandwich. Yup it’s that good), played catch in the front yard with one son and played Lone Ranger with the other:

All in all a fantastic day. I am nothing without those three. They make me who I am and all my life choices are made with them in mind. In the words of Lou Gherig, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man in the world.

Whew, I got that sappy stuff out of the way, on to Lego of the week. Most of you have kids. Most of you have multiple kids. I’m assuming most of you had siblings growing up. Since most of you have multiple kids and were siblings, I will also assume that most of you know about bickering and how it spikes in the summer months. No, you don’t know about that? Then you’re a liar. My brother and I were always pestering one another but we also got along too. My boys are no different. They can be best friends one second and crying the next. Yes I said second not minute. It changes that fast. Another phenomenon is the “I can’t do it” syndrome. If they can’t do something or figure something out in exactly 5.7seconds, we get the “I can’t do it. You do it talk.” However, for a brief couple of hours this weekend, that changed.

Mandy found a Lego set online of a cool little pirate ship for Connor, you know because he likes pirates……and Legos (shudder). The problem was it was an older set with horrible instructions. I mean horrible. I am a Lego veteran and these were hard. It was like Ikea and Lego joined forces to purposely to mess with the general public. Well, it sat in the basement for a week or so, mostly because we haven’t had time get to it (see previous post about baseball season). Alex saw it sitting there a decided to take up the noble challenge. I was proud of him for exactly two minutes until I heard, “I can’t do it. Can you help me?” Normally, I would have tried to help, because this one was hard but he asked right in the middle of me doing yard work and Mandy was at her Mom’s doing a yard sale. I told them to keep trying and I would be inside in a while to help out. They came outside to play for an hour or so then decided to take up the challenge once more. Again, it took two minutes when the call came out again from Connor this time, pleading for me to help. Once again, middle of yard work, figure it out or wait. I came inside a little while later and help them playing great together. I decided to get me a drink and decompress for minute. Then it hit me, albeit half an hour later (hey it was a good decompress), I told them I’d help with Lego. I told them to bring it up when I heard something I wasn’t expecting, “Oh, never mind. Alex fixed it.”

I was proud of my guys. They told me a tale of using teamwork to get the job done. Connor separated blocks and got the next pieces ready while Alex put them together. It took a couple of take aparts and rebuilds to get it right but they did it. I am super proud of them to get through this. I know it’s a Lego and not that big of deal but to them it was a huge accomplishment. Hopefully, they remember this next time they have a challenge and can figure it out together without Mandy or I.

 

Great I got all sappy on the blog again.