First, happy birthday to Gramma!! I wish we could be making you a cake and celebrating together.

A while back, I found information about a Lego competition on Facebook. Brendan submitted an application. He had to answer some questions about himself and submit a photo of something he built. We were notified that he was selected as one of the 100 kids that would compete!

We had to go to the mall where the LegoLand Discovery Center is. The competition was staged in the food court. There were going to be several heats. The top kids from each heat would move on to compete in a second round. From that one, 12 kids would be selected to be the 2019 Lego Creative Crew! The winners would get 2 free annual passes to the LegoLand Discovery Center and they would get a monthly private meeting with the Lego Master Builder to learn advanced building techniques. AMAZING!

There were special Lego exhibits all through the mall. This was Brendan’s favorite.

Brendan was in heat 4. Of course. He was SO NERVOUS. He had never really competed in anything before. He almost wanted to back out. The waiting was enormous. We got a pretzel and sat away from the other heats, he didn’t want to watch.

Here we go – each kid was given a bucket of Lego bricks, with a much larger bucket behind them for refills if needed. They were given just ten minutes. They were told to build their favorite animal. Brendan was paralyzed at first not knowing where to start.

He started putting things together

He doesn’t do great standing for long periods of time, but he was doing OK.

Cheered on by Mr. Minifig

Brendan ended up building a “rainbow space owl”

The kids from his heat waiting to find out who moves on. The competition was not only judged on their model, but the judges went around and interviewed each kid. Brendan surely charmed them with his humor and wit. LOL He told them that he used rainbow because it would have wasted too much time finding only one color. (The poor kid next to him was building an elaborate giraffe but ran out of time with only legs done)

I was so NERVOUS! I wanted this for Brendan so much! My friend Christine and her sister came by to sit with me and be a cheering squad for B.

He did it! On to the next round! I think that boosted his confidence, he was feeling better.

This round, they were supposed to build something about themselves. I had no idea what Brendan was going to do.

He ended up building “Fandroid, the Musical Robot” from YouTube. He LOVES Fandroid. In his interview, he told the judges he wanted to be a YouTube star.

I think he got them with his infectious smile!

He DID IT!!!!

I was so proud and happy for this little dude. I knew he had it in him, I seriously did not know what to expect. The other kids built some pretty amazing models.