Today was day two of the Lego Store Grand Opening celebration at West County Center in Des Peres, MO. If you’ve ever wondered what such an event is like, you’re in luck, because I took lots of pictures! It was quite an experience!

We got there shortly before the Lego Store was scheduled to open at 10, and the line was already incredibly long. I was worried that we’d be waiting for two-plus hours, and even briefly considered leaving, but in the end the wait was really just over an hour. No small feat with five children, but they were all extraordinarily patient, and Grandma came along to help out. Here’s part two of the line we waited in (part one, which was behind us, was about as long, but much more twisty):

Part three of the line was in the mall itself…it was a relief to get out of that darkish, stuffy corridor!

Part four of the line was immediately outside the store, and it was the fun part of the line. The employees were having a good time keeping the spirits of the crowd up, and being that close to the store made you feel like your wait was almost over…and really, it was! I was impressed with how efficiently they kept things moving.

The children each had a “Lego Store allowance” that they received, plus a little extra money from Grandpa. They had a fun time choosing what they were going to buy. We entered another line to check out, and it, too, moved pretty quickly.

We were lucky to be among the first 300 customers (which surprised me, based on the length of the line), and received this free limited-edition Lego Store set, as well. That one is for me!

After making our purchases, we went down to the other end of the mall for the building event.

Our store was building an eight-foot high Incredible Hulk (they have different builds at different stores)!

It was cool how they were handling the building…there were tables set up with bins of Lego bricks, and cards showing how to make a large brick. The instructions were simple enough for even small children to participate.

The children had fun making their bricks, which were later placed on The Hulk.

After we finished there, we went back to the store (but not the line, thankfully!), so the children could get certificates showing they participated.

We had to walk past the building event again on the way out of the mall. I thought we were just going to leave, but the Master Builder was doing some giveaways, so we stood around a bit, to see what that was all about.

It’s a good thing we stayed, because Bunny answered one of the questions correctly, and won a Lego Friends set! It was something she had been wanting, but didn’t have enough money for, because it cost $40! She was so surprised that she won, she could hardly tell the Master Builder her name!

When we got home, we checked out our haul (even with all this stuff, we managed to stay within our budget!):

And then the children immediately got to work on their new sets.

It was a long, exhausting morning, but it was also more fun than I had imagined. The children are looking forward to going back next May for the one-year anniversary celebration!