The Online Journal of Melissa Mularski

FIRST Lego League Field Trip Extravaganza

Wednesday September 23rd, 2009 @ 9:49 pm by Melissa

Once a month Owen’s school has an early release day where they get out at 12:15pm. Today was the day.

Owen and four of his friends are preparing to compete in FIRST Lego League this November. Because of their early release, Owen’s dad helped arrange two tours for the boys related to FLL. Ed, the dad that’s coordinating everything for FLL and I, drove the boys first to the State Traffic Operations Center (where I worked once upon a time), then to TAPCO (Traffic and Parking Control Company).

Both tours were awesome. Owen’s dad ran the first one, even showing the boys a Power Point presentation about how and what things get transported, as well as the history and future of transportation. The kids got to see the giant traffic congestion map of the city, look at a ramp meter and camera up close, and even manipulate cameras on the Milwaukee area freeways. Todd also brought the boys cookies and juice, an absolute life-saver when you’re a 9-year old.

At TAPCO the President of the company ran the tour! They got to see all sorts of sign blanks, where and how signs were made (one man there even did several cool silk screenings on a huge sign for them), and at the end they got to make their own signs from start to finish. The President and CEO of the company helped the boys with their signs; how many companies will do that for a group of kids?

After the tour, Todd had a surprise for the kids. He’d brought a Segway with him, and the boys got to take turns riding it. TAPCO’s main entrance is a warehouse-sized room with shiny black floors and a street painted on it, with working stop lights and cameras. The boys used the street to ride the Segway back and forth. They loved it, and afterward we waited around while a lot of the adult ‘boys’ at the company took their turns as well.

I took a ton of pictures, and I’ll post some soon. I love our camera, but it sure is a process getting all of them from the memory card to the computer, especially when you consider I take so many photos.

Posted in Legos, Owen | 14 Comments

14 Responses to “FIRST Lego League Field Trip Extravaganza”

on 04 Dec 2009 at 10:32 am1Vending Machine

I hope we get to see the pics soon! Hope we see them enjoying at their best :-)
on 12 Jan 2010 at 9:58 pm2Turning Winds

It seems a great experience with your son and his friends. I’m not surprised that your son Owen love to play and getting in the competition for Lego coz it is a fun thing to do. I’ve also played Lego before at my younger age, it was fun and helps you being creative enough to build things.

BTW, seems you haven’t updated your site. Hope to hear from you soon.
on 29 Jan 2010 at 8:07 pm3Beth Charette

Any time Lego is mentioned in my presence, I automatically jump for joy.

Designing new and different Lego creations has been a hobby of mine forever.

The best shop for vintage Lego collectors that I have found is ToysPeriod. Their programs are fabulous.

When I order from them, what I get in the mail is not only cleaner than I can buy new, the packaging is really unbelievably special.

I never thought I would be ebullient about packaging, but because vintage Lego set boxes are normally long gone, ToysPeriod designs boxes to artistically package each set, so the custom box is something of beauty, designed and executed especially to protect whatever vintage set is involved.

Something that might be of interest to you and your son and his friends is that ToysPeriod offers four year college scholarships for new design entries every year.

They award ten $4,000 scholarships each year, so if interested, you’d want to write to them about those. Deadline for submission each year is June 1.

Anyway, wonderful to read about a fellow fan.

If your son is interested in design or engineering, places like MIT play with Lego all the time in their artificial intelligence lab.

Beth

ToysPeriod is a leading online shop specializing in lego sets and model railroad equipment.
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on 17 Feb 2010 at 3:14 pm5oyun oyna

Something that might be of interest to you and your son and his friends is that ToysPeriod offers four year college scholarships for new design entries every year.

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on 13 Mar 2010 at 1:23 am6Remortgage Deals

Thanks for an insightful post. These tips are really helpful. Again thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.Keep up the good work.
on 09 May 2010 at 2:43 am7esop

Very insightful, I never knew that they held a competition for this and for sure it requires a lot of Lego to finish it. Are you required to bring Legos on your own or they will provide it?
on 16 May 2010 at 10:55 am8yeni albümler

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on 23 May 2010 at 3:40 pm9navy blue shoes

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on 27 May 2010 at 2:01 am10pa bankruptcy attorneys

I never knew that there is a league of lego users. That could be very interesting to see. I must say also that if it’s sponsored it is a huge benefit also for the builders.
on 03 Jun 2010 at 10:51 am11kalibre

Melissa,Could u share the photos also? Hope to see the photos
on 30 Jul 2010 at 6:09 am12Croatia Travel

Field trip must have a lot of picture
check out my collection of Croatia travel
on 25 Aug 2010 at 2:08 am13Unusual Gift

I and my wife are planning a family trip, My kids will be with us, I will appreciate some information of culture, history and scenery, Thanks a lot.
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