This LEGO™ collection was originally started by my grandma as an Easter gift in 1987 (when I was 9-years-old). As a gift, she gave me Set No. 6380 Emergency Treatment Center.
Emergency Treatment Center
Shortly after that, she started asking me questions like “Well, don’t you need police, fire, and other important people? And then how are the police, fire, and ambulance going to drive to help the people? Don’t you need roads? Don’t you want trees, and flowers to make the roads pretty?” In a very short time, I started accumulating all the sets needed to start a small town.
As the years went by, for every birthday, Christmas, Easter, and using various allowances, pretty much every gift I asked for was something LEGO™ related. By the summer of 1992, a childhood friend, Randy and I, would spend the entire summer taking the entire LEGO™ town down, and relaying it back out. This time, it was two 8-foot tables completely covered, and we ran out of room to display everything.
In my mid-teens, I started to work at Taco Bell in the summer of 1995. During this time, I worked late nights just to earn more for certain LEGO™ sets I wanted. I often would have the LEGO™ order form filled out (back then, you mailed the order in with a check), and my order ready to be mailed within $10 of my next paycheck! I continued to buy many sets all throughout the late 1990’s in a similar way.
In August of 2001, I met my wife, Sarah. When we started talking, I had two relationship conditions: First, I was not interested in anyone that smoked. Second, I would not give up my LEGO™ collection. Not only was Sarah very understanding about this, but I discovered that she was also very much into building LEGO™ sets just like I was! So, for our 1-year dating anniversary, I gave her a promise ring and she gave me Set No. 3450 (Statue of Liberty).
Statue of Liberty
As the years went by, our collection together continued to grow to well over 1200 sets.
In 2018, we built a new home on what I like to call the “final resting place” for this massive collection. However, most of the collection stayed in the Rubbermaid containers at first. I had a lot of thought into the “unique ways” I wanted the framing (walls), the various electrical outlets, lighting, flooring, and the list goes on, and knew that I would not settle for just any basement. I was very particular about certain things. Then in January of 2023, my wife and I got serious about finishing the basement exactly the way I felt it was needed, based on over 30 years of experience.
However, finishing the basement just so did not come without serious challenges. In fact, it truly tested our marriage. We lost a lot of space in the house for a family of four, the house became cluttered, and we had power tools blocking the front door for many months on end. Believe it or not, the Christmas tree was still up in our living room until June. (That’s what a mess all this created!) Finally, in June of 2023, things settled down to the point where we could start getting the house back in order.
So, here we are! This website is the start of many, many pictures, videos, and experiences that we expect to last well into our retirement!
