Happy LEGO Birthday dear Jamieson

 

Jamieson, my grand-nephew in the UK, celebrated his seventh birthday recently but before that important date, his grandmother, my sister Pearly, made a video call to me on October 27 to let me witness the moment when she presented the LEGO gift to him.

 

Receiving my LEGO prize at
the Build the Thrills Festival in April 2022

Even though we are separated by distance, video calls have kept families in touch and my sister felt that it was important for her grandson to know that the LEGO gift came all the way from Johor Baru in Malaysia, presented from me (and let him make the connection visually!) to him for his birthday.

 

Later, I received a photograph (captured by Melanie, my niece!) of Pearly with her two grandchildren while they were on this phone-video call with me.

 

Pearly was holding up the LEGO gift box while Jamieson was by her side and his sister, Thea, was mischievously doing a close-up with me on the screen!

 

That's me holding the LEGO
trophy as the top prize winner!

LEGO has been part of our lives for generations. Since my brother started playing with LEGO, my nephews here and in the UK, also enjoyed LEGO. And now my grand-nephew also enjoys LEGO.

 

And when Legoland Malaysia Resort opened in Iskandar Malaysia, I had the privilege of being part of the history of the park that started with witnessing the Groundbreaking ceremony for its construction to the first day the park opened to welcome the public.

 

Since its inception, I had observed how the park developed as I accepted invitation after invitation to the introduction of each new attraction in the park as well as to a host of exciting events annually.

 

When the park reopened in April 2022 after two challenging years due to the global pandemic and resulting lockdowns, I was delighted to join the happy crowd at Legoland Malaysia Resort again for the Build the Thrills festival.

 

My sister Pearly, holding the LEGO
gift with Jamieson while his sister,
Thea, has a close-up with me!

This festival was designed with activities that featured sports cars and the team, dressed in sports racing outfits, presented an energetic Live show on the stage.

 

Upon arrival, we were invited to drop our name-cards at the registration counter and I guessed that this was for the usual record purposes after the Lucky Draw.

 

At the close of the thrilling show, the announcement said that there were two Lucky Draws, one for the media and the other for their guests.

 

I never win anything at Lucky Draws so I did not pay much attention as the draw was in progress… until I heard my name being called out as the winner for the top prize!

 

Cheered on by the crowd, it was a rush of adrenalin that sent me up to the stage to receive my LEGO prize from Legoland Malaysia Resort, Divisional Director, C S Lim.

 

Someone placed a giant trophy made of LEGO in my hands and because it was impossible for me to hold this trophy and my prize – and stand on the podium at the same time – they put my prize on the ground while I posed for a photo memento.

 

Four-year-old Jamieson with a
giant LEGO ice-cream cone at
Legoland Windsor in 2019

A glance at the cover design on the box prize showed me that it was a LEGO version of the DeLorean DMC-12, the car/time machine featured in Back to the Future, one of the best movie cars of all time.

 

While I read from the side of the box that this LEGO box set was for ages 18+ my first thought was to send it to Jamieson and let his dad, my nephew Jamie, help him fix it.

 

[A very long time ago, Jamie and his sister, had their LEGO experience at Legoland Denmark when they travelled with their parents from the UK by overnight boat, then by coach and enjoyed a hotel stay for a most memorable Legoland holiday.

 

In fact, Jamie fondly recalled that he came back with a LEGO fire rescue boat that could float!]

 

Jamieson and Thea enjoying
painting fun with grandmother

When Jamie became a father, he shared his love for LEGO with his son and I still have a cute photograph of Jamieson received in May 2019 – when he was aged four – standing next to a giant LEGO ice-cream cone when they visited Legoland Windsor.

 

Jamie brought his family to Legoland Windsor quite a number of times because it was close to where they live and entry was Free-of-Charge for kids under age two.

 

With my decision to present this LEGO prize to Jamieson, the next challenge was to find a way to send it to him in the UK.

 

While waiting for a solution to this dilemma, I wrapped the LEGO prize and stored it away carefully.

 

Then in August 2022, cousin Bernice and family who live in Wimbledon, came to visit us and I seized the opportunity to ask if she could please help carry this LEGO box back to the UK for me.

 

Jamieson started on his LEGO
project since 7am on Saturday

All I needed was her help to pack this box in her luggage and take it back to the UK… Then I would arrange for my sister or nephew to collect it from her.

 

When Bernice saw the LEGO box, she gasped, not only because of its size but also because of its weight.

 

I was relieved when she agreed to carry it back for me and when she was packing to leave for the UK, she asked if it was OK with her opening the box and packing its contents away and then folding the box flat to carry in her luggage.

 

I agreed without hesitation, aware that she was a seasoned traveller who would pack everything carefully and knows best, how to reconstruct this bulky box when it arrived safely there.

 

Having entrusted this gift for Jamieson into her good hands, I was more than pleased that my LEGO prize was on its way to a young man who would have fun fixing it with the help of his dad, in a wonderful father-and-son bonding time.

 

I do not remember when this gift was collected from Bernice but I knew that it was already safely there for Jamieson.

 

So when I received the video call from my sister on October 27, I was delighted to witness the official presentation of this gift to Jamieson who (I was told later) was more than ready to start on the LEGO project.

 

I remember telling Jamieson to show it to his dad and get some help from him… but this energetic boy could not sit still long enough for me to complete the sentence… so I just wondered how much he heard what I was saying.

 

Jamieson with his LEGO 
DeLorean DMC-12 car with two
LEGO figures, completed by 5pm

Among other things, he was trying to show me his new set of teeth – now growing back – after he had lost his milk teeth.

 

Later I was told that on October 29, Jamieson read the instructions and was determined to start the LEGO project on his own from 7am that morning, pause for breakfast and continued on till 10am.

 

Jamieson worked on his project in the following hours and his dad told me the youngster did almost all of it by himself. In fact, Jamie only stepped in a couple of times when his son needed to correct things or fit in bits that he missed.

 

By 5pm that day, Jamieson had assembled his LEGO DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine that comes with two LEGO figures that represent the characters played by Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd in the Back to the Future series of movies. Yay!

 

It was indeed a commendable effort for this seven-year-old boy because the info printed on the LEGO box said that this set was for ages 18+

 

“Well done and Happy Birthday, Jamieson!”