Scenes from Comic-Con 2015: Doctor Who, Josh Holloway, Sharknado, Lego Chris Pratt and More!

It's hard to believe, but Comic-Con 2015 was already a week ago. Equally hard to believe: This was already my fifth in a row with TV Guide Magazine, and the fifth year we parked a yacht behind the San Diego Convention Center for talent, producers and executives. It was a busy five-day marathon, and once again I moderated four panels this year. (Details to come in a separate post).

As a bonus, the family came down on Saturday evening to see the craziness upclose, and also watch me moderate our "Farewell to Phineas and Ferb" panel on Sunday. Here are some images from another 'Con.


Checking into the W Hotel, greeted by chocolate Stormtroopers, Darth Vader and Spider-Man.


Wednesday night: Opening night madness!


Candid Polaroids from the TV Guide Magazine/TV Insider Yacht!


Doctor Who on the yacht!


BLING.


Conan Bingo was indeed a thing.


Back on the yacht: Josh Holloway, Sarah Wayne Callies and Peter Jacobson from USA's Colony.


My colleague Damian Holbrook shows off his Sharknado 3 cover story to Ian Ziering on the yacht.


This was surreal: We ran into megaproducer Chuck Lorre and The Big Bang Theory exec producer Steven Molaro on the way to the Warner Bros. party, and along the way fans recognized Chuck -- and asked for a photo!


Lego Chris Pratt


Now that is luggage!


Christy borrows a cosplayer's tail. I think she wants to keep it.


I'm inside Rick and Morty!


On the floor


The convention floor was still a madhouse on Sunday, but the Blogger Boys did gravitate to the video games, of course!


Phineas and Ferb signing session


Spidey!

Lego Brings the Washington Monuments to the Glendale Galleria

How do you get kids interested in our nation capital's monuments? Lego, of course. The Lego Monuments Roadshow is currently on display throughout the Glendale Galleria mall through February 22. Besides the massive models of the Capitol Building, the White House and other buildings, the roadshow includes a play area (where kids can build racecars) and an area for kids to build a free tiny Capitol building model.

Some pics from the roadshow:

Everything Is Awesome: The "Lego Movie" Exhibit at Legoland

We're living in a Lego world, and that's just fine with the blogger kids. "The Lego Movie" was a big hit in the Franklin Avenue household, and our recent visit to Legoland and the Legoland Hotel (more on that in another post) was probably one of the best moments of their young lives.

One of the highlights from this most recent Legoland trip was visiting the actual Lego sets as seen in the live-action tail-end of the movie. Pivotal scenes and characters were also depicted in what would truly be the most amazing personal Lego collection of all times. (Hey listen, I can relate to Will Ferrell's character in the movie. I'd want to try and keep my kids from destroying this world as well.) Some other pics:



Entrance to the "Lego Movie" exhibit



Everyone loves 1980-something space guy. Here's his space ship!



A Wild West display, along with a stern warning like the one in the movie.



The ominous Octan tower.



One of the climactic scenes from the movie.



A sweeping view of Lego city.



Emmett's construction site.



Will Ferrell's work table.



The Lego Movie skyline.

Art for the Whole Family: Lego-Themed "Art of the Brick" Makes Its Los Angeles Premiere

New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya has found quite a niche: the self-proclaimed "Brick Artist" creates art out of thousands and thousands of Lego pieces. The result? The first art exhibit that you and your kids can truly enjoy together, even on completely different levels.

The Franklin Avenue family -- including the Blogger Kid and the Blogger Toddler 2.0 -- attended the premiere party on Thursday of "Art of the Brick," the first Los Angeles exhibition of Sawaya's work. "Art of the Brick" can currently be found at one of L.A.'s best-kept museum secrets: The Forest Lawn Museum, tucked high up on a hill in Glendale. (You may remember we wrote about a tiki art exhibit at the Forest Lawn Museum in 2008.)

"These works are very personal to me, since they reflect my growth as an artist as I strove to discover my creative identity," Sawaya says on the "Art of the Brick" exhibition webpage. "The museum exhibition is accessible because it engages the child in all of us while simultaneously illuminating sophisticated and complex concepts. Everyone can relate to the medium since it is a toy that many children have at home. But my goal with this exhibition when it first debuted in 2007 was to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before."

It's worth a visit to Forest Lawn -- particularly with the kids in tow. "Art of the Brick" runs through July 21. Some pics from the opening night party:
















The Forest Lawn museum


Blues band performs at the "Art of the Brick" opening night party -- the folks at the Forest Lawn museum know how to do it, with free wine and beverages and an assortment of hors d' oeuvres! (Check out the little green Lego guy holding up the music stand).

License Plate of the Day: Ninjago Edition

If you have an 8-year-old boy in your house, then you're incredibly familiar with "Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu." The show is like crack to little ones. They watch it over and over again. Dissect the plots with their friends (debating who the Green Ninja might be, etc.). And of course, beg and plead for the actual Lego Ninjago sets. Brilliant move, Lego.

I clearly have Ninjago on the brain. Which is why, when I saw this license plate -- which is not a vanity plate, mind you -- my brain immediately went to "Ninjago." In reality, that's a zero after "NJG." But you could have fooled me. Ninja, go!!

An Overnight Trip to the Land of Legos

Now that he's 5, Blogger Kid is suddenly in the sweet spot for a lot of things we could previously ignore -- including Legoland.

For the longest time, Evan believed that the Lego retail store at the Glendale Galleria was, indeed, "Legoland." And perhaps we could have kept him believing that -- and letting him tell his little preschool pals that yes, indeed, he had been to Legoland. Many times.

But the truth was eventually going to come out. And besides, I must admit I've been intrigued over the idea of a Legoland theme park as well. (My parents just recently shipped my old box of Legos to Blogger Kid, greatly expanding his collection.)

Earlier this year we finally made the journey to Carlsbad, where the California Legoland is located -- and followed a few theme park rules: (A) Never go on a weekend and (B) try to go during the off-season.

As a result, the park wasn't too packed, allowing us to hop from ride to ride with little wait. The rides themselves were perfectly suited for little ones between 4 and 11, although kids older than that may find themselves a tad bored. For Evan, the park was just right.

In the end, Evan's favorite part of Legoland wasn't a ride at all, but rather the miniature replicas of New York, Washington, San Francisco and Las Vegas. (He especially got a kick out of the operating Lego subway seen below the Gotham skyline.) Sadly, Los Angeles only gets love for Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Bowl and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Under the suggestion of our friends Jeff and Jess, we stayed at the nearby West Inn and Suites, where the rooms are large and the breakfast is free.

Will we be back at Legoland and the West Inn? I can pretty much assure you we will, several times, before both Blogger Kid and Blogger Baby grow out of the target demo.

A round up of shots from our day at Legoland: