Alex, I'll take "What is frustration?" for $200.

What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? Rhetorical, don't tell me, I don't really care, but I'm going to tell you mine because I know I'm so interesting and you are dying to know. I had two favorites, as I come to think of it, Matchbox cars and Legos. My brother and I had hundreds of Matchbox cars and dug roads into the side of the hill in our backyard in Virginia. We had a whole city set up with those roads. Each of us had our own "houses" which were parking lots for the cars that lived at that "house." We would play for hours, running our own soap operas as the cars went from place to place, had races, police chases and all of the activities of a real town. There were a lot of accidents in that town, as I remember, which scratched a lot of paint. None of that would have been a big deal, until I found a book one time that showed pictures of old Matchbox cars and what they are worth today, in mint condition. Lets just say that if I had taken better care of those cars, my butler would be typing this and I would be sipping a beer, no, champagne, and laying on the beach in Maui. OK, maybe not Maui, but at least St. Petersburg.

Next favorite toy, Legos. I loved the ability to make whatever my mind could think of. We had a good sized box full of every shape, size and color that the Lego people made. The sets you bought back then weren't nearly as detailed as the sets of today. My kids have a Lego plane, that took me hours to build and they smashed on its maiden flight that, tragically, did not end at the airport. Had our own episode of Lost in the family room, without the tropical back drop. The blocks back then were simple, so everything you made had a square feel to it. If I had made a plane out of Legos back then,you wouldn't be able to tell it was a plane since it looked like the Winnebago I made the day before. They really only had one kind of wheel, so every vehicle started with the same base, so the wheels would actually roll. They were fantastic and we didn't care that what we built, didn't look like what it was, you had to use your imagination. Today's kits look exactly like what they are supposed to be, the detail is amazing. There are moving parts, hinges and all kids of wheel options. We didn't have doors when we were kids. We made everything with a gaping hole in it to allow the Lego guys to get in. That proves troublesome when you make a plane, seeing as how cabin pressure is hard to control with a four lego wide opening on the side. Don't even think about putting in an emergency door in the back or you'd have a wind tunnel ripping you and all of your in flight reading material right out the back. As always, when you have something that is fantastic and popular, there will be knock offs. Over the years, I have seen several different companies try to make the same kind of block, but not quite as good, so not quite as expensive. The current brand is Best-Lock Construction Toys. They offer several different sets, but the two I want to discuss are the garbage truck and the backhoe.

Lets start with the garbage truck. My youngest son loves anything construction or in his eyes, anything related to construction. Maybe it is just working trucks, because he loves garbage trucks. When he isn't in school, he is so excited on trash day so he can watch the garbage truck come down our street and pick up or trash. I'm glad he is so easily entertained, but the Best-Lock system has a few issues. Here is a shot of the completed truck.

Good looking truck, right. This truck lifts in the back so you can dump the trash out. The problem is, every time you lift the back end, the whole thing comes off. This does not sit well with a five year old. I've put the damn thing back on 100 times and we've had it for 2 weeks. I put it on, I get the "Thanks dad," then he leaves the room, only to return a minute later with two pieces of truck instead of the one he left with and a not so happy face. The first thing I say is, it's not my assembly skills that are the issue, its a loose fitting Best-Lock material. I'm not sure he believes me, so my man card is in question, in his eyes. Seeing as how the dump ability of the truck is the main reason he wants to play with it, kind of takes the fun out of it.

The backhoe. Now this truck is very basic truck. The main draw is the scoop on the back, that is where all the action is. One problem and I think you can guess it. Yep, the whole scoop detaches from the truck, but at least it only does it when you are trying to use it. Wait, that isn't a plus, is it?

I think Max has given up on this one all together, since the back usually comes off while you are transporting it to the play area from the fix it shop on dads lap. I'm seriously considering super gluing the pieces together that would make the garbage truck and backhoe work properly. That will limit the kids ability to be creative in the future, but I'm starting to not care.