Building with unit blocks

My parents got our children a wonderful set of blocks for Christmas and they've been in almost constant use since. I'm always amazed at the uniqueness of each structure they design. They've built car washes, race tracks, parking lots, houses with furniture and people, elevators, grocery stores, towers with well-concealed hiding places and tunnels, walls, giant people, windows, castles, random abstract structures, and on and on. Most often other toys are involved, which I totally understand. Someone small enough has to have the pleasure of being inside these awesome buildings.
The pictures I have don't demonstrate much variety, but I'm not always standing at the ready with my camera when the kids exhibit their genius. And, actually, I was contracted building help on a couple of those.
If you're on the hunt for a high quality set of blocks, I highly recommend Barclay Blocks. Their website is very informative, their blocks are excellent quality, come in a great variety of shapes, are offered in sets for school and home, and are made in our backyard (Indiana). You can purchase blocks by the set or individually, which means you can always add to what you've got. I'm looking forward to supplementing our set in the future! We also got their recommended Block Building for Children and have had fun duplicating projects inside and have been inspired by the examples pictured.
Some benefits of having a well-made set of unit blocks (besides being so much fun) are that the pieces are standardized and made uniformly which makes them great for educational purposes and allows for sturdy and dependable construction.
As a parent, I really enjoy creating and building with my kids and our blocks. I prefer it over most other toy-play that happens in our home. These blocks are great for kids and entire families since the play varies and will continue to be interesting as the kids grow older (and the blocks stand up to all the wear!) I did happen to see that Barclay Woods is currently having a sale, which is another point for their company.
Check back here tomorrow for one more block picture. Surprise for our Nanna.