Santa must have visited you before heading out to me in SoCal. Got my first Lionel set when I was 3 years old - my dad was an Engineer for Union Pacific Railroad so maybe it was for me in name only. Still have it to this day. Almost forgot about the Kenner Girders and Panels, must have built thousands of different buildings with it back then. Other favorites were American (not Lincoln) Logs. American logs were square and "rough hewn", Lincoln Logs were round and smooth. Buildings and forts were much more stable with the square logs. Later, model planes, ships and then cars. And 1/32 scale Strombecker slot cars. Outside stuff was, of course, bicycles and skateboards. My first skateboard was a short length of 2x4 with half a roller skate nailed to the bottom of each end. Good times growing up in SoCal!