Puzzled

TARDY HARVEST: This afternoon we FINALLY plucked a half dozen cute lil carrots from the Root-Vue growing center. We started them from seeds way back in mid January and they've been living on our kitchen counter ever since then, if you can believe it. I have been dutifully watering them for seven months now! Funny how things become a part of the scenery.

THE WHOLE WORLD IN THEIR HANDS: During a trip to Target today, we scored a $1 Big Blue Marble puzzle from their bargain bins.

This afternoon, I instructed the kids to assemble it. I was surprised at how long it took them. I think part of the problem was that it was a circular puzzle and had a number of kind of unpredictable and odd shaped pieces. The other problem was that they were being lame. ;)

After about a hour, they managed to get our Earth in order.

It only took them two seconds to get the 'bonus' four-piece moon together.

PRETTY LEGOS: Annabelle had a gift card burning a hole in her wallet today, so we spent a little time perusing the toy aisles at Target. We were to about the last aisle when she spied her object of desire: A LEGO "Friends" set. It's a new product line from LEGO, with a tagline of "the beauty of building."

With lots of pink and violet bricks, all female characters (that aren't like the traditional blocky LEGO men) and building kids like a riding camp and a beauty shop, it's clearly targeting little girls.

As soon as he saw it, CJ started railing against it, muttering something about LEGO being sellouts and stereotyping girls and signing a petition against it and on and on.

I suggested he simmer down and told him I thought LEGO should be able to make any color LEGOs they want to, and that if it gets more girls playing with LEGOs, well that's probably not a bad thing.

And so Annabelle bought herself "Emma" in a poolside type scene.

Forgive Emma's listing to her left in the photo. It's just that her ice cream cone is so damn heavy.