Where to Begin? Good Friday Toys!

Kaz has so many cool toys that it's hard to know where to begin. He only just turned 2 and yet our home is brimming full with awesome toys. To our credit, many of the toys that we have are either gifts or hand-me-down toys from Kaz's cousins and other relatives. Also, I am a big fan of thrift and resale store shopping--we are not afraid of buying used items for a good price. Nevertheless, Kaz probably has more toys than he would ever need and so I doubt I will ever run out of material to post on this blog. As far as where to start with my first entry, I guess I will begin with what Kaz got today and then continue into the future with no particular order. I may decide one day to revisit the cool toys he enjoyed as a baby or I might feature what he's most into on that particular day.

As for today, Kaz scored big time. We don't intend to spoil him, but we have little restraint when it comes to toys. The toys came in two waves today. First, we had an Easter egg hunt at our home this Good Friday morning since we'll be busy visiting both sets of grandparents on Easter Sunday. Also, we happened to have our niece over and so we thought that today would be a good day for our own egg hunt.

Above are some dollar store trucks that we put inside of some Easter eggs. They are just some generic brand and are made out of cheap plastic. But, since they came as a four pack for $1, you can hardly expect too much. Plus, it is pretty impressive that for a quarter a piece their spring powered mechanism works well and they have nice rubber wheels. Also cool are the stickers that name them: TIGER, ICE THUNDER, and SKELETON. The yellow truck has no name, but it does have great dinosaur skeleton stickers on it.


The rubbery dinosaurs and lizards pictured are re-egged toys. Kaz got them inside of eggs from a previous egg hunt. He didn't pay too much attention to them at the time and so I hid them away and put them inside of some of the eggs that we hid for today. Again, these are not expensive toys--you could probably get hundreds of them for a small amount of money. But, they're super stretchy fun. My husband Bill, Kaz, and I had a great time spinning them around by their heads so that their whole bodies stretched out ridiculously.


These wind-up toys were each $1 from Michaels. They were displayed as egg-fillers and fit easily inside of the larger plastic Easter eggs. The coolest one of the bunch is the butterfly, because it not only moves forward, but its wings also flap up and down as it moves. The dinosaurs all waddle around well, but the poor elephant came broken. There were many more animals to choose from at Michaels and only getting six of them was not easy since they are so cute and colorful. Did you know wind-up toys can also be instructive as good fine motor practice?


The last real toy inside of the eggs was a Matchbox car. As Kaz is in love with cars, you will see that we have amassed a LOT of cars. While we are happy to buy him cars of any brand, our favorite for now seems to be Matchbox. This particular vehicle is an MBX 4x4 (#MB748, 2007). I love details such as the "Off Roading Specialty Equipment" labeling on the left and right sides and the cool triangular front bumper. I even love how the made in "Thailand" mark on the bottom of the vehicle is accompanied by the image of an elephant. Now I need to go back and see if Kaz's other Matchbox cars have elephants underneath them, too!

Now, you would think that Kaz should be all set for the day, and that was definitely the plan. But then, we decided to go to Kohls because we had a $10 off coupon plus an extra 15% off coupon, and it was also "power hours." Well, this meant Kaz ended up getting...10 more cars in the form of two 5-packs of Matchbox cars. I will end with photos of these 10 awesome new cars.


London Taxi, 1:63 (MB667, 2004) - This is perhaps my favorite new one. It is a from the first 5-pack that includes all Halloweeny cars. This particular one is a taxi complete with the sign "OUT OF SERVICE - DRIVER ONLY CARRIES ZOMBIES." How awesome is that? It also has all red windows!


Limousine (2001) - Have you gotten to ride in a limo with lime green windows and writing on the side that says, "Do You Dare to Take a Ride - Ghost Riders"?


Ford Panel Van, 1:80 (#MB444, 1999) - I love how this Ford van is now a "Ghost & Goblin Exterminator," complete with tinted windows.


1957 Lincoln Premiere, 1:72 (2001) - Pimped out with spiders and webbing!


Ambulance (2003) - "Zombie Patrol" in the house! Orange tinted windows and awesome rear double doors make this the emergency vehicle of choice.


1965 Austin Mini Van, 1:51 (#MB713, 2006) - This one starts the second 5-pack. Too bad we can't get one of these today--it looks like a great family car!


1969 Chevrolet Camaro, 1:62 (#MB608, 2003)


Chevy Van, 1:74 (#MB709, 2006) - I love the small oval window on the side and the two sunroof windows. I also think it's cool that it has a license plate with number TC 4728 at its rear.


1961 Jaguar E-type Coupe, 1:61 (#MB688, 2005) - Cool details include a British Flag back license plate, painted red tail lights, and a very detailed silver interior. Check out the texture of seats through the front windshield.


VW Transporter, 1:58 (1998) - This is my favorite of the second 5-pack. I love the VW style and am impressed by the seats that you can feel through the open sunroof. The rear license plate is numbered 21WNDO.

P.S. - Out of the 10 Matchbox cars that I just ended with, they all were made in Thailand, but none of them had an elephant underneath them. So...the 4X4 was special!