Oh, to be a kid again

I was visiting my friend, Erika's, website and she had posted something about her son's "rocketship," which got me to thinking. I remember when my dad would bring home an old refrigerator box and how I'd play in it for days on end. He did the same for my two younger sisters, and when Rod was in the warehouse at RC Willey, he'd bring home an occasional box for Rachel to play in. Other than a refrigerator box, I'd have to say that the single most awesome toy/play thing/boredom cure was the collection of Little People stuff. And when I say Little People, I don't mean those chunky rubber things that Fisher Price came out with 10 years ago. My Little People are the real deal. I remember playing with the castle all the time, and making my mom make my older sister, Lori, play with me with the castle. Whenever she played with me she'd make the blond-haired, blue dress lady get kidnapped. What I remember from the castle was getting my hand stuck in the dungeon side time and time again because one of the Little People (usually the little brown-haired girl) would get stuck between a plastic round piece and the wall and I'd have to get her out. I remember flipping the spring-mounted flag over and over again to the point where I was afraid it'd get stuck on the side and wouldn't work anymore. I remember using the trap door as an ultra-cool slide, and not an actual trap door. I remember thinking that the only reason my dad liked the castle was because there was an alligator in the moat. I remember opening the staircase and sliding my hand around the turret because it felt good, sticking my hand in the hole on the turret, in the red attic... I guess I liked sticking my hand in every possible place a kid could on that thing.



I remember going (just a few years ago) to the house of someone in my ward and seeing that they, too, had a castle. I freaked out, and proceeded to just about ignore anything I was actually there for, and immediately started playing with it. I think if I were to score one (eBay, anyone?) it'd be in fierce competition with Rock Band and Lego Batman.