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Cape May: Part Two - The Wedding!

Now you may have wondered what possessed us to pack up a four, and a six year old and drive twelve-ish hours away, into an entire other country just to splash in some salty water. Well, I'll tell you what. We had a much better reason to visit the beach than just to pick up some shells. The real reason we decided to go to visit Cape May was that we were going to a wedding! 

And not just any old wedding. My Little Brother's wedding. P.J. (or Uncle P.J. as he is known around here) is my little brother only in age, as by the time he hit grade 10, and I was in Grade 12, he was already almost a head taller than I was. Our Little Guy once referred to him as "dat tall uncle wif da no hair." And now that tall guy has finally met his match. Not in height of course (as you will see from the pictures) but in humour, temperament and interests they certainly see eye to eye. 

Lisa (or Aunt Lisa, as she will heretofore be known) is an American, and grew up in Philadelphia, but went every summer to Cape May for a vacation at the beach. Since many fond childhood memories are there, and she knew how beautiful it was, she wanted to have a wedding on that sweet little beach from those happy childhood days. So off we went, with the promise of a seaside vacation into the bargain.

And thus it came to pass, that on the morning of the 13th of June we went to the beach and it looked like this: It was bright, but windy. The surf was choppy and we wore bathing suits and water wings and lots of sunscreen. 

BUT, on the afternoon of the 13th of June we went to the beach and it looked like this: Sunny and bright, with a clean blue sky, and we wore our summer Sunday best, (and still more sunscreen) And where there had just been sand and beach umbrellas before, there were now rows of white chairs, and a little arch with flowers on it, and a man in a top hat waiting for a lady in a long white dress to come and meet him. And all those nearest and dearest to them were waiting to hear them tell each other of their love, and how they would live the rest of their lives together. 

It was lovely. Our little family had our small parts to play in their big day as well.  As the youngest child in the extended family, our Little Guy had the honour of being the Ring Bearer! He took his job very seriously, but luckily did not get nervous about it. He held the little ring cushion very carefully as he sat in his seat, and when the Officiant said, "May we have the rings", his cousin sitting next to him gave him a nudge and he popped up and went straight up there to deliver them. And I had a job too. Besides being the self-appointed provider of sunscreen to small children and the unprepared, I was the photographer. I really enjoy taking pictures, and despite the fact that my brother does NOT enjoy having pictures taken, (never did, even as a child) even he could seen the need to record this beautiful day. I was very honoured to be given this responsibility, and took it so seriously that I wore flats. (For those of you who know me, you realize that this practical footwear decision on a semi-formal dress occasion is a great acknowledgment of the of the importance of my job. ahem.) 

And so they tied the knot and sealed it with a kiss. 

And then smiled and stood and posed for pictures with all the family. (This one is just our immediate family on the Groom's side)

The Ring Bearer ran off with the Bride's parasol.

And the Bride and Groom smiled and posed and posed and smiled for as long as I could get two people who don't care much for posing to do so. Though I must admit that they were more than usually smiley. They must have been having a pretty nice day...

And I'm going to pat myself on the back and say I did a pretty good job with the photos. This one is my favourite. 

And then it was time to head off to Menz's for the wedding dinner, and of course, CAKE! And oh the excitement when the little boys discovered that the cake had LEGO PEOPLE on it! Our joy was complete when they found that each place card was set with a little lego man too. As the little cake banner says, it was the BEST DAY EVER!

This was the first wedding that our boys have attended, and I must say, Aunt Lisa and Uncle P.J. set the bar pretty high as they not only had lego men at their place settings, but were personally gifted with action figures as wedding favours from the bride and groom.  Oh Joy!

Batman flew all over that dance floor!

The night went on, with cake and food and lego people playing, and the bride and groom and all their guests talking and laughing and revelling late into the night, until I finally packed in my camera, picked up the boys and took our tired, happy bones home to bed with the promise of another day at the beach tomorrow. 

Best wedding ever. 

temporary order

About once a month I walk around the house with a bucket and pick up all the partial and mismatched lego minifigs that are lying around. Discarded after a day of play, forgotten during the urgency of a trip to the bathroom, or hidden during a game I find them in the funniest places. In the cup holders of the car, in the pockets of dirty pants and scattered like confetti around the edges of the play room. I put the bucket someplace "up high", and then once the kids are in bed I sit down and take them apart and put them back together, match up all the "right" tops and bottoms with the "correct" heads and hats. It makes the collector in me CRAZY that my three year old does not seem to care that Batman has the right head under his mask or that the space alien queen is wearing the plumber's pants. But once a month for an evening I get to set them all up on the shelves and enjoy them in all their intended splendour.
As a side note, these are not all of them. These are just what I was able to find and put together last night. There is also a box of random parts that our Little Guy can swap in and out to his hearts content, and of course most of the Star Wars minifigs are kept in a separate location, to be doled out for playtime upon request. (because of someone looses Princess Leia's hair, I will loose my shit!) And now here is my call for assistance from the internet and my fb friends: Does anyone know where I can buy another of these segmented display shelves? I got this one at Ikea AAAAAAaaaages ago and it has literally been on the wall in every home I have ever lived in. It didn't always hold minifigs though, that is a more recent development. It's sort of like a traditional Type Face drawer, hung on the wall as a display shelf (very common on the walls of Dutch homes, filled with tiny knick knacks and sea shells and such) but this one has slightly more roomy sections and is a little deeper. The minifigs can stand in there two rows deep, which is great. I recently went to Ikea to try and buy a new one, which was ridiculous, as I should know better than to think that they would carry something that they originally stocked, like, fourteen years ago! Anyhow, if anyone knows where I can get something similar, or has one like this that they want to sell, that would be GREAT! aaaaand that's the end of that. Now that the Little Guy has seen that the shelf is replenished and full of all his favourite things, it will slowly be pilfered and looted, bit by bit, until only a skeleton crew of lego minifigs are left. Sigh. Its like a metaphor for housework or something. You only do it to have it undone, yada, yada, yada. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted...

 

lego excitement!

It was kind of a crap day around here on the adult front. One of those Bermuda Triangle days, where every small appliance, or mechanical anything that you touch suddenly and inexplicably breaks down. Seriously, in the space of one day my iron died (which is super annoying because as a quilter I use it, like every single day) the dishwasher leaked a small and minorly catastrophic creek of hot, dirty water across the kitchen floor (I know, we are lucky to have a dishwasher, it came with the place, and I have a feeling it is a limited time offer) and then when I got into the car to drive over to the store to buy a functioning iron (because seriously, every. single. day) the car turned on for a second and then, click, was completely dead. I was, to use the vernacular, loosing my shit. Oh, and also I was billed and required to pay for a product that I never used or received but that is another story. Anyhow, the point is that I felt broke, and my house felt filled with broken stuff which, since I am broke I clearly would never be able to afford to replace. 

But this feeling only lasted until the Little Dude came home from school because then my feeling of "failing to be an adult who can handle life and small appliances" was completely displaced by the LD's loud, exuberant, ecstatic feelings of "OHMYGOSHNEWLEGO!!!!!" There was no room left in the house for any sad feelings because LEGOEXCITEMENTLEGOEXCITEMENTLEGOLEGOLEGO was the predominant emotion in the air until I finally hosed that child down and put him to bed. 

You see, Hubs was cleaning out the garage and found a box of old lego. Yeah, I have no idea how he could have forgotten he had a box of lego out there, since we have a child who lives and dies for lego, but he figures he must have found/bought it before L.D. hit his lego window, and it simply did not register as important to him at that time. Anyhow, it is CLEARLY very important now, so when L.D. got off the bus, Hubs showed him the large cardboard box of random old lego pieces and L.D. practically levitated off the ground with excitement. 

So they had to get down to work right away. They started by dumping it all in the bath because that lego was filthy! You should have seen the water when they were done. 

And then they swished it and swooshed it around which was very, very satisfying. Lego in the water is a great tactile experience. 

And then they pulled out handfuls at a time and sorted the sheep from the goats, er, I mean the lego from the megablocks. Because we are lego snobs. And we put the Little Dude to work drying off the "special pieces" that he found, which he needed to play with/claim and hoard right now, and could not possibly wait for it to air dry. 

Even the Little Guy helped by collecting the things that were neither lego nor megablocks; marbles and toy soldiers and such. I'll tell you it was a very full bathroom.

Not only was it full of people, and full of lego, but mostly it was full of JOY! And noise of course, because when you are six those two things go hand in hand. This was the best picture I could get of the Little Dude as he jumped up and down, plunging his hands into the water to grab a "cool piece" that he'd spotted amongst all the regular bricks, his voice full of capitals and italics and brimming with exclamation marks. "MOM! a SKELETON! With a cool different kind of face then the skeleton we already HAVE! LOOK! a SPIDER! and a BAT! MOM! we can make a whole HAUNTED HOUSE with this stuff! Like Lord Vampyre's Castle, only better!" Mom, MOM! TWO orange tracks and I think I saw the WHEELS in there that go WITH it!" 

Good Lord that child is loud. I wonder where he gets it? (she says ironically)

And now, at the end of the day we have a beach towel laid out on the floor, covered with drying lego bricks as well as two skeletons, a bat, a spider, lots of tusks/horns, seven-eighths of a dragon (missing the head, more's the pity, but never fear, there's definitely a decapitated dragon story line to be acted out there) some orange tractor tracks, lots of wheels, etc, etc. Oh, and a very dirty tub. 

And I don't think I even need to say it, given the picture above, but obviously, one very excited little boy. 

And p.s. my Dad got the car started. Phew. 

snow days suck

Parenting changes your perspective on so many things. What a full night's sleep means, how much work can be accomplished in an hour long period (naptime!), what constitutes a complete 'meal' (half a boiled egg + hand full of corn chips + baby carrot = success!), but nothing has changed more than my perspective on snow days. Oh. MY. GOSH! Snow days suck. Here I was all ready to have a nice productive day with just my low-maintenance toddler (and I'm not saying that sarcastically, compared to my five-year-old, the Little Guy is a hands off dream!) and then, just as we are struggling into snow-pants, lunch all packed, teeth all brushed, ready for the bus, I get the dreaded snow-day phone call. Sigh. And now instead of getting stuff done today and maaaaaybe having a nap while the Little Guy has his (got to get rid of this exhaustion headache somehow) I'm going to spend the day refereeing and mediating toy disputes. And I get all hard-ass and critical, looking out the window and being like "People, its JUST a little SNOW! I mean, we're Canadian. Learn to drive in the snow already! You just have to slow down and leave a little more distance between cars. Hello? Just pump the breaks!" yeah, you know that thing where you open you mouth and your mother jumps out? For me, its my Dad.

But never fear, I've been saving a secret weapon for just such a time as this! Vintage Lego kit! 

This is my lego kit, from when I was a little girl (or as the Little Dude puts it, "in the olden days when lego faces were all happy"). I was super into all things Medieval involving Lords and Ladies and dragons and castles and long trailing dresses, preferably made of velvet, and this particular kit was the crown jewel of my (meager by today's standards) lego collection. I've been holding it back for the proverbial rainy day (or should I say snowy day). And I have not 'given' it to the Little Dude, but am allowing him to 'borrow' it with the caveat that it can NOT get taken apart and mixed in with the rest of the amorphous lego slurry. I've let go enough to be ok with the fact that none of his lego kits stay completed, but I've kept this lego kit intact for more than 30 years, and I will not see all my type A childhood's hard work undone in a matter of minutes. 

Right, gotta go supervise a lego build. From a distance. He rarely needs my help with lego, usually only to find small pieces, and I only help when help is requested. That's my motto. Hand's off parenting. (pst: also, I'm lazy) But since this kit is so old, their directions are not as detailed. Current lego kits also have this handy little index at the top of each page that shows you which pieces you need to find for each step, and usually have one illustrated step per three or four lego pieces, whereas these old ones have waaaaay more bricks per step, and require you to do much more visual figuring out. Which will be good for the Little Dude's brain, but not so good for me being left alone. Vintage is cool, but does have its drawbacks. 

big clean-up

You may wonder what the point of this picture is. This is our lego table. Central Station. Mission Control. The place where the Little Dude (and often the Little Guy) spend most of their days. But can you tell what is unusual here? Sure you can. SURFACES! open space. YOU CAN SEE THE TABLE! You must imagine me using my Eddy from Ab Fab voice "SURFACES darling, where have all my surfaces gone?" (If you cannot imagine this, you must go to the link and cue it up to 3:28 and watch it till 3:42. That's what I'm talking about.) 

Because I spent all morning doing this.Organizing, organizing! I'm telling you, I spend so much time doing this that organizing lego is basically my new hobby. 

(And note that I said "lego" not "legos". Hearing people say "legos" is one of my pet peeves. The plural of "lego" is "lego". Unless you're British maybe. Then I might cut you some slack. Since you refer to "math" as "maths". So you have precedent.)

This is my 'piece de resistance' . The partitioned box of little technical grey bits. There is a whole methodology here, with pieces sorted by size (one bump, two bump, four bump, etc) with a spot for those weird blocks that have a flat, unbumped surface. This took some time, but I cannot tell you how much easier it is going to make my life. "Mooooom, can you help me find something? I need a piece that has two bumps, with a little holdy thing on the side that is sort of shaped like a T, but kind of not." Oh, that piece. sigh. 

Anyhow, I'm looking to acheive the level of organization that allows him to play independantly because he can find what he's looking for (and more importantly, knows where to put it back). He is only five, but he loves to build and it can be very frustrating to not be able to find what you are looking for. 

Of course, within fifteen minutes of his arrival home from school the lego table looked like this:Which is fine (I guess) because I cleaned it up so that I could be used more easily. And since I did my cleaning in the morning, I had all day to walk by and enjoy my clean, clear surfaces. 

Also, in reflecting on how I'd spent a large portion of my day, and how my life is now (after children) as opposed to what it was before (before children) I'd like to mention that I went to University. Twice. Just sayin', good thing I went and got all those degrees so that I could spend my day trying to decide how to categorize lego most effectively. *sigh*

Lego Party!

ok, final post about the Little Dude's birthday celebrations. And I'll (try to) be brief, as it is late (as usual). Our theme was Lego, naturally. (many lego party ideas on my pinterest party board, in case you are planning one yourself) I decorated our book display shelves by lining the edges with a wide gros-grain ribbon that I had lying around. Then I printed out some letters on plain white printer paper, cut them out, and taped them onto bright coloured card stock. The Little Dude was very pleased to wake up and see them on his party day. 

Here's his finished cake. We decorated it with little lego block candies, and little chocolate lego men.
It was a hit with all the littles, because although it had no wheat or dairy, what it did have was a shitload of sugar. Here's the Baby making sure that I cut him a piece with candy on it. 

Nom.

Here is the Little Dude and two of his buddies, hittin' the cake hard.

Then it was present time. Lego of course. Oh, the excitement!

I tried to allow for a balance between free-play time and planned games and activites. You don't want to just let a pack of four and five year old run completely wild, because things get out of hand pretty fast, but at the same time you don't want to stiffle the fun they have naturally with each other. Here's a bunch of them up in the book nook, loving the novelty of their view on the world. (The book nook, just in case you are wondering, is a little loft that my Dad built into house above the living room. Its called the book nook because it just for quiet playing, like reading and such. Its rather high up, so there've got to be some rules. But I'll tell you, kids LOVE this little hide-away. Its always a hit with visiting friends)

We did some fun planned games, (here's a great link for Lego themed party games. Got lots of good ideas there) this one is a relay race where you have to scoop cups full of lego out of a bucket and then run it over to another and put them into a bucket through a cardboard tube. It was fun, but you know what happens when you give a group of four year olds a bunch of cardboard tubes.

They inevitably become weapons. That's the ever patient cousin Micah under that bucket, getting pummelled most rhythmically. 
We also did a craft. I photocopied Hubs' Lego superhero minifig paper dolls for them all to colour and cut out. And it was a very welcome change of energy for them to all sit down and focus on that sort of activity for awhile. 

At the end of the day, after the last child had left and the last party favour had been given out, there was one nicely iced piece of cake left, which I put on a plate and set up on the counter to save for later. But there was a chair next to that counter, and some little fingers came and found it.Ah, the perfect visual metaphor for the end of a happy, child-filled day. 

crafts and weather

Starting with the weather. Just sitting here, minding my own business, working on my stuff during the evening, when I started noticing flashes from outside. The flashes went from light to sound, with thunder joining the lightening. And then, not surprisingly, it began to rain. And it was a heavy rain. Hubs started to joke that there must be a few frogs in there. And it did sound like a bit more than rain.  We turned on the lights out back on the deck and stared in awe at the hail bouncing off the roof and railings and gathering on the wood.

They were quite beautiful. Like translucent layered marbles. And it was so loud! I'm amazed that it did not wake up the boys. We gathered up a handful of them to put in the freezer so that we could show them that it really happened.

Also, of note, we're getting ready for a big birthday party around here. The Little Dude is going to turn five in a matter of weeks, and so we are planning his celebration. I'm sure you won't be at all to hear that it will involve some lego. Yes, it will definitely be a lego themed party. We have big plans, though I'm not sure how many of those plans will come to fruition. Not so sure about the expansive interactive lego environment that L.D. has planned. It might be a bit more, erm, modest then my big dreamer has in his mind. But either way, we will have to have invites. I got Hubs to do a nice little Lego Minifig portrait of the Little Dude, and then I scanned that in and added some text with a lego font (called Legothick) that I found as a free download on the internet. How I love the good ole' internet. (here's another cute font, made of actual lego bricks for which I'll probably find another birthday related use)

And then I got L.D. to colour and customize them all. He used some stamps on the shirts, and then just went ahead and coloured them with crayons and pencils. I'm so happy with the way they turned out, and he was too. He had a lot of fun with the process. Even though they were all supposed to be him, he got creative and gave them different jobs and stuff. The guy on the right there is in blue coveralls and is clearly a mechanic as you can tell from the smudges of grease on his face. 

And I am informed that this is a Rock Star. Natch.

And this one is the joke card. Can you tell why? Because (wait for it) he's naked! Get it? Isn't that funny Mom? He's all one colour so he's naked! (incidentally he's earmarked this one for his best friend, and they share the opinion that nudity is hilarious. Kids these days...)

But this one is his favourite. He worked really, really hard on it, telling me about all his colour choices, and how he used two different orangey-reddish browns to make his hair colour as close to real life as possible. And how all the different little bits of the motor bike are different colours. "Hey Mom, I know what we could do! We could try and find a shirt just like this, and then I could wear it! I'd really like a shirt like this. Can you look at the store where you work and see if they have one?" And when he'd finally finished colouring it, he asked if we could keep this one, and cut it out and play with it, instead of putting it on an invite. And since he'd worked so hard (with a bit of gentle encouragement) and we had ten other ones all coloured in and ready to go, we decided that it'd be a good idea to keep one so he could enjoy the fruits of his labour. Plus also, I'll need it as a reference, just in case I ever come across a motorcycle shirt like that.

Princess Leia's bathing suit

I read a quote on Pinterest the other day which stated, "I never know how dirty a song's lyrics are until I hear a small child singing them." And while my children do not know any songs with questionable lyrics, I did have a similar moment the other day. 

This is the conversation that I had with the Little Dude at bedtime last night when he was requesting his tuck-in story.

"I want the story of Jabba's sail barge and with Princess Leia where she got tooken off her disguise so she had no clothes on except the little bathing suit that Jabba gave her." Unhunh. "Probably that bathing suit is Oola's." He says to me. "Did Oola and Princess Leia become friends?" Yeah, there is a lot to unpack there.

Up until now I've mostly been amused with his interest in Star Wars. I mean, I like Star Wars, and I like to share the things I like with him. Though I realize that Star Wars is too violent and much of it is beyond his comprehension at this point. And since he does not watch TV yet, I have had control over what he does know of the Star Wars narrative. I don't lie about it, but I do soft-sell certain points, and omit others. We generally focus on the good vs. evil aspect of it. We talk about robots a lot, and also, creatures are a big favourite; Banthas, Rancors, Wampas etc. And of course we talk about the main characters, especially Luke, Leia and Han. And up till now I've been very happy to have such a positive female role model for him in the form of Princess Leia. I mean, she's not only a princess, but also the leader of the rebel alliance. Sure she's getting rescured by Han and Luke, but she is anything but passive and is a good shot with a blaster. And I like to tell him the story of how she went in disguise to Jabba's palace to rescue Han. Role reversal, right? So its all good.

But there have been recent developments. Ever since we got this new book from the library, there's been a new level of focus.

See the figure third from the right? Yeah, that's the lego minifig version of "Slave Leia".

Sigh. Where do I begin. On the one hand, I could use this as a teachable moment to talk about slavery. And of course, that's what I've done. We talked about how slavery is bad and sad, and that it means that one person takes away another person's freedom and won't let them leave and makes them work without pay and they don't get to make any choices about their lives anymore. And its awful, they usually don't get enough to eat, and they have to stay in jail cells and it hurts them in a lot of ways, etc. Without being graphic I do my best to convey how bad it is in an age appropriate manner. 

But he's really, really interested in her outfit. The outfit is kind of a big deal. So yeah, its sort of like hearing a song lyric you've heard a million times before comeing out of your sweet childs innocent mouth and realizing that it is just a thinly veiled double entendre. Of course, I knew that this was a 'sexy' outfit, but never really thought about the implications of that. Because to put it bluntly, Leia was a sex slave. That's why she's wearing what she's wearing (or not wearing) That's why she's chained up to Jabba. That's why he licks her. And that is not something that I feel like I need to get into with a four year old. But really, he is fascinated by this image. He has so, so many questions. He needs to know why she's wearing what she's wearing. "Why is she half-naked mom?" Yeah, why is she? Previously when Hubs and I looked through the catalogue of what was availabe from the Lego Star Wars empire, I was relieved to see that this particular item was not for sale currently. Because as I put it to him "I don't want to normalize women with chains around their necks for him." And of course, since he's seen this picture he has asked me about a million times why she has a chain around her neck. 

So I'm not quite sure of what to do. I've kind of been trying to avoid the conversation, but of course he can totally tell when I'm hedging and just has a million more questions. So what do I do, internet friends? How do I explain this to him? Any advice?

Addendum: I just spent 20 minutes google image searching Slave Leia for a picture of Carrie Fisher in the original costume and I feel like I learned a lot. I mean, most of what I found was just hyper-active fanboy salivation/ojectification crap that I'd expected, but there was some interesting stuff too. Like this guy who created a gender bent Slave Leia costume for himself to wear (as Slave Leo, and writes a good blog post about it too) and also, I'd never noticed what Leia wore on her feet in this scene, but look at this costume shot:
An oddly, I kind of like those boots. This surprises even me. They are sort of an Ugg precursor, but less schlumpfy, and with cuter detailing. I was totally expecting some sort of ridiculously impractical knee-jerk high heel choice, but I like that the costume designer went in a more authentic-to-the-period-and-culture-of-Tatooine direction on this one. Its refreshing. 

lego men and lego women

So the Little Dud is officially obsessed with Lego. It is what he plays with most of the time and what he talks about ALL of the time. Ok, I exagerate, but when he is not talking about Lego he is talking about Star Wars, and usually those two talking points dovetail nicely into a conversation about StarWars Lego. So, we are kind of immersed in that world right now. 

Which really, is fine with me. I also love Lego, and am rather fond of Star Wars, so no problem, so long as we can avoid the more stressful plot points. And though we don't buy as much lego as the Little Dude thinks we should, we have just come through the holidays and got a couple of nice kits. Though of course, as is the case with all small children, L.D. is strongly in favour of us buying more! He makes helpful suggestions like "Mom! You know what you could do? Tonight, while I'm asleep, you could go out and buy a big new Lego set, like the police station, the one with all the cars and two dogs, and then you could put it outside my door and I could find it when I woke up! Do you think that's a good idea?" Yeah, sadly for him, I never think that's a good idea.  Lego still life in the morning light. Take by Hubs.

Anyhow, my current beef with our lego collection is that there are not enough girls. Story of my life, right? Seriously though, we've bought a number of different kits and only one of them had a female mini fig. (They are mainly Lego City kits, with a few Star Wars thrown in) And what does that lego woman minifigure do? She wrings her hands and watches while a fireman rescues her cat from a tree. Both passive and a cliche. Argh. And the sad fact was that I'm happy to have her, stereotype that she is, because at least now we have a female character and we can dress her up as a firefighter/police officer/construction worker so that the boys can see that women can also do stuff. 

Anyhow, I'm too tired for a full on "why are toys so sexist" rant and you probably know how it goes anyways. (Thank the lord in heaven he doesn't want any of the "Lego Friends" sets, the sad, 'girly' equivalent of Lego that features skinny girl characters and mainly pink and purple components with very few actual building bricks. Such a bummer.)

My point is that finally, I went out to find the individual Lego Minifig collectors series packages, in hopes of adding to our sad little "one woman army" (bonus points to you if you can spot that pop culture reference). Of course, in the true 'collect and trade' swindle of any company, you cannot see what you are buying, as all the minifig packs are packaged in the same mystery wrappers. So I was buying blind. And with there being a total of 16 figures and only 4 female characters, the odds were not great. But much to my delight, when we opened our four packs we did get one girl. A very nice little fairy, complete with wings, a wand and a skirt. So now we have two ladies in our collection. Woohoo. Let the gender equity begin (she says with sarcasm). 

So I warmed my heart when I found this little scene on the Lego table during nap time.  AWWWwwww! The Little Dude played mix and match with his minifigs and girled up some of the boys. A Conquistador/Rebel Allaince Pilot/Tinkerbell and a Storm Tropper/Fairy, complete with wand. Now that's what I call Girl Power.

I love that kid.