London's Bday Part I

So London is about to turn 8 and we decided a while ago we would let her have a "invite a friend" kind of party. We always done the cake with family, maybe a few friends but I guess it's time to do the real thing. She has said for the last year or so that when she could do a big party, it would be a swim party. (very convenient I know) Anyway we invited about 12 girls. A few from the neighborhood and the rest from school. We blew up some beach balls, threw some things in the pool to dive for, laid out some masks and snorkels, turn up the Hannah Montana and away we went.
The party was a lot of fun. Everything went great. Mindy and Ryan came down to help corral the kids. London had a good time. The gift of choice this year is a "webkinz." This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" kind of gifts. Basically it is a small stuffed animal. Each one comes with an on-line code that you enter and allows you to "adopt" the animal. You get to name it, you get to print out an adoption certificate and you get access to a bunch of stuff on their webpage. Each animal has a "room." You can get points on the webpage. You then use those points to buy food for your animal and furniture and toys for their room. **WATCH OUT, I'm going to rant for a minute!!** I'm not sure if this a great thing, since we are just reinforcing the "consumer" mentality. This is something I noticed a while ago, sometimes it seems like the kids aren't happy unless we are spending money. I think a big part of it comes from watching TV or listening to the radio. This kids learn ad jingles. I can sing "Smith's..." and the kids will respond, "Market fresh every day!" I've heard London rattle off some lines once from Tom Shane Jewelery and Men's Wearhouse. I suppose a certain amount is unavoidable but I still worry sometimes. Not that I am going to do much to change it. I will concede that Disney is the king of this. The kids listen to Disney Radio, where they are told to go to Disney.com where they can see the preview for the upcoming movie. We then download the Disney podcast that talks about how there is a new ride coming soon at Disneyland based on the movie. We are consumers and our kids are turning into them as well. Did I know big industry conglomerates when I was in 2nd grade? No, probably not. But I could tell you what railroads had merged through the years to form ConRail and Burlington Northern! How many 7 year olds knew that? ***END OF RANT**
So London got one of these webkinz at a party a few weeks ago and started telling everyone she wanted one. She has gotten 5 and counting! Summer really wanted one as well. So much so that she has had a few crying spells about them. Anyway, we are at the party and as London keeps opening them, Summer is besides herself. On the one hand, she can't believe there are this many webkinz out there, on the other hand, why do they all have to go to my sister? London was nice and gave one to her on the way home. Then a few days later she gets another one from another friend. This one she hands off to Noah, who decides he wants in on the action. Summer gets upset because she really likes this new animal and why can't Noah take her old one? Frankly I'm with her, I wouldn't have wanted the one she got. Of course not that Noah would either. Anyone, I think everyone is happy with their animals. At least I see them in bed with them. London still has about 4 of her own still. She carries them around in a basket. It's pretty funny. I'll get some pictures up here soon. Stay tuned, there are more gifts coming from our family!!