Fisher Price Friday - Bride and Groom

Did you know that there was a vintage Fisher Price Little People bride and groom?  Well "vintage" is a stretch, collectible might be a better term.  The Little People Bride and Groom #2390 was a tiny 2 person set of chunky people made between 1991-1993. 

The bride and groom are chunky people, the little people figures made after the original people and before the current more modern figures.  Chunky people were only made between 1991-1996 and were the reaction to safety concerns that the original little people were choking hazards.  Although they were only made for a short time quite a few were produced.  

The chunky bride and groom were the first wedding couple produced by Fisher Price.  If you find an original (classic 1950's-1990) little people couple that resembles a bride and groom then you have found a unicorn, as special couples were produced only for Fisher Price staff as gifts when they married.  I've never seen one in person but the couple is pictured on This Old Toy here.

I was inspired to share our little people bride and groom with you today because this evening I'm attending a wedding of a sweet young couple.  They're so young that these toys were released while they were still babies.  Ah youth!  

Best wishes to the newlyweds!

Cilantro Lime Chicken Soup Recipe

Doesn't this soup look delicious?  The Cilantro Lime Chicken Soup recipe is simple to make and easy to modify.  For example, if you are a cilantro hater you could make it Avocado Lime Chicken Soup. :) I especially loved this soup because it tasted even better as leftovers the second (and third) day!

I found this recipe from the blog Boxwood Clippings but as usual made a few adjustments to suit my family's needs.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Soup
Ingredients 

2 tbsp olive oil 
1 onion 
4 cloves garlic 
64 oz chicken broth 
10 oz of diced fresh tomatoes and 4 oz water or 14 oz can diced tomatoes 
3 oz diced green chilies (fresh or canned)
20 oz chicken breasts
2 limes 
2 c cooked brown (or white) rice 
1 bunch fresh cilantro  
ground cumin, salt and pepper 
optional additions: tortilla chips, sour cream, avocado, cheddar cheese 

Instructions 

Cook chicken and shred (I boiled mine and then mixed in my Kitchenaid for a few seconds to shred easily). Warm olive oil in a large pan and cook diced onion and garlic. Add cooked chicken, cooked rice, chicken broth, tomatoes and water (or undrained can), chilies, juice from the limes (about 1/2 cup) and bring to the boil. Season with salt, pepper and ground cumin to taste. 

Add your choice of toppings.  I used cilantro and the kids had cheese and tortilla chips. Yum yum!

Fisher Price Friday - Little People Little Mart

I'm back with another Vintage Fisher Price Little People set to share.  It's the Little People Little Mart #2580 made from 1987-1989.  It got this set for my daughter's 4th Birthday because I love to give my kids old and new toys. :)

The set came with four little people figures; a man, woman, police woman and a Lucky dog.  There was only one variation to the people, which would be the same lady but with a darker red body.

The set came with a few exclusive pieces including the grocery cart and groceries.  The groceries fit inside the cart and have a tiny little molded egg crate and milk carton showing on the top.  These two pieces are the hardest to find and can cost more than the set base!

The yellow pay phone is not an exclusive piece (was also in the Main Street #2500) however a more rare blue variation of the pay phone is exclusive.  

The set came with two vehicles; a two seater car and a red tow truck.  The tow truck was exclusive to this set and is pretty nifty.  The hook in the back actually works to tow Fisher Price vehicles that have a tow hook at the front (not all do).  The set came with a green base/green top car.  They also had variations of a green top/white base or a blue top/blue base.

This is the tow truck in action towing the pretty pink car from the #2453 Beauty Salon.

The Little Mart has a car wash on the right, a gas station on the left and a grocery store in the middle.  The car wash has a lever that moves up a ramp to keep the car from driving through.  It also has a moving car wash roller.  My favorite part of the car wash is the lithograph on the wall of a father and son watching through the "window".  The dad is holding a loaf of bread and the little boy is pointing excitedly out the window.  I love this because my kids do the same thing! :)

The gas station has a pump that changes color (yellow and green) when you turn the crank around.  There is a hole on the side for the pump to fit in when not in use.

The front doors of the grocery store open automatically when the white step is pressed down.  This is one of my kid's favorite features!

The back of the grocery store has a plastic mini wall in the back.  However, there is a variation to this as well. One version has no back wall as seen in the photo below.

No back wall.

Inside the grocery store there is a lithograph on the wall that is the opposite side of the view from the car wash.  In other words, it is the same father and son but this time you see the back of them instead of the front.  How brilliant!  The lithograph also shows grocery store products including cereal, soap, juice, fruit and candy.

The other side of the shop (that shares a window with the gas station) has a smaller lithograph of candy and goodies.  The store has a plastic counter, cash register and space for a little person to stand.

It's a bright, light, compact, portable and fun set!  I don't know why I waited so long to add it to our collection but am glad we finally have it. 

Right now I have an extra Little People Little Mart in my Etsy shop. 

For more shop, business and town sets check out:

Play Family Main Street #2500
Play Family Village #997
Drive-In Movie Theater #2454
Gas Station #2455
Play Action Garage #930
Beauty Salon #2453

Throwback Thursday - Recreating Little Besties

4 year old besties

2 month old besties

Had to recreate these precious little poses.  We have so many lovely photos of these two over the last 4 years (plus pregnancy).  One of my biggest blessings has been sharing pregnancy and now mothering (2nd child for both of us) with my bestie.  I am glad that our littles actually love each other too!  

And not to leave out big brother (big sister was at school) here's another shot.

It's hard recreating little people photos!  I look forward to doing these poses again when they're teenagers. ;)

Go here to see these littles on the same beanbag chair in 2013. 

Splash Pad Crawl - Super Fun Summer Activity!

We are enjoying the last week of summer break before school starts next week.  Earlier in the summer I had the idea to go on a Splash Pad adventure with our friends.  Now one splash pad is fun enough, but what if we spent the day going from splash-pad to splash-pad?  You know, "crawl" style.  Ah, an idea was born and put on the calendar.  

We waited until we could coordinate with our friends and today was the day!

It is a simple and practically free activity that the kids LOVED.  We planned out 4 splash-pad locations and met up at stop #4 first so we could carpool.  After all, a crawl isn't a crawl unless you're all going together!

Splash-Pad #1 had a playground and a splash-pad so the kids could go back in forth between the two.  We stayed there at least an hour before moving on.  

We had started the day around 10:20am so the kids were ready for lunch before we hit the next splash-pad.  We drove to the outlet mall and had lunch in an oh-so-lovely air conditioned food court.  This was key because it was between 105-111 degrees here today (yikes!!!).  We packed our own food to save money.

Splash-Pad #2 was at the mall and we stayed for about 20 minutes before moving on.  The mom's did a quick Starbucks drive through for Trenta Ice-Teas before we arrived at Splash-Pad #3.

 

Splash-Pad #3 was by far the coolest splash-pad and we spent about an hour here.  It had horse squirters, fountains and a bucket that dropped water.  So fun!  This splash-pad also had a bathroom which is key with 4 little kids. :) 

After leaving we stopped by a nearby Sonic to pick up fruit slushes for the kids, but made them wait until our final stop to drink them (hello red drinks in my white van!!).

Splash-Pad #4 was our final stop and where we had met up that morning.  The kids had slushes and more splash-pad fun before we ended the day in our local pool.  Such a fun day!!

If you don't have 3 or more Splash-Pads in your community consider doing a Pool Crawl or weather permitting a Playground Crawl.  You could also coordinate with friends and set up different sprinklers in backyards and do that instead.  It makes an otherwise ordinary activity a little more exciting. :)

Tips and things to remember:

1. Pack a cooler with snacks and extra water.
2. Apply sunscreen before each new splash-pad.
3. Figure out a plan ahead so that you have an idea of where to eat lunch and of course bathrooms!
4. Stop in-between Splash-pads for (surprise) goodies like ice-cream, slushes or iced-tea.
5. If the kids are getting restless and whiny it might be time for a meal or snack!

Hooray, what a super fun day!!