Brrrr!

From Dan: As if the subzero temps of this past weekend weren't enough, today the heat in our store was broken! It was only 45 degrees when we opened at 10am. Sorry to everyone who had to endure our cold store. I think I got the worst of it. Had to take a nice long hot shower when I got home.

All this cold makes our upcoming family vacation to Mexico seem like a better and better idea. In case you haven't heard,

We will be closed January 23rd thru January 30th.

We hope to return rested, recuperated, and reheated!

New Sassy Knitwear Hats

Just in time for the really cold weather, we have these wonderfully hip hats for kids and babies from Sassy Knitwear. They're made in Minneapolis from organic cotton and recycled wool sweaters and they're just about the cutest things that you can put on a kid's head.

Each hat is different and they're only available in our store, not online. Stop in to check them out!

5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

As a toy store, we're all for safety. As parents, however, we found this video very interesting. It's a speech by Gever Tulley, founder of California's Tinkering School, which is dedicated to...um...taking things apart and putting them back together in new ways.

We wholeheartedly agree that kids should learn how to use a jack knife and how to treat fire respectfully. (Not so sure about the driving the car part, though). Tulley raises some compelling points which might help to overcome the fear that makes us limit our children in unhealthy ways.

By the way, Minneapolis has it's own wonderful version of Tulley's Tinkering School called Leonardo's Basement. Their classes are great!