Barbie Beach Raquelle Doll

Dear Readers,

Rain rain rain! We had rain for the last 3 days.  One night, the rain came down so fast and so strongly that within an hour, the sewers got clogged.  Our neighbor called us at 3am saying the front of our home was under water and we should check if we had any damage inside.  Good thing he called because we rushed out of bed and sure enough, water had started to flood our living room.  We moved all the furniture away from the front door and front window and started scooping the water.  Nothing was damaged but the floor will eventually need some fixing if this flooding goes on. 

We actually get flooded at least twice a year during the summer but it's not too bad if we are home and can scoop the water out before it spreads to the whole apartment.

While moving our living room furniture, I realized I had a lot of dollhouses and dolls displayed in my bookcase.  I'll have to purge organize my collection soon otherwise I won't have any more space for the new arrivals!

Many dolls have been added to my dolly family during the last few month.  Among them is a Barbie Beach Raquelle Doll!  I bought her because she is so pretty and her face mold looks quite different from the other Barbie dolls I usually see in stores.

She is also very affordable for under $8.  She comes with a bikini and sunglasses.  Her hair looks great but it's super stiff.  I think Mattel had it covered in some sort of glue to keep the shape of the end-curls.  I might be able to make it more manageable after a soak in hot water and hair conditioner.

The only thing I don't like is her body. It's hollow plastic so you can't bend her knees or arms.  I will eventually swap her body for a more flexible one.   

Here she is unboxed!  Can you see how stiff she is?

She is sitting in a Hannah Montana Malibu Beach House !

Her hair is a little messy because my neighbor's daughter came to visit today and she really wanted to play with my dolls and the dollhouse.  I just couldn't say no to the little girl and let her play all her heart's content.

Raquelle held up nicely in the hands of a 4 year-old!

She deserves a little rest now :)

Do you like this Barbie doll?  I think she fits perfectly in that beach house.  I'll write a post about the dollhouse soon so you can see how fantastic it is!

To Be Healthier

Dear Readers,

I have not updated my blog for the last 3 weeks.  I was busy with family and health matters and it was impossible to blog at all.  Among other things, my doctor gave me a warning about my declining health and strongly advised me to change my lifestyle to incorporate more physical activity.

My husband knew that I was reluctant to leave my daughter to go workout instead because I already spent the whole day at work without her and he was ill too so he could not care for the baby either. 

So a few weeks ago, my husband ordered a new bicycle for me.  It is my first bicycle since I moved to this country!  Because I didn't ride on a bicycle for quite a long time (probably since I was a teenager) my husband was afraid I would fall easily.  So he bought me a three-wheels aka tricycle for adults!

This is the model he bought for me: 20" Trifecta Adult 3-Speed Folding Tricycle

I was embarrassed at first because everybody kept asking me why I couldn't ride a two-wheels but I have come to LOVE LOVE LOVE the tricycle and I don't care if people judge me on my bike!

The main reason is that my husband has removed the basket in the back and mounted a baby chair on a wooden platform instead.  I can now ride with my baby!!!  A three-wheels gave me more stability so I am not afraid to fall down and risk injuring my baby!

I have now been riding each day with my daughter in tow!  It's really great because it gives me a chance to exercise, it allows my baby to be with me while I work out, and we both enjoy feeling the wind in our hair and saying hello to people along the way!  My son often accompanies us on his own bicycle.

It is wonderful to be able to workout each day like this.  I still have to work on eating a healthier diet but it feels like the battle is already half won :)

I have been writing on the blog whenever I get a chance (which is usually when the kids are asleep) but I could not post anything yet.  I have up to 30 drafts waiting to be finalized and posted O_o

I hope I can get to them as soon as I get some order in my life with the summer vacation coming!

Have a lovely Memorial Day Weekend y'all! :)

New Strawberry Shortcake Dolls!

Dear Readers,

Have you seen the new Strawberry Shortcake Dolls?  I saw a few pictures of them from the New York Toy Fair held on February 2014.  You can see their pictures from Idlehands1 Blog (click HERE).

As soon as I saw them, I knew they were from another company.  Sure enough, Bridge Direct will now produce them instead of Hasbro.  Not that I am surprised because Hasbro has not released many new items lately and I was wondering what was happening.

But I am sad because I did like the Hasbro Strawberry Shortcake dolls very much.  They did well with the mini dolls and the 5 inches dolls.  They could have created so much more dollhouses, vehicles (Cherry Jam's bus, all the mini scooters, the hot air balloon!) and characters (Hello Huckleberry Pie!!!) but they slowed down production of new items so drastically last year that I was fearing the worst.

Well it's not really the worst now since a new company is taking over and there will be more minis and cute dollies but it's still a little upsetting to see them change the Strawberry Shortcake doll's look yet again.  After the initial Kenner dolls, there has been Bandai, Playmates, Hasbro and now Bridge Direct.

I am not really crazy about the new dolls but I do like the concept of featuring them in a band.  My daughter likes to watch the cartoon precisely because of the songs and seeing the dolls with musical instruments is a great addition to the toy collection.

The photos from the fair belongs to Idlehands1 blog so I am only showing one picture here. It's my favorite one because its' showing a chair from Lemon Meringue's hair salon!  I hope there will be more dollhouses as well.  I don't know about you guys but I have seen enough of Strawberry Shortcake's house, market, café, clubhouse, etc.  How about houses for the other dolls for a change?

The dolls are.. well, cute enough but I miss the Habro's sweet faces.  Oh  I hope the new dolls will be the same size too so they can share clothes with the Hasbro dolls.

I have not seen any pictures of the actual mini dolls yet.  I am glad they will still produce the mini dolls because they are by far my favorite items but I hope they will be just as cute as the previous ones.  They will be apparently available in the fall of this year.

Do you like the new Strawberry Shortcake look?