Dinosaurs 101 Mr Brachiosaurus

 Colorado's own....
 Mr. Brachiosaurus

 
Hello! I'm a herbivore from the Jurassic period. 
I have a long neck so I can eat the good leaves 
on trees! I'm a sauropod too!






Brachiosaurus: brake-e-o-sore-us
Sauropod: sawr-uh-pod

The largest known land animal that dined on leaves and plants. A dinosaur characterized as having a small head , five toes, and a neck like a giraffe.

Did ya know that in 1903 Elmer S. Riggs found some fossils in western Colorado of this guy and named it "Brachiosaurus" meaning "largest known dinosaur?" If you knew that, then you probably also know that Brachiosaurus had 52 teeth which were perfectly made for stripping leaves from trees and plants....

And.... if you knew that, then you know that Mr. Brachiosaurus lived 156 to 145 million years ago?
Of course you know he weighed about 25 tons and needed to eat about 800 pounds of vegetation a day to maintain his energy and weight? Not only that you know that Mr. Brachiosaurus was 40 - 50 feet tall (which is as tall as the Strater Hotel) and his neck was at least 30 feet long?

If you know all that, then you know that he was never bullied about his front legs being longer than his back legs? He was never bullied for having such a tiny head either!Check out the picture below to get an idea of how big his "hand" was...

Brachiosaurus
Hand fossil
New Mexico museum of natural history
Image By: Isaac T Valdez 

2013 Breyer

 Dudley was talkin to me when I walked in the door this morning!

Giddy Up on in here Cowpokes! 

The new Breyer 2013 trucks are here!

I've never seen him so excited!

 

Dudley has been really excited the past couple of days as the 2013 Breyer line is arriving in Durango!

It's quite an event from the time we place the order, receive the tracking info and follow the boxes across the country until they come in our front door!

 It looks like 4 boxes out ran the rest of the herd and came in a day ahead of the rest. We couldn't wait to open them either, so we didn't! Can't wait till the delivery man comes in today!

Word of the Day

          Fantabulous: [fan-tab-yuh-luhs]

Excellent, wonderful, even could be EPIC !

      It's a fantabulous day for a photo shoot in the jungle!

The phrase: "It's a Fantabulous night for a Moondance" is in a song by Van Morrison. 

Word trivia!

 

The Penny Candy Story

One our shelves now from local author 

Wanda Murray!

This is a delightful story about a little girl who needed to satisfy her sweet tooth but also decided to share all her candy as well.

The author, Wanda Murray, is a wife, mother, and Grandmother who lives in Durango and frequents Durango Toy Depot quite often with her daughter and Granddaughter. 

Her Sweet Pea enjoyed her stories so much Wanda decided to share her stories with as many children as she can. Stop by and get your official autographed book! 

We're proud to be the first store in the world 

to place this gem on our shelves!

Goofiest Toys Ever!

This has got to be one of the Top 100" craziest toy inventions of all time! 

The Swing Wing! It's got such a groovy song that sticks in your head!

This is a game that was banned in the US! From my own personal experience I know why! 

It was the last day of school and I think it was the last day of 4th grade. My brothers and I went out in the backyard before dinner and started to play Jarts. We had a nice grassy knoll of a backyard with lots of space for the game. 

I decided to throw a Jart Granny style.... this was not a wise move! The giant dart travelled up over the corner of the 2 story house and began its descent in the neighbors driveway... in slow motion! Soon enough gravity assisted the giant dart to land point down through the roof of the neighbors car!

We quickly gathered our game and went into the house as if nothing happened. We did try to retrieve the dart but couldn't reach it in the center of the car roof, we left it and ran....

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and our neighbor standing there with a giant dart in his hand.

Needless to say, Jarts were banned at our house!

Boredom Busters

 Whoa! How cool is this? Blue Diamond Astro Jax have the brightest LED lights in each of the jax that will illuminate the room and amaze your friends and family! Learn some really cool tricks from the CD or make up your own patterns! The possibilities are endless and these Jax will test your coordination. I've learned that when you mistakenly stand to close to what you're doing it smarts for a minute!

 Any day is a good day for a spot of tea, cookies, and great company. Whether it be the company of your dog, your cat, your hamster, and your brother or the company of all your bestest stuffed animal friends, you'll be sipping tea and toasting the afternoon in style!

In one afternoon YOU could learn a trade that could pay for your college education or even that new car you've been dreaming of! All the basics are right here, including a balloon pump to assist in the art! (Really, have ya ever tried to actually blow up one of those long skinny balloons?) Learn to 

make a sword or a flower or a                                                      groovy hat. The choice is yours!  
It's all in the wrist, I mean, twist!

It's great to be me!

How Cool is this?

On any given day I never really know who is going to come in to play, or ask for a toy consultation, or who is going to stop by just to goof off and take a break from their day.

Oh sure, I try not to play favorites but I enjoy the everyday surprises of hearing the door open and seeing a new favorite walk in! Friends and I-just-met-you-friends seem to know where I am.....

Goofing off today (while on her lunch hour) was our good friend from Balloons Galore, Sue Smith! She's been thinking about new balloon creations that we may use in the far future and the not so far future. The part I like best is that she usually gives me her creation of the day! This is a clown mask she made (who better to model it right?) thinking she can make any kinda mask.

I would agree, I think she can AND probably will!

When I'm done modelling the mask, I'll give it to someone who least expects it! By then, a whole bunch of people will have their picture taken with the mask on and it will become a spectacle in and of itself! That's an example of "Instigating Fun." Yup, that's why I get up in the morning!

Dinosaurs 101 Triceratops

Next to T. Rex, Triceratops is the most popular movie dinosaur!

 This guy is the most popular Triceratops on PBS' Dinosaur Train. Meet Tank Triceratops.....

tri·cer·a·tops :[trahy-ser-uh-tops] 

a dinosaur of the late Cretaceous Period,characterized by  having a bony crest on the neck, a long horn over each eye, and a shorter horn on the nose.

 

The name "Triceratops" is a bit misleading.

The name Triceratops has Greek origins meaning "three-horned face," but this dinosaur had only two real horns on his head and the third one was much shorter on his snout. Like T. Rex, Tank Triceratops was an American dinosaur with Triceratops remains being found in Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming and Colorado.

Tank lived in the late Cretaceous Period about 70- 65 Million years ago. He had much in common with T. Rex aside from living in America. They both enjoyed the marshes and forests as Triceratops was alsoa herbivore feasting on leaves and plants. I just don't think Triceratops were actually blue. Perhaps more of a camo type color.....

Triceratops' skull was one-third the length of its entire body. Can you imagine having a head that big?

Part of what makes Triceratops such a recognizable dinosaur is the enormous size of its skull, which, with its backward-pointing frill, could attain a length of over seven feet. Unbelievably, the skulls of other ceratopsians like stryracosaurus were even bigger and more elaborate! Triceratops weighed about 2 tons (4000 pounds) and grew to be as long as 25 feet! Most remarkable is the fact that Triceratops would have been one of the last dinosaurs standing during the Cretaceous period. That's one tough Dinosaur!

A Day in the Life

What we did today... my report....

 Oh yeah, we had some juggling going on as we tried to figure out where to put this and that and this and that because all of the Toobs arrived today and the Chuggington table was in the spot where the Toobs belong. After a long conversation with the Calico Critters (who, by the way, are really enjoying their new home) we decided the "this and that's" and got to work. Soon after all the Toobs were unpacked, we had everything in order. The next time you come in, you'll see a couple of changes.

 

Word of the Day

The Word of the Day for today is...

looney.... lu:ni

" Looney" comes from the word luner meaning moon.

1. foolish or ridiculous

2. lunatic, insane

3. extremely silly. 

 

Back in the day, people believed that psychological disorders were triggered by cycles of the moon.

Will you do a looney dance in the light of the moon?

Don't forget there's also a Canadian loonie which is really a coin.

Dictionary.com helped us with this

Toy store or Pet Store?

 Toy Store or Pet Shop?

Sometimes it's hard to tell if we have a toy store or a pet shop. 

We watch all the critters play and tussle in the toy box,

 we hear them scurrying about when they think we aren't

 watching, and we talk to them just like our friends.

We try not to name the animals so that it's easier for us 

when people adopt them.

 Curious George and my little Lambchop have become BFF's in the short time they have known each other. These guys crack me up too because they sit on the counter and tell jokes to each other all day long! They really know how to have a good time!

Don't worry! We even have our own in-house Pet Doctor. Dr. Su

has been known to put a bandage or two on an owie and even put the little guys in Intensive Care for a day or two to help them recuperate. Sometimes they just play too hard and skin an elbow or bonk their head. Once in awhile, someone goes to Dr. Su for stitches and a few days rest.

All in all, we have a great time with all our animal friends and wonder if we're really a Toy Store or a Pet Shop?

Did ya Know?

 Did ya know?

"Twister" originally started out a s a game called "Pretzel"? 
Seems like either name describes the game perfectly!
Right foot green!

The Yo Yo was invented by imitating a weapon Pedro Flores saw used in his native Philippines. The Yo yo has come a long way since it's inception and after 
Mr. Duncan bought the company.



Sources
http://www.den.dartmouth.edu/startups/firsts/twister.htm
http://www.yo-yo.com/history.asp#

Boredom Busters!

Whoo-hoo! 

It's adventure Jane! Another one of our little friends! Looks like Jane is bustin her boredom this weekend by heading to Purg for a day! She's a local lady and has been looking forward to today all week long! Lucky Jane will be heading to Wolf Creek on Sunday.... Go Jane go! No time to waste and a great weekend to spend the days outside!

Snow Bonsai trees! 
Can ya picture how beautiful they will become? Imagination trees!
 These trees will bring you all the benefits of Zen- serenity. peace, and harmony!  Just set the stand up, add the tree and water. Within hours your tree comes to life. Ohm.....................................

RISK! 1959 Version

This truly is a boredom buster! Conquer the world using strategy, diplomacy, and maybe even some luck in this game. Since you can't take over the world why not do it in a game?
There are several strategies to this game but the dice really play the biggest part in whether or not you win or lose a battle with one of your armies. 
Nonetheless, there is lots of thinking involved, some math,  a few negotiations, and geography!
What more could any board game geek ask for?

How Many Hats?

The day started with my Pirate hat as I swabbed the deck before we opened the doors today!

A few quiet minutes were spent with my big ole thinkin cap on as I stared at the computer screen trying to decide if what I was reading was making any sense. I am sure the hat helped because the fog lifted from my brain and I totally understood what I was looking at. I heard a little sizzling sound though but found no reason to be alarmed realizing that my brain cells were just waking up! I never knew what that sounded like until my thinking cap amplified the sound!

If you've seen any of our pictures lately on Facebook, you'll see that there has been some moving going on in the store! The Calico Critters have packed their bags, cars, trailers, and twins and all moved to their very own Cloverleaf Corners. It took some fancy decorating for the Furbanks Squirrel Family, Mrs. Hopscotch Rabbit, and Sophia to feel comfortable in their new surroundings! They used to look out the windows all day but their new home didn't have a window so we put one in for everybody. Then Mr. Fisher Cat  pulled me aside and asked for a nice welcoming sign to be placed on the way. 

On went the thinking cap, on went the artists beret, and on went the construction helmet! In that order!

VIOLA!

We had enough parts and pieces to make the most perfect sign for Mr. Fisher Cat, enough inspiration to create, and enough glue and clamps to put it all together. Of course we had the proper tools to get the job done right for our miniature families!

 

Meet Stacie Styracosaurus! She's quite happy to be at the Hornicopia celebrating the growth of her first horn!

Styracosaurus   sti-rake-oh-soar-us

meaning "spiked lizard" was a herbivore (veggie head) ceratopsian from the late Cretaceous Peiod.

cer·a·top·si·an: [ser-uh-top-see-uhn]

Paleontologists broadly define ceratopsian as herbivorous, four-legged, elephant-like dinosaurs whose enormous heads sported elaborate horns and frills.  Ceratopsian may be the most "All-American" of all the dinosaurs, though some species did hail from Eurasia.


Our friend Stacie has just matured to the age where her first horn can be seen, this horn on her nose could grow to be about 2 feet long. As she  continues to grow and mature, her neck frills will also be adorned with  4 to 6 horns. As an adult Stacie Styracosaurus could weigh as much as 6000 pounds (that's 3 tons) , be about 6 feet tall, and about 30 feet long! Whoa! A distant cousin of Stacie's could be anyone in the Triceratops family or in the Protoceratops family too.

Styracosaurus' lived in the late cretaceous period about 76 - 70 million years ago. she also walked on all fours, so we can call her a quadraped. Amazing how she grows so big and strong from a diet of leaves and greens. How big could you grow if all ou ate were your veggies?

Do you think she has a Valentine? Afterall, she is a very pretty shade of pink....

A day in the Life...

Working in a Toy Store.....

Silly Kaelin.....

I remember walking through a Toy Store as a kid and looking in awe at the walls that were covered in toys and games.  My parents would have to drag me out of the store because I would want to stay and play with everything.  As I got older, not much changed and now I find myself working at 

Durango Toy Depot and having a great time whenever I’m here.

Toy Stores have a certain type of magic that easily enchants anyone who walks through the door. There is something that brings a person of any age back to their childhood as soon as they take that first step through the door.

Today I find myself lucky enough to experience this when I go to work. 

An average workday for me usually consists of unpacking new toys. I like to use this time to test them out. Just the other day, I tested two whole boxes of new Folkmanis Puppets! Needless to say, they were very happy to be out of the box and going on new adventures with each other!

Working at a toy store means that I get to bring smiles to people every day and 

I couldn’t be happier!

Word of the Day!

                                       Cool as a cucumber!

sang-froid \sang-FRWAH\ , noun;
also sangfroid:
Freedom from agitation or excitement of mind; coolness in trying circumstances; calmness, composure

 

  They committed the robbery with complete sang-froid.

 

Almost sounds like a song huh? I sang froid! 

 Or would a psychology student sing that? Bah-boom-ching!

 

from our friends at Dictionary.com 

 

How Many toys do we have?

How many toys do we have?

That's a tough question to answer!

We think that all depends on your perspective.

If you're 3 years old and cruising around the store, it must look like we have a kazillion trillion toys because toys are everywhere go almost to the ceiling.

If you're 8, we have a hundred gags and bad jokes, lots of airplanes, cool Klutz books,  Nanoblocks, Breyer horses, and thousands of little Japanese erasers!

We could tell you how many toys we have  in our database, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate because some of those toys may only be Christmas items, some may only be Summer toys, and some we, well, we decided they didn't belong here. 

We could nail the number of toys for you by running some fancy reports and by doing alot of reading. That almost sounds grown up.... instead, we think it would be way more fun to imagine how many toys we have and  try to guess the number!!

Did ya know?

Did ya know? Qwirky Toy Facts.....

The Magic 8 Ball
 
Sometime in the 1940s, Albert Carter 
created the Syco-Seer, a fortune
telling "crystal ball" inspired 
by a device used by his mother Mary,
 a professional psychic.
 

 In 1932, a company added a line of socks whose red heels assured their customers that they were indeed purchasing original "Rockfords." When worn out, the socks were then made into toys by American mothers who made stuffed monkeys out of them, using the red heel as a mouth. Hearing about these enterprising moms and seeing great promotional opportunity, the Nelson Knitting Co. began including a sock-monkey pattern with every pair of socks.

Boredom Busters

  Boredom Busters
Learn how science can be used to give people around the world access to clean water ! Build a water filter tower, test water quality with pH and carbon dioxide analysis, and experiment with water purification by evaporation. I think it would be interesting to conduct dual experiments one with tap waterf rom my house and one with bottles water..... hmmmmm.....

One of our time favorites!
Buck, Buck, Moose! The dealer turns over one card at a time to reveal either a Buck (the ranger)  or a moose card. If a Moose card appears you try to be the first one to place your hand on that color moose card! Be careful, you could lose a moose or even win an extra moose card. The player with the most Moose cards at the end of the game wins!

SQUIGGLE ON THE GO
This little gem has received rave reviews from parents and players alike! In this version you spin the spinner to start then you draw the animal selected beginning with the squiggle on the page! Doodle art at its finest perhaps? Just think of the creativity that could be unleashed on a long car trip, on a plane trip, on a bus, on a scooter, or even on a skateboard! WOW! A great activity while waiting for a meal in a restaurant or after a meal when all the grown ups are talking and having coffee and no electronics are allowed!
I'm thinkin some of DaVinci's greatest inventions started this way! It just takes a little spark!

How many Hats?

Thatza Luigi! He brings us inspiration! 

Well, food too!

The hat of the day today was a Chef's hat because

 I was cooking up fun all day long!

Most of the toy companies, their peeps, their toys, and their Instigators (if they have any) are on the way to New York for an event called TOY FAIR which is held every year about this time in the Big Apple. This is the most humongous of toy shows all year where toys show off and strut their stuff.

How did we cook up fun if we're not on our way to TOY FAIR? Bonus! We stayed in beautiful Durango and met with our favorite Rep (we call her "Reppy") who showed me some new toys that have just come out! 

It's pretty luxurious to do this with our Reppy because we don't have to fight any crowds, we don't have to wait in line, and we don't have to turn on our best behavior either! She even took us to dinner last night!

 In cooking up fun today, I am pleased to announce that we're gonna have some gorgeous "Special" releases from Breyer horses come our way, A new line of infant and toddler toys, plus a new game that will make a think! This isn't all we did today but I don't want to give away too many secrets.... shhhhhhhh!

I wore some other hats today and am wondering if a Tiara counts as a het?

Dinosaurs 101 Mr. Daspletosaurus

 Daspletosaurus means "frightful lizard"
 das-PLEET-oh-SAWR-us

Mr. Daspletosaurus is not a giant scardey cat kinda guy! He probably was on the top of the food chain!

We chose this guy this week because he has many things in common with the other guys we've talked about so far. Besides that, this one has some splendid colors and markings!
Unlike some of his relatives Daspletosaurus remains have been found in Canada and Montana after living during the late Cretaceous period some 76- 72 million years ago.

If fire was available, he probably had a cook out with all of his meat eating friends or preferred to just eat a herbivorous dinosaur with a little water to wash it down with.
Mr. daspletosaurus was lightly built with hollow bones, was a very fast runner but had almost comically short arms. I doubt any dinos laughed at him or bullied him! Believe it or not, he also had a very large brain and many, many sharp pointy teeth!

Imagine being 33 feet long which is about as long as the Strater Hotel is tall! Having back legs that were about 9 feet long and weighing 4000 to 6500 pounds! That would be like piling up 32,000 of Dinosaur Train Mr. Daspletosaurus'  on a giant scale!  

When  you get a close look at this fella, you can't help but notice that he also has kind of a horn above each eye as well as what appear to be very sharp claws on the tips of two fingers.This guy is amazing!

The original swamp monster! We gave him this title because of his love to live  (and often in the water) by marshes and streams. Actually, I think anything this humongous could live wherever he wanted!

This is what we do all day

Seriously, this is what we did all day! 
First the FedEx man in blue showed up with his wheelie cart loaded to the brim! Then he went back to his truck and got a second load, that made 19 boxes of new toys being delivered by just the FedEx man in blue.
A little while later, the brown guys show up and his cart is loaded to the ceiling with boxes and boxes, then he goes to his truck again and got more boxes. Altogether, the brown guys brought us 11 boxes. Our back room is a little full. 
The 2 of us got after it and Kaelin scanned all the codes on the toys so I started the task of stickering them and putting them away. It took the two of us all afternoon cuz we kept getting distracted playing with toys that have never visited our Durango store before.
Just wait till you see what we've been up to!
  

Word of the day!

Hoopla: hoop-lah

There was a lot of this last week during Snowdown!

1. commotion, bustling with excitement

2. sensational publicity, ballyhoo

3. (brit) a game in which someone tries to toss a hoop over an object to win it.

Now I'm going to see what all the hoopla is about!

We're also going to try to use the word "hoopla" in as many sentences as we can today!

An amazing man

I grew up in Lansing, Michigan and my Uncle is the infamous Paul Cook who was inducted in to the Michigan coaches hall of fame for 500 career wins. That's really incredible! More incredibly, my Uncle Paul just celebrated his 86th birthday and in honor of this auspicious occasion Lansing Eastern High School dedicated the court to him. This is pretty awesome! Back in the day, Uncle Paul coached many great players that inspired me throughout my basketball career. The amazing part of his coaching career at Eastern lies in the fact that he coached Jay Vincent in the late 70's who played against Magic Johnson at the biggest rivalry game in Lansing history. My Uncle Paul was a very animated coach as we watched him coach his teams. After his amazing career coaching boys high school basketball he moved to the girls side of coaching. By then, I was too old to play for him but envied the girls and boys he coached and watched him for years from afar. The things I learned I still carry with me! Thanks Uncle Paul.
Paul Cook married my mom's sister and they had 13 children because they are a good Catholic family. Growing up we were close to all our cousins and had an amazing softball game at the annual family picnic (my mom's other sister had 8 kids and we were 5 strong)! Uncle Paul would pitch and I could always smack his pitch for a base hit! But somehow, I always saw the smile of pride on his face with my base hit and the efforts of all of us.... Happy Birthday!
We all have our mentors....

Did ya know?

The jokes on you!

Sneezing powder, the dribble glass, the joy buzzer, the snake in a jam jar — all were invented or developed, manufactured and marketed by Samuel Sorenson Adams.

He launched S.S. Adams Co. in 1906 with Kachoo Sneeze Powder made with something he discovered while working at a factory where workers were sneezing and sneezing and sneezing all day long! I wish I could have met Samuel.

Did you know Tiddlywinks gained popularity in the 1890's with adults and kids alike? I just like to say "Tiddlywinks" and used to play when I was a  kid (shortly after 1890). There are now official Tiddlywink societies, Tiddlywinks is a competitive college sport, and the name of a move in the game is called a Squop. It's just a fun tabletop game where you get to say a lot of funny words!

Boredom Busters

Shake it up! Work it out!

 Magic Moves is all about…MOVIN’

To the beat of your imagination

Stomp like an elephant! Soar like an eagle! 

Swim like a dolphin! Ninety fun, physical commands, a twinkling light show, and a variety of creative way to get kids  3 and over up and moving! Not only can you swim, stomp, and soar but ya have to listen to what comes next so you can continue on this journey like the animals do!

Take a trip to New York and visit the Empire State Building that you built! Nanoblocks are the micro building system 
that take you to the sites to see around the world. Unlike the
bigger building systems, these don't hurt your foot when you step on them. Build your own Empire State building that is less than a foot tall. The detail is incredible!

 Ah yes, the infamous Doink It Darts! One of the finest magnetic dart boards we've come across and a big part of Noel Night in downtown Durango! This little gem keeps kids and grown ups outta trouble for hours. Who can hit the bullseye? Who can get the lowest score? Who can throw a dart while standing on one foot and get the highest (or lowest) score? Who can call out a number and then hit that number with their magnetic dart? Who can get the best score from the farthest distance away? Who can get the worst score from the farthest distance away? Can Grandma outscore the whole family? See, it is a boredom buster!