Hello Not-a-Kitty!

This is something I think everybody has heard about by now, and apparently has shocked millions of loyal fans worldwide. Honestly, I'm not the least bit surprised by this news. When I first heard about it, I think one of my friends tagged me in a Facebook post saying the tweets for this thing were amusing. I'm not very good at following Twitter, so I had no idea what she was talking abut. Then I saw a link on my Google+ feed from a friend and read about it this morning.

All these discoveries keep falling under the category of Things I Wish I Had Known About Sooner, because I am not made of money and I would love to be a part of this sort of epic celebration. What are you rambling about now, Stacey? Oh. Right. Well.

Newsflash: Hello Kitty has never been a cat.

I am not the least bit blown away by this news as I think so many other people have been, crying in outrage. It probably helps that we own quite a large collection of Hello Kitty cartoon DVDs and that my eldest, Your Future Overlord, watches them constantly. Our love for Hello Kitty in this house is not unknown. At least 40% of my daughters' wardrobes consist of Hello Kitty something-or-other, and every time one particular outfit of Lilah's is washed and available for wearing in her drawer, she immediately picks it out to put on.

The Overlord's current favorite outfit.

Hello Kitty has become such a big thing since I've had children. I fondly remember it from my own childhood, but never knew it quite so well then as I do now. To children everywhere, she is not a kitty in any case. Even to my daughter she has always been "a friend" and "a little girl" just like her. As far as my daughter is concerned, she is Kitty White, and her little sister is Mimmy White, which is conveniently coincidental since we've dubbed the Usurper with the nickname Mimi since as long as Lilah first started trying to say her name. She responds to that more than her actual name.

We have so many Hello Kitty accessories and toys in this house that I don't even think I could ever gather them all together for a "collection" picture. Besides, I don't do collectibles all too well. In my daughters' eyes, these are toys, and to keep them from playing with them would be too cruel for me to bear. Every year around Valentine's Day my husband has traditionally found the Overlord a new TY Beanie Baby, and Santa even put one in her stocking once. We're up to four now, and are likely to eventually end up with a swimming pool full of the things by the time she heads off to college or a trade school or an apprenticeship, whichever she chooses to do with herself.

"Snowman Kitty," "Glasses Kitty," "Kitty," and "Lollipop Kitty."

As for the celebration I mentioned above? Well, it turns out that Hello Kitty is turning 40 this year, and there's a first ever annual Hello Kitty Convention scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, California at the end of October! By the looks of things, tickets are going to run us $60/day for me and my husband to attend. Fortunately, both the Overlord and the Usurper are young enough to get in free. If we went for just one day, that would be all right. All four days add up to more money than we should be willing to spend, but gosh wouldn't it be nice!

Add on top of that figuring out how we're going to get there. I, personally, have never flown on a plane before in my entire life, and admit a little bit of trepidation. It's not really the plane itself that makes me nervous so much as all the security and check points and degrading searches people have to go through these days in America, that I've heard of, just to travel. Flying would be the fastest and probably best way to get there with two small children, I imagine, but I have no idea how much it would cost! Very likely it would exceed our budget.

Traveling by train would be a fun adventure for all of us. Again, I have no idea how much that would cost, but I would not be averse to the idea. With two small children, I'm even reasonable enough to consider only going to one day of the convention and not trying for the couple hundred dollars worth of an entire weekend trip. Seeing more of California on the side would be a bonus, though.

Attending Hello Kitty Con would be a better first convention for my girls than Bronycon, I think, which I still want to go to with them some day. But why does it have to be so far away? This gives me a sad.

I always find myself envious of my sister-in-law and her family going on all these family vacations anywhere. I envy my friends who go on family vacations. We have never been on a family vacation. Ever. Had I known about this sooner, I would have squirreled away so much money so that we could go, if even just for one day to the convention. Factoring in the cost of hotel stays, too, and it's just not something we can afford at all. So, so terribly disappointing.

Oh well. I suppose I can hope that they'll do it again next year. I'm going to start saving now, just in case.

Because we love it.

The Road to Bronycon

There's this documentary available on Netflix right now titled Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony.  You should watch it. You know... If you have Netflix. Though I'm sure if you do a little Google-Fu, it's extremely likely there's a full version to watch for free somewhere out there on the Great and Powerful Intrawebz.

My husband and I watched it about a month ago. I put it on my watch list because a.) I love My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (also available on Netflix, up through season 3) and b.) I thought Bronies were a guy thing and was curious to learn more. I'm glad I watched the documentary, because it was extremely educational. The one thing I learned that makes me want to get up and dance with glee is that Bronies can be girls! Who knew!?

I also didn't know that there was a whole convention! I want to go to a Bronycon convention now so bad, and am super excited to take my girls with me! I just hope that MLP is still around for several more years to come so we can go and enjoy it together when they're older and we can afford it.

Today we went to Wally World (I mean Walmart) to spend some of the gift card money we got from Christmas from the ever so super generous Nana and Pops (my sister-in-law's inlaws). While roaming the toy aisles I came across a section of pegboard overloaded with MLP figures. Much to my delight, all of the six friends figures were available. With a little overeager and excited nudging, I managed to convince my eldest that that's what she wanted to get. I think my husband was worried I was pressuring her to get what I wanted her to get, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying, a little.

But I know my girls like My Little Pony, too. I've caught Lilah spontaneously breaking out into song, singing the intro theme, every now and then. Every time I play an episode, Amelia gets a super huge smile when that intro theme plays, and she starts dancing. She smiles whenever she sees one of the characters at the store. We bought her a big Princess Twilight Sparkle plushie. I'm not ashamed. Miss Lilah ended up playing with her ponies for two hours straight when we got home, and we had to forcibly remove them from her for dinner and bedtime.

Her cousin Alex is going to be excited to play with her this weekend. I remember her getting the Twilight Sparkle Equestria Girl doll for her birthday a few months back, and her telling me all about the storyline to the Equestria Girls movie (also available on Netflix), which I have since watched and totally loved. I wonder if she'd like to attend a Bronycon with us? Hm. Probably yes, but I don't know what her parents think. Note to self: ask them.

I just looked up BronyCon. It's held in Baltimore. This year it's August 1-3, and I'm talking to my husband right now about seriously going. Kids 5 and under get FREE access! I'm totally psyched!

It's funny. My husband and I always talked about nerding it up with our kids by taking them to nerdy conventions. We thought our first one would be Tekkoshocon, which is an anime and Japanese culture convention held in Pittsburgh every year. The first time I attended that was with my dear friend Ellen, whom I sadly don't talk to quite so much anymore. The following year my husband came with me. The year after that we took a couple of friends and rented a hotel. We haven't been back since, and I severely miss it, but I don't think anymore that this is the first CON experience I want to expose my children to.

I've got my eyes and heart set on BRONYCON now! I think Lilah will really enjoy it, even if she never remembers it years from now. I know her sister won't, but... How can I keep this kind of pure joy to myself?