Twinkie the Kid

As we've mentioned before in the blog, Ella really enjoys going to Stew Leonards, a local innovative grocery story, which has lots of free food samples, and many animatronic displays of singing characters.

Recently, she's developed a love/hate relationship with animatronic, Twinkie the Kid. Yes, Twinkie the Kid. He's a cowboy twinkie who says, "Hi everybody, I'm Twinkie the Kid," when you push his button.

Ella came home from a Saturday morning trip to Stews with Rob and she said, "Oh yes. I love Twinkie the Kid. He's my best friend."

That week we talked a lot about Twinkie the Kid. Rob's artistic speciality became drawing Twinkie the Kid on our wipeboard.






Then, last week, Ella came home saying, "Twinkie the Kid is not my best friend anymore." Apparently, she decided that his hat is scary and she wants him to take it off. Unfortunately, being animatronic, poor Twinkie the Kid cannot remove his hat. So, the two former best friends are at a stand-still.

She'll still push his button but then she'll complain that she doesn't like his hat. I caught it on video, below. The sound isn't great but if you listen carefully, you can hear Twinkie the Kid's greeting and then Ella yelling, "I don't like his hat. No, take it off!"



At the end of the video, you can hear her say, "I want to see Treeman wake up." Treeman is the Poland Springs tree and he's next to Twinkie the Kid. He's sleeping a lot but then he wakes up and opens his eyes and talks. Ella loves to watch his eyes blink.















Here's a video of her watching Treeman; then she requests to throw coins in the fountain at the front of the store.



Another favorite animatronic is the singing doggies. The one on the left, she calls "Dog" the one on the right she calls "Walrus dog" because he has so much fur on his muzzle.