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      <td><div align="justify"><font face="times new roman" size="2">I have a whole lot I'd like to say about things from my childhood that I look back on and miss. Not just because I'm a grown up now, but because they're basically obsolete. Right now I'm going to focus on something that's been bumming me out all week, and that's the closing of a story that pretty much embodied my childhood. I think about the joy I had in knowing we were on our way to Toys "R" Us and the feeling of wonder and excitement that would wash over me as soon as we walked through those automatic doors, and how my nephews and soon-to-be-born niece won't understand a single thing about it. Memories are being made on device screens, not walking up and down aisles looking at shelves and end caps displaying every toy imaginable.
Learning toys, video games, bikes and skates or rollerblades, stuff to waste hours with while sitting in the backyard or that space under the stairs because you created your own world right there, it was all there under one roof. If there's no more Toys "R" Us, can we really say that we don't wanna grow up because we're Toys "R" Us kids? I hope not. Thanks for the memories, Geoffrey. I promise you won't be forgotten.</font></div></td>
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<td><img title="Easy Bake Oven went through a few makeovers during its time. My mother showed us pictures of her first while my sisters and I played with ours - but I never put mine away, and I truly appreciated the glo up of the Ultimate Easy Bake Oven in all its funky looking glory. I can't remember eating a single thing I ever made in my ovens, but I am pretty sure it contributed to the fact that I would be a chef if the acting thing didn't work out. Special shout out to the McDonald's piemaker kit I was gifted on my 9th birthday, even if it was probably older than me at the time." src="https://sheaint.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/easy-bake-oven.jpg" style="height: 160px; width: 160px; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #b9b9b9;"></td>

<td><img title="So I love all things Peanuts and this is no exception. We probably had about five in our childhood home thanks to birthdays and various ventures into Toys R Us where we didn't spend all our time testing out bikes and I am going to be honest, thanks to writing this update I went ahead and ordered a couple more. You know, for a rainy day. I don't want to live in a world that doesn't still have this avaialble to kids. Give me some ice and a packet of Hawaiian Punch powder and I was a freaking sno-cone master. We'll meet again soon, Snoopy." src="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Recall.2014.14010.SnoopySnoConeBoxLARGE.jpg" style="height: 160px; width: 160px; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #b9b9b9;"></td>

<td><img title="Before Napster and Limewire, pre-dating the the MP3 player and iPod, we had these. Hit Clips. They never played the full song, but it was fun to collect the little cartridges. I wish the variety had been bigger, but what they had was top notch to this junior pop music lover. When Nelly would ask what does it take to be #1, I'd jam out with my little player and let him know that 2 is not a winner and 3 nobody remembers." src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/5/6/10/enhanced-buzz-31870-1367849309-1.jpg" style="height: 160px; width: 160px; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #b9b9b9;"></td></tr>

<tr><td><img title="I was never one for the GigaPet or Tamigotchi thing. Beanie Babies' hype confused me. I did love my Cabbage Patch Kids though. I'd get a new one every year for Christmas. Not that I'd get a say in which one I got whenever we'd go to the store, but a fun game for my sisters and I was to go and check out the crazy names they'd give the dolls on their birth certificate. Sorry, Dorcas Alexandra, your name was getting changed the second you came out of the box if it was you that I unwrapped on that fateful morning. I think my favorie part of seeing the shelves of these adoptable dolls was knowing that little girls everywhere were going to wrap them in blankets, put them in strollers, even diaper them, and treat them like they were real babies because they wanted to feel like grown ups. It was a simpler and more innocent mindset. If only it lasted as long as these dolls have." src="https://www.wickedcooltoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CPK-Vintage-Kids-Pkg-600x600.jpg" style="height: 160px; width: 160px; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #b9b9b9;"></td>

<td><img title="I've always been into video games. Whether it was Sega Saturn or Genesis, Nintendo Classic, hell I even have an Atari 3600 that I picked up at a convention a couple of years ago. But there was something so exciting about going to Toys R Us to get the latest games. Long before GameStop was a thing, or any of the other game specific stores that have come and gone, or come and stuck around to die slow deaths, Toys R Us had all the different systems displayed and I'd stand there (usually with my Game Boy in hand to play because I was that kind of extra) and wait my turn for the guys who got there before me to get bored so I could stand by myself at the twice-my-size machines and play to my heart's content while my sister checked out the dolls. They had walls of game cards and you'd have to grab the slip and take it to the counter to get the to give you the game to purchase. No slip in the pocket? No game in the store. And the waiting game began all over again. " src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/df/c6/01/dfc60183c8428849b8583e88370b777b--super-nintendo-console-wip.jpg" style="height: 160px; width: 160px; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #b9b9b9;"></td>

<td><img title="Even now at 31, the Big Toy Book that's released at the beginning of November has always been a highlight of the holiday season. As kids we'd take a trip to Toys R Us and pick up one each (and one to keep) so that we could circle all the things we thought looked cool. Mind you, this wasn't just to help us make our lists. Every Christmas we'd go to the Angel Tree and pick two names each and buy each kid some clothes and a toy, and we used the book to give us ideas that we may not see when strolling up and down the aisles (which we could do for hours and be completely happy, buying something at the end of it or not). I think I'm going to miss these big books of ideas and wonder the most - so much changed about the store from when I was a kid, but the Big Toy Book has always been around. It's truly the end of an era." src="https://i.imgur.com/HhfAKDm.jpg?1" style="height: 160px; width: 160px; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #b9b9b9;"></td>

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