Gina Vercesi is a New York-based writer with a passion for exploring nature and the outdoors. Gina features off-the-grid family travel on her blog, Kids Unplugged as well as contributing to a variety of digital and print publications. Her freelance work focuses on helping families (including her own!) unplug from electronics and escape the frenetic pace of modern life through travel and adventure. Gina lives with her husband, three daughters, and a variety of pets in a friendly village on the Hudson River. Follow her on Instagram @ginavercesi
What was your favorite childhood toy?
Fisher Price My Friend Mandy and Jenny dolls
Before the American Girl phenomenon swept the nation, '70s kids like me played with the sweetest dolls ever. Of the four My Friend dolls Fisher Price made, I had two—Mandy and Jenny. Mandy had a white cloth body with pink rosebuds. Jenny's rosebuds were yellow. Mandy was blonde and Jenny was brunette. I never got Becky, the redhead, though I wanted her badly. The boy My Friend doll, Mikey, didn't interest me. You could buy lots of clothes for your dolls, and I had a few things, but my grandmother, a whiz on the sewing machine, made Mandy and Jenny an enviable wardrobe. We played school and house and grocery store. Now, even though we are the owners of Molly McIntyre and Kit Kittredge, two famed American Girls, my daughters have Mandy and Jenny and Becky, procured through E-bay—my own dolls went missing years ago. I've found a bunch of their original clothes, too, '70s style sweatsuits and flannel skirts with matching berets and little plastic shoes. They aren't fancy, but they're certainly loved.
