The other day Ray came home from Walgreen’s all excited. With a remote control helicopter.

“For indoor use!” he told me.

“Great,” I thought. “Something’s gonna get broken, for sure.”

For once, I kept my mouth shut and smiled.

So far, we’ve all survived, except for the first helicopter. Ray’s already been back for another, after a bad crash landing. But it was worth the investment (both times) to see the look on his face. So happy. Poor Ray. Most days he does just fine in a house full of girls (plus a large boy dog). And he has been able to coax our kids to do some “Ray” things — rock climb, hike, watch Star Trek. Still. There’s a whole lot of fashion show watching, ballet dancing and nail painting going on around here, round the clock.

I know, I know. It’s 2011 and we’re not supposed to assign gender to activities. Yeah, right.

Apparently helicopters are gender neutral around here.

Annabelle adapted the whole thing to suit her needs, naming the helicopter Patrick and sitting on the floor with Ray to Magic Marker an intricate heli-pad set up.

“Look!” Ray said, beaming, when I walked into the kitchen. “Project Runway!”

Awesome.