Some time ago, as you may have noticed in photos, we bought Kelley some Crocs. At the time they were simply a pair of beach shoes that we bought at REI, didn't give them a second thought really. We didn't know their brand cachet, nor that she would simply love them so much.

It turns out they're quite the popular brand of footware these days, enough so that knock-off copies can be found in places like Wal-Mart. Crocs are constructed of a proprietary, foam-like substance that weighs nearly nothing, but apparently stands up to quite a bit of wear.

Further, you can buy Jibbitz to customize your Crocs. Most Crocs have large holes in them, and a now-Croc-owned company called Jibbitz offers a gazillion little doo-hickeys that pop into and out of these holes to decorate the shoes with favorite characters, letters / words, signs and symbols, etc., etc. The Crocs company keeps licensing more and more properties for Jibbiz, announcing a Warner Bros. deal just this morning.

Personally I find the design of most Crocs unappealing, and I haven't had the desire to buy them for their own sake. But we did go ahead, based on baby's advice, and buy some CROX stocks, which have done quite well over the past month or so.

Thus, Baby's First Stock Pick may serve to put her through college. We'll see. I might even have to get a pair for meself and I'm going back to REI today to look at various models, including their more rugged outdoor style to replace my aging Tevas.