Crocs

New Yorkers can be quite egocentric - and they really hate it when the city succombs to a fashion trend that started somewhere considered less 'fashion-forward.'

The latest offender? Crocs.

Comfy but ugly resin shoes, crocs have been discussed at length in certain NYC mommy circles lately. Founded in Boulder, CO, they're finally reaching California, NY and even Kuwait. Crocs are everywhere. Teri Hatcher & Jack Nicholson wear them - but this doesn't matter. Manhattan moms let out an audible gasp at the mere mention of crocs because it is a symbol of all things mini-van driving and fanny pack wearing. As one mom put it, "So California kids are adopting a fad that Kansas City is already over?" These shoes are surprisingly polarizing and flammable.

We were out looking for Kansas chigger-proof sneakers for Caroline on Thursday in Astoria when we wandered into Modell's. There in the middle of the sneaker aisle was a huge display of crocs. Clay's comments were, "I see a lot of residents wearing those things" and "Caroline and I should get matching pairs." Well, unfortunately, there were no hot pink crocs in Clay's size and no black crocs in Caroline's - so the two won't match after all.

We probably would not have picked up the shoes had we not stumbled across them (We also got those neat light-up sneakers we stumbled across too) - but have them we do. Now we can once more illustrate the difference between Manhattan and Queens: We were at the playground for only about 5 minutes before a parent approached me and said, "Where did you find those shoes?"