The very first thing we bought when we came to the US was a car.

Oh, and new toothbrushes because after 36 hours on a plane, we’d simply brushed our old ones to a wirey fray.

In fact, we started shopping online for one even before we came. We considered the Mazda MPV. The Dodge Caravan. The Town and Country.

The first month we were here, or more specifically 42 days, we drove around a rented Chevrolet Uplander. On the 43rd day, we bought our very own because we’d loved it.

A simple, no-fuss minivan. Reasonably priced. Lots of space.

And it has a DVD player.

So it goes without saying that my kids watch a lot of cartoons and ‘animated features’ when we’re on the road. The Incredibles. Aladdin. The Little Mermaid. Mostly ‘princess’ fare.

People say that watching too much TV takes away your imagination. The same goes with too much computer games or surfing around the Internet. Today, I found out that for Raeven, it seems to be going the other way (how’s that for self consolation and justification?).

Rae’s two favourite cartoons are The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. If you’ve watched both (for a couple of thousand times, at least), you’d remember the rambunctious sea witch in The Little Mermaid, and Robin Williams’ flamboyant genie in Aladdin.

Because we had to drive to Lynnwood today, which is about 40 minutes away, we were watching The Little Mermaid again, for the 15 thousandth time.

Almost to the end, where the sea witch reveals her true self, Raeven had an epiphany.

“You know how we can kill the evil sea witch, Daddy?!”

“How?” asked my husband, already amused. I was driving.

“Ariel can borrow the lamp from Aladdin! Trick the sea witch to go inside the lamp!”

“But how can Ariel get the lamp from Aladdin?”

“Ask Ariel to go to Aladdin’s website, and double-click on the lamp, and then ask the genie to suck the sea witch BACK INTO THE LAMP, DADDY!” screamed our four-year-old girl, her little voice filled with the excitement and conviction of a scientist finally arriving at the cure for the common cold.

Needless to say, we both simply broke into fits of giggles. In fact, we laughed for a good two miles or so.

“You’re very imaginative, Raeven,” complimented her father.

I couldn’t help but sneak a look at my girl at the rearview mirror. There she sat, smiling smugly, as though she had solved the biggest mystery to confound the human race, ever.

And she very well might’ve. If Kingdom Hearts can happen, who’s to stop a Sea Witch vs Genie collaboration?