New Associative Array?

[eluser]Dr. Seuss[/eluser]
I feel extremely foolish, but here goes: I want to create custom array variables. I try:

Code:

$scripts['includes']=array('superfish','layout', 'admin');
    $this->load->vars($scripts);

And then pass the variable to a view:

Code:

$this->load->view('common/header', $scripts);

In the view I have tried both

<?php

foreach ($scripts as $key => $val) {
echo "$key = $val\n";
}

?>

...and...

<?php

foreach ($scripts['includes'] as $key => $val) {
echo "$key = $val\n";
}

?>

In both cases, I get this error message:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: Undefined variable: scripts

Filename: common/header.php

Line Number: 10

Just trying not to place everything within the "$data" array; I know that this must be possible and that I am missing something simple, but I cannot figure it out after two hours of flailing...any help would be appreciated.