My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

4 cheers from 4 for the 4th

Fun times. 
Except if loud noises scare you. 
She looked like this…
until the fireworks started. Then, she was buried in Mark’s chest, hiding her eyes. 
When it was all over, she popped up, “All done. Bye bye, fireworks.” And, that was that. 
The rest of us loved them. 4 cheers for fireworks on the 4th from our 4. 

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Stepping Into a Galaxy Far Far Away

into the world of superheros, comics, and pop culture at the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia. 10 years ago, I would never have imagined I’d be found at something like this. And, here, I was there all afternoon on both Friday AND Saturday. Friday, I took the kids by myself (yes, I’m a superhero for driving to Phili, parking, and managing all 4 kids as well all my gear, if I should say so myself). They loved it SO much (Evan called it a “museum of awesomeness”), that they convinced us to take them again on Saturday.

For those of you who have no idea what this event is (people as uninformed as I was a couple weeks ago), this is a huge event for comic book enthusiasts as well as superhero, Star Wars, and WWF fans as well as vintage toy collectors for Star Wars and old school superhero stuff. And, it brings out a bunch of folks who like to dress up like heros (some recognizable and some that I guess they just made up…unless I’m totally on the out…which is definitely possible). It’s a subculture, people, one that I wouldn’t want to be a part of but I confess I have a fascination in observing.

We got to see some famous comic illustrators at work including Travis Nichols (one of the few really kid friendly ones) who published The Monster Doodle Book. He talked to us for a bit and encouraged my kids to illustrate themselves in a sample of his book…which they loved and I ended up buying. Hook, line, and sinker.

And, we saw some not-so-famous illustrators too.

My kids were actually quite excited about their free Star Wars sketches this guy gave to them. They didn’t think he was a nobody–or, at least, all they read was “FREE SKETCHES!” They are their mother’s children; the word “free” draws them in.
And, then, we got a lot of pictures like these — our kids look pretty much the same in every picture, just swap out the character with them. Lots of big smiles.

Even I thought Chewy looked amazing. He was huge and even sounded like Chewbacca [insert weird burly noise here]. And, probably one of my favorite memories of the experience was when I was waiting outside the men’s room with Lydia and Ashlyn for the boys, and we saw Chewy go in. Evan and Drew came out so excited that they saw Chewbacca in the bathroom. Evan saw him fixing his fur in the mirror. And, Drew was amazed that he saw his “real hand.” He clearly went in just for the shock value. And, it worked for my kids (and a few security guys standing outside the bathroom who got a good laugh when they saw him go in).
They thought the museum of awesomeness reached a new level of awesomeness when they found a booth with used Star Wars figures in rubbermaids for $3-$4 each. And, when Ashlyn found the hammerhead, Evan’s favorite Star Wars alien, in the bottom of the bin, well, we all were pretty excited.

Then, the pies de resistance…Evan spotted the Starspeeder 1000. 
The only way I can try to tell you what that moment was like is by relating it to The Christmas Story when the boy beholds the bebe gun. Evan was literally jumping up and down begging for this toy. (For those of you not well-versed in Star Wars-ese, this is a model of the vehicle in the new Star Tours ride in Disney World, a ride that just came out in May that Evan has been googling and watching on youtube daily). So, yup, I bought that too. And, then we had a very, very happy boy (and, therefore, a happy mama).

Note how Ashlyn so nicely holds the gun to display it but the boys feel the need to point it at me for the picture.
Ashlyn was her own little photographer and preserver of awesomeness memories. Love this picture of her taking a picture. She took loads of pictures of these lego creations on display.
And, we got to see some pretty cool things (Batmobile, the back to future car, the mystery machine…) and people — like Margot Kidder from Superman (she’s just a normal gal eating a hotdog like the rest of us), the original Batman and Robin (both of which the kids didn’t really care about since they don’t look like Batman and Robin anymore…it has been about 50 years), the original incredible hulk (who still looked pretty hulky to me), John Schneider from Dukes of Hazzard (who looks exactly like he did way back when), a bunch of other folks who are a big deal to some folks but not us, and (one of my personal faves) the guy who played Chewbacca…not just someone dressed up as Chewy….I mean THE Chewy. And, people, he looks like Chewbacca…seriously…he’s 7’3″ and has some long hair. I wish I could have had a picture of him to show you but you had to pay just to take his picture. (Remember my attraction to the word “free”?) I was seriously tempted to ask him if I could just take a picture of his hand shaking hands with our kids — I actually blurted out “Look at his huge Chewbacca hands!” when he shook Evan’s hands. I hope that was taken as a compliment. But, once it was blurted out, I decided I really couldn’t ask to take a picture of his neanderthal totally-in-character hands.
And, my kids were pretty psyched to meet Anakin. Remember this little guy before he turned to the dark side?
Well, here he is now at age 22. He generously let us take his picture with the kids despite the fact that there are “NO PHOTOS” signs all over where he was planted. And, we got to chat it up for a while when there was a lull in the crowd. Even got to talk mom stuff with his mom. Maybe we’ll even become FB friends…who knows.
And, another kid star from Star Wars my kids were excited to meet. That was then….
this is now…and this is proof that I actually did accompany my family to the event.
Poor Lydia had to be strapped to me in the carrier both days all day–didn’t want to risk her running off with the Comic Convention Carnies. She was not so happy about that. But, the ipod touch kept her quiet in between high-fives to storm troopers and the like. 

I went for the kids, knowing our oldest three would think it was the closest thing to Disney World they’d get for a while. But, I confess, it was a pretty good time. Maybe next time I’ll even dress up.

Saving the best picture for last. Classic, just classic. 
Wanna be a superhero too…or just look like one…or see some people who think they do? Check out the schedule to see if the convention is coming somewhere near to you. They are going to be all over the place. And, they’ve already scheduled to come back to Phili June 1st-3rd, 2012. That gives me 346 to come up with some costumes. 

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Before & After

Look at those young fledglings, just starting 1st grade–first year in a real elementary school–and 3rd grade. So green, they were.

Now, look at them. 
They’re oozing with knowledge and all kinds of important skills ever-so pertinent for 1st and 3rd graders. Things like drawing to make things look three dimensional, multiplication, who Neil Armstrong is, what buy-one-get-one-free at the book fair means, how to buy strawberry shortcakes at lunch, how to find your way home.
I would have photographed the two adorable balloons we picked up for them this morning. But, that would have meant entrusting them to a 5 year old already holding a large Star Wars spaceship or a 2 year old who was screaming “I do! I do! I do!” and would have promptly let them go. 
Welcome summer.
Welcome heat. (Right now, I’m hiding out in my bedroom where we have a window unit to escape the children the stifling heat downstairs)
As they started arguing this afternoon, I sternly said, “Is this what it’s going to be like all summer?” to which Drew answered, “not all summer.” 
Good to know. Perhaps we can start talking percentages and reinforce some of those skills they learned this year.

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Field Day

Field day. A classic rite of passage for every elementary schooler. In case they didn’t realize it was the last week of school, now they do. Because they had field day. And, that’s what field day means.

(Wouldn’t be able to begin to tell you where my kids are here as I could barely find them in the sea of children in real life. Put that sea of children in a tiny photo and they are just little pixels on a screen.)

You go out to a big field for the whole day and do relay races of all types, have good fun attempting three-legged races, play tug o’ war and dodgeball, hide under a giant parachute. The only thing missing today from all my childhood field day memories was releasing balloons. Remember that? We’d have our name and your school’s address with the request for the finder to mail the paper tag back in. The one whose balloon was returned from the farthest distance would get some prize. I always loved that. It beat standing in a giant circle holding hands singing “Greatest Love of All” which we had to do one year. 

No balloons, and no Whitney Houston. We got to hear some rockin’ songs on the loud speaker instead. All while the kids sweat like crazy in the heat while a few poor moms and little siblings watch and sweat too. 
Poor Drew went so far to announce he was dead.

But, no worries. Lydia was quick to come to his field-day-rescue.

What a relief to come home and relax in my cool house. 
Oh yeah, that’s right. No air conditioning. 
It might be a long summer.

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