Maja's Birthday and Free Comic Book Day

Today is the day that a few more white hairs pop out in my beard, and the line that creases my forehead gets a little bit deeper.  

It's Maja's 7th Birthday.

I know I'm not as exhausted as I was this time last year, as we drove down to Florida for the week at Disney, but the birthday celebration month my wife schedules for these kids is a wee bit outrageous. 

 



Who knew she liked Tibetan culture... and Yetis?

After two marathon driving sessions last year, we decided to let someone else handle that this year.  This morning, we're taking a bus to Manhattan and spending the whole day at what every 7-year-old girl wants.

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The aftermath of Tibetan culture... and Yetis. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

She is my kid, afterall, and the Met has a great Egyptian exhibit.   Not sure what my wife and little Millie will take interest in, but between this, Cleopatra's Needle behind the Met, and the random statue of Alexander Hamilton which continue the 27 million questions she has about him,  I think she'll be satisfied with the outing.



Sorry kiddo, not luggage is allowed in the Met.

She has been my partner-in-crime since she was born and recently she has begun constantly testing my status of know-it-all Dad.  The "Why is the sky blue" questions are a piece of cake compared to the latest barrage of questions about economics, religion, evolution, and the previously mentioned Hamilton (I think I did my first report on Hamilton in 3rd grade, so she's going down the same road.  Just don't slum it with James Buchanan in 4th, Sweetie.)

 

If I only knew how Fall-In '15 would turn out.... Spoilers:  It was awesome.

Of course, I have questions pertaining to what they're actually teaching her at school.  One bedtime conversation was about everything they learned about Harriet Tubman, except the little fact of what slavery actually was.    Not exactly the type of bedtime story I imagined when we moved into the house. 

My wife always gets amazed/depressed when she realizes what little people they've become.  Maja is becoming a young lady far faster than even I would like her to.  I fear one day too soon that she doesn't want to play silly games with Dad, but I will always have the epic tales to brag about to other gamers. 

 

And despite my love for averaging more than a post per day each month, I might as well add our foray this weekend into Free Comic Books Day. 

 

This was the fourth year I herded the kids into the car and travelled to Rubber Mallet Comics for Free Comic Book Day.  FCBD Saturdays haven't changed much or the years, including yet another hour wait in traffic of weekend "Emergency Bridge Repair.  When we finally got there, some of the free comics that were displayed under a tent outside the store had been picked clean, but Millie got her three, Maja only wanted the new DC Animated Girls book, and I snagged three, all of which were awful.  Hey, free never meant "good!" 

 

Inside, the store's tiny confines probably violated the fire marshall's limit, but no one seemed to mind too much.  Millie got Strawberry Shortcake #1, which amusingly, smelled like strawberries, and Maja won favorite daughter award, by finding the latest Scooby Doo Team-Up which just happened to have "The Shazam Family" in it.   Not just Captain, Mary, and Jr (no CM3, hoo-ray!), but also Uncle Marvel, Talking Tawney, and a reference to Hoppy, the Marvel Bunny!   The story is classic Golden Age style with the Scooby Gang mixed in.  Of course, certain characters with catch phrases are granted the Power of Shazam when needed, but it was far more fun than the covers of all the other comics displayed. 

 

Reading is fundamental, but silence is golden.