Hannah-Grace and her pre-k class went to see the Frederick Keys stadium, and they met Keyote the Keys mascot. She was all decked out in her Atlanta Braves hat and sports jacket. She had a blast. The Frederick Keys support the Frederick school system by giving out free tickets to kids who read three books and turn in a form showing the books that they read. H-G had a blast, rode the merry-go-round, ate lunch at a park, and made some new friends. Field trips are awesome.

For weeks now Kimberly and I have been seeing ads in the paper (usually a day too late) of how various businesses were giving away free stuff. We just keep missing them – coffee here, a free drink there, etc.) But Saturday as we were finishing up at the YMCA with swim classes and gymnastics, we saw that Saturday was national free comic book day! So all six of us went to the closest comic book store and were amazed at what we discovered.

My last experience with a comic book store was in Columbus, GA about 10-15 years ago. It was dusty, tired, and if there were more than three people in the store it was “busy.” There may have been some t-shirts and baseball cards. So when we entered Beyond Comics on Saturday I was swept up in a new nostalgia. The store was packed, and not just with “treckers,” but there was a wide variety of ages and “types” of people. The store had figurines, all kinds of comic book stuff, artists drawing various characters, and vendors giving away free stuff. There were only two occasions when I had to distract my children’s view from a tattoo on a guys leg that was very crude and a couple of sketches on the wall (half-naked women — good grief!)

Roy Rogers were giving away free chicken, coupons, and Hoyt Cinemas asked to take various pictures of the family (with a sign of their newest movie) – which ended with a free movie ticket (cha-ching). We can make an appointment, get dressed up (even coordinating outfits), go to the mall, and they will not sit still — but give them a free comic book and a chicken strip and they will take picture after picture (perfectly still.)

Overall, it was fun, but I will probably wait until they are a little older to go back and have a discussion of how we should guard our eyes (not only what we see, but what we choose to read as well).