Fantastic Memorial Day
"Are you moving?!?!" my hair stylist yelled as he ran across the street.
He'd been ordering coffee directly across from where we live and looking out the shop's window, when he saw me loading large boxes into the trunk of our car.
"Moving? Me? No," I replied. "Just preparing to see the nephews."
If you've read my previous posts, you know how much I enjoy putting together packages of toys for children in our family. On this past Memorial Day, my boyfriend and I made our way down to Orange County to visit with his nephews for the holiday,... and I'd prepared a pretty extensive gift for the boys,... a package that I'd worked on for months in preparation.
I had discovered and purchased a DVD collection of the complete Fantastic Four Animated Series which had aired for two seasons in 1994 and '95. The box set contains four DVD's of the cartoon that, although a little hokey, is perfect for little kids.
After getting the DVD's,... I started collecting.
You see, during those years in the 90's, action figures had been developed specifically for the cartoon, and although they're no longer available at conventional toy stores, I was able to find them at collector warehouses and online.---Oh, I didn't just instantly buy every figure I came across.---I looked around, bargain shopped, and even negotiated prices with certain sellers.
In a manner of two months, I had collected ever single toy produced for the cartoon... in mint condition AND unopened in their original packaging.---Spread out on the bed, the collection of toys looked pretty impressive.
After being certain I had all of them, I organized the toys into piles based on the episodes listed on the DVD box set, fast forwarding through the cartoons to make sure that particular characters made an appearance.
Next, I wrapped them and attached post-it notes to remind me which character was inside.
Finally, after double-checking one last time with the DVD's, I labeled each package with the corresponding episode...
...and organized them into boxes chronologically.
My idea was that the kids could watch an episode and then open the corresponding package (or vice versa). I was fine with them doing it on their own time. I didn't expect them to watch the full two seasons while I was there,... I was just happy to have the project completed and ready for delivery.
So, after loading the car and assuring my hair stylist that I wasn't leaving town, we drove down to see the boys,... and their little jaws hit the floor when they saw the packages.
Now, if you have any experience with a 7 year old and 5 year old, you can probably guess how well my plan went.
After explaining the procedure (of "watch an episode" then "open a package"), I let them each pick a package and then began playing the first corresponding episode.---After 5 minutes, I was faced with...
"Is this almost over yet?"
"Almost," I replied. "How about I just fast forward to the part involving what I think is in your package..."
After opening their first figures to shouts of "Cool!" and "Awesome!", 5 year old Logan asked, "Can we open another one?"
"Alright," I answered, "But why don't I just play a snippet from the episode so you can see the characters in action."
Five minutes later,... "Can we open another one?"
Two minutes later,... "Can we open another one?"
About a third of the way through, I gave up showing them clips from the episodes and just let open whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, and... all the packages were unwrapped and opened within minutes.---It's what they wanted,... and yes, maybe the toys would become totally forgotten by Tuesday, but I didn't care... It was enough just to see them happy.
Now, please note that I tried to be a conscientious uncle and made sure that all the wrapping paper and extra packaging was put into garbage bags before any parents saw the mess,... and I let the boys keep one of the plastic tubs which easily held all of the figures (sans their packaging),... a tub that little Logan asked me to carry upstairs to safely store in his bedroom closet.
On Wednesday, when I got home from work, my boyfriend said that he'd just gotten off the phone with his sister.
"She said to tell you that, on Tuesday night, Logan asked if he could bring some of the Fantastic Four toys downstairs to their living room, and of course, she said yes.---Moments later, she heard this thud-thud-thud sound, and discovered it was Logan dragging an enormous plastic tub down the stairs, one step at a time.---I guess she hadn't seen how much stuff you'd actually given them.---She also said to tell you that, when Logan went to bed, he took no less than six of those figures to bed with him."
*Melt*
So, my hair stylist was very happy to hear that my boyfriend and I aren't moving,... but if I was, I know where I'd move to... A neighborhood closer to a plastic tub and a five year old boy who falls asleep holding multiple action figures.
:-)
Recent Comments