Wookie Mania

"Oooh, Look! There's Chewbacca!"

It wasn't the kids who were so excited. It was me.

I took to the boys on Saturday to the annual Kidz Expo at the Empire State Plaza. It's filled to the gills with booths and displays from various kid-related businesses pushing their services. There's some things to do, like giant bouncy-bounces, video games, mini golf and lots of other stuff. Laser tag was the biggest hit for Nolan and Thomas.

For their giant geek of a dad it's seeing people wandering around in really cool Star Wars costumes. There was a variety of stormtroopers and Jedi. We even saw a Jawa. Darth Vader was also lurking about.

But my eyes lit up when I saw the first mate of the Millennium Falcon.

"Hey, Chewie! How about a picture?" I asked after rushing right over to him.

Except while everyone else was taking photos of their kids with George Lucas' creations, I promptly handed my camera to 6-year-old Thomas and proudly took my place next to my favorite Wookie. I admit, part of me wondered if the guy in the costume thought I was nuts.

Afterward, almost as an after thought, I asked the boys if they'd like their picture with Chewbacca.

"Um, no, dad. That's OK."

The guy in the Wookie suit might not have thought I was crazy. But I'm pretty sure my kids did.

Then again, they're probably used to it. I had a similar reaction at last year's Kidz Expo when I had my picture taken with Lord Vader.