Heroes of Cosplay and my Banshee...

I like watching the SyFy channel. The shows on there are good and in spite of the occasional bad word, the girls can watch it with me. We watch Ghost Hunters together, we watch FaceOff together, and just recently, we all got hooked on Heroes of Cosplay. And no, I only let them watch the repeats with me. All these shows run during bedtime!

For those of you not in the know, Heroes of Cosplay follows a group of talented people at different ComicCons around the country. They fashion amazing costumes in a matter of days, so that they can compete in the various costume contests. It is very cool stuff, as we get to see the costumes start off in brainstorm mode, to actual work on the costume, to the finished project on stage. The judging on these costumes can get very intense but most of the participants remain steadfast that if they aren't having fun, then it is not cosplay.

The girls love to see the work that people put into these costumes! They build dragons, learn how to shoot arrows for a Merida costume, drive racing cars onto a stage, turn into Ironman...you name it! It is really hard not to get hooked on the awesomeness of watching someone put hard work into something they love and journey with them through their creative process. 

What I didn't count on, is that the girls would start to think about their Hallowe'en costumes in this fashion too. Pixy wants to be batgirl with functioning wings and well, we all know what Banshee wants to be: Irongirl, duh! I think I may have dug my grave here, folks! It isn't like I am a stranger to making things by hand or perfecting something someone else has done. I love to do that! In fact, when I was teaching, I was known for changing lessons, creating new projects, and even making a class movie full of costumes....just for the thrill of seeing your hard work turn into something cool. I am just not sure that I can ever reach the calibre of the costumes the girls are loving on TV.

The prospect of building/making these costumes by hand becomes more daunting, as we are considering taking the girls to ComicCon in NYC this year. Banshee, who is probably the coolest three year old I know, has some special friends at Marvel Comics that she'd love to visit with and meet in person. The Sailor and I want this to happen for her very much...but. Yup, here comes a big BUT....Banshee and Pixy now want to go dressed up. Sigh! I am buckling under the pressure.  What if I let them down? What if I can't make their costume dreams happen? What if, by some HUGE miracle, they want to do one of the kid contests? WhatamIgonnado?! Sigh!

Part of me is kicking myself. Why did I let them watch this show right before Hallowe'en? Seriously, I wasn't thinking. Now, the bar has been set high and there will be no return from it. The other part of me is silently giddy at the thought that maybe this opportunity might be good for the girls, especially for Banshee. Her ASD causes her to be shy and have social issues as herself, but put a costume on her and she feels stronger, more social, more awesome. Pair that up with the Pixy...well, now we have something super awesome happening. Something to think about, huh?

I am still in the brainstorming stages, and in the end, might just go with something pre-bought that we fix up and make our own. I will take it one step at a time. I just hope that the kids' judge, if the girls do the contest, isn't Yaya Han. (Pssstt...we love her!)

              What are your plans for Hallowe'en? Homemade vs. Pre-bought. Talk to me! :) 

The pond, the geese, the Juneau, and the beaver. Sigh!

Juneau is a wonderful dog. He is full of energy, gentle with the girls, and super quiet. He came into our little pack on Mother's Day, because his time was up at the shelter and they were going to put him to sleep. I am glad that he came home to us, as he had been treated very badly and needed lots of medicine to get his under-nourished frame back into top shape. It was serendipitous, right?

Turns out that while Juneau is amazing, he doesn't think things through, and is often getting into trouble because of it. Enter our walk to the park with Banshee. Banshee had done a great job at school the day before, and as a reward, we all decided to take her on a walk near the ponds to the playground. She decided it would be nice to bring Kai and Juneau along too. Since, the boys really needed their walk, we agreed with her--it was a beautiful day! We quickly leashed up the boys, packed our water bottles, and set off.

It was wonderful! Banshee got to walk Kai on his leash, as he is gentle about walking and looks out more for her than himself when walking. She was in heaven and proud of herself for doing something that only big kids do. Juneau, on the other hand, is a horrible walker! He wants to sniff everything and run ahead, turn around, skip..you name it! In spite of his usual leash nonsense, we got to see a blue heron, a beaver, various birds, and a couple of neighbors fishing. We were actually all giggling, as Juneau decided he needed to commune with nature by rolling around the grass upside-down. "Come on, Junebug!", we called, as we started to walk towards the observation deck to see what the beaver was up to.

Banshee and Kai got to the deck first and were watching a flock of geese on the pond. I got there next and was pointing out the beaver to Banshee, while the Sailor and Juneau walked up to the deck. No one is sure what happened next, because all we heard was a huge splash and Juneau's leash went taut. "Where is Juneau?!", I screamed out, after I saw that Kai was shepherding Banshee away from the edge of the deck. When he does that, it usually means danger. Something was terribly wrong. It was then that we saw exactly what happened...Juneau was in the pond.

Panic usually sets in very quick and you start to look for solutions to the problem, but when we all got a good look at what Juneau was attempting to do, it was actually hard not to be mad. He was chasing after the geese, and the beaver was chasing after him. This totally looked like something out of Grimm's fairy tales, or perhaps, like something out of America's Funniest Home Videos? Yeah. The situation got hairier, as the beaver totally went under water. Thanks a lot, Juneau. Someone was going to have to go in, and it sure wasn't going to be me. The Sailor looked at me and grimaced. He decided he would use the leash to guide poor Juneau out of the pond, hopefully, before the beaver decided he was a threat. Not that we were too worried about Juneau. He is a good hunter; the beaver might have gotten some good blows in, but Juneau would bring him home as dinner. I remember saying: " Not that that makes it any less scary, but we need to get him out now!". The leash lead Juneau up onto the bank, carefully, so as not to hurt his neck or snag onto some unsuspecting goose. What walked out of the water, tail wagging, was not the usual white beast we love...oh no! This was Swamp Thing! Juneau was now pond mud black/brown/gray goo colored. Every single neighbor that was out at the pond, not only saw the whole thing, but were now rolling on the ground in stitches. It was hard to not laugh...it was just odd. What an adventure, huh?!

Banshee and Kai were waiting for us to bring Juneau up to the path, and were both so grossed out, that they decided to keep walking a little bit away from us into the trees to explore. The Sailor and I had to examine Juneau on our own. Oh man! He stunk to high heaven, even if he was ok and looked perfectly happy. The weirdo wasn't even shocked or nervous. It looked like our trip to the playground was going to be cut short. We couldn't let that stuff stick on his fur!

I want to say that we made the walk back home in seconds, it was that fast! We immediately, gave Juneau a bath, and no amount of Key lime Aloe dog shampoo was going to help that stink. We needed to go in again! And again! And again! I think we went through half a bottle of the stuff. Meanwhile, Kai and Banshee looked on and judged us on our washing technique. I think they were disappointed they had to come home too. After the bath, Juneau tried to make up to them, with no success. He knew he was in trouble with his 'siblings'. The Sailor and I just looked on to see what he was going to next. Juneau approached them quietly and laid a toy at their feet, which was huge because he still doesn't know how to play well. Banshee walked up to Juneau and hugged him: "Naughty Juneau. You don't jump in water. That is soo soo bad." He was forgiven there, but Kai wasn't having any of it. He looked on at them as if he was above it all. "Come on, Kai. Give him a break! He isn't a thinker. Juneau will do better next time," the Sailor said to him. Reluctantly, Kai did forgive him and lightly sniffed him. He did not stay near him though..he could probably smell something nasty that the rest of couldn't smell. Oh boy!

Did Juneau learn his lesson? Nope. While he hasn't jumped off another observation deck, he has gotten stuck in a tree log in the back yard, chased down a deer, and attempted to make friends with a skunk. He keeps all of us on our toes, that is for sure! We love him dearly, but you can't help thinking that whoever said little children were tough, has never had a Juneau in their life. They'd probably change their mind...in a heartbeat. Better yet, in the time it takes to jump into a pond. Sigh!