Commander Del Oso (Jr.) and Blade Girl (Jr.)

Last week, we got a message on Facebook from "Blade Girl" (aka Shelby) asking if the kids would be interested in impersonating the guest stars at the retreat, the superheroes; Commander Del Oso and Blade Girl. She wanted them to introduce the slide show at this week's college class.

From the moment I mentioned it to Mikayla, she's been literally bouncing off the walls. Yesterday at 2:00, she asked, "How many more minutes?" - CCF starts at 7. It'll be a while, honey. Brayden was psyched too, his only reservation was having to where girls spandex tights as part of the costume. But, when he found out Will (C.D.O.) wore Kara's pair, he felt like it was okay. Fortunately, our local Walmart did NOT let us down, I couldn't believe we found almost perfect matches to everything the original heroes were wearing (in jr. sizes) and each item cost $3 or less.

Finally, last night arrived, and Will and Shelby handed over their capes, goggles, and masks and taught them the superhero dance that is done while a ramped up version of "I Need a Hero" is playing. The kids picked up on it and the dialogue perfectly, and seriously, (I know this sounds silly), the pride I felt as a parent watching them absolutely DELIGHT the crowd (it was a surprise, with the cue of the music, everyone expected the real heroes to come out - not junior versions) was pretty profound. I tried to video it, but I know I started late because I was so caught up in it all. However, one of the college students also taped it, so when I get it, we'll see if I can go through the agonizing Blogger process to get it uploaded.

A few special quotes from each of them - as they departed after the final applause, Brayden improvised with a loud, "Del Oso OUT!" It was classic.....

Mikayla, after it was all done and we were home, asked "Daddy, did we do a good job representing the Riley family (as this is something we'd talked to them about earlier)?" Of course, John echoed the many earlier sentiments of ours to them about absolutely exceeding expectations.

I suspect it will be the quirky experiences like this that we'll find most pride in them. Sports, academics, prom queens, ASB presidents.... who knows, but we'll always have the knowledge that for one evening our kids were heroes......

Here's a picture of them, and then one of the older counterparts....



Blade Girl Jr. in all her glory:


Commander Del Oso Jr. doing a fine job of flexign:


This is a shot of where "CCF" is held, as the music was blaring, everyone was watching for the "Heroes Entrance" and instead they saw Brayden at the doorway.


This was them doing the secret hero dance upfront:



Finally, the smiles on their faces are because the crowd was going crazy....


Even more pics, taken from a different camera....