Memorial Day Parade

The stormtroopers spent their second Memorial Day in a small parade in my in-laws' neighborhood. The parade organizers asked them to be in the parade after seeing them in the Neiman-Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade at Christmas time. It's just a very convenient coincidence that it's my in-laws' neighborhood because the stormtroopers meet at their house to change into their costumes.

Preparing for the parade:



A group pic before the parade (I was loving that those little boys came with their dads, as it meant that my husband didn't make me carry the banner this year--I was an unwilling participant last year):



The parade:





Notice anyone missing from the line-up? Yep, Vader got too hot. If you've ever wondered if their costumes are hot (people ask them this all the time), the answer is, "Yes." Vader is the worst. In fact, I really don't like it when Steven borrows a Vader costume because he gets so overheated in it that it scares me.

I didn't even realize at first that Vader was missing, but then my stormtrooper stepped over to us and handed Vader's lightsaber to his mother. I took it from her, then wondered if I needed to go look for Vader. A little boy on the sidewalk with us asked what the stormtrooper gave me. When I told him it was Vader's lightsaber, he said, "I want it!" I just looked at him and said, "Well, you can't have it!" Guns and lightsabers are off-limits to kids, who always want to handle them. In fact, I had to shoo a kid away from my husband's holster after the parade. He was trying to remove the blaster. That's pretty typical.

I found Vader in my in-laws' kitchen, extremely overheated, poor guy. But he was safe, as was his lightsaber.