Creating a Costume - 2015

Nick decided that he wanted to be Captain America for Halloween this year.

OK, so what does Captain America use that I can make into a wheelchair costume?

(Nick got too tired last year with his walker costume trick-or-treating, so we decided to only concentrate on the wheelchair this week).

I did some google searches to see what was out there, and found some ideas. But I thought really all I needed was a kids bike that I could tear apart. It also allows it to be waterproof, which is a must in our Ontario climate (and it has rained the last 3 years)

Luckily I was able to find one, and it was already taken apart!

Ideally the handlebars would actually be attached the the wheel. But that's ok we can work with this

First we needed some more inspiration

Then Nick I took a trip to Canadian Tire to check out what they  had.
I didn't have a big idea, so we just browsed for some inspiration. The plumbing section seems to have the most selection of parts that I was looking for. And of course some spray paint, glue, and duct tape. Also some gloves (in case it is cold), a touch light and bristol board.

Then I needed to put the bike together.
There was grease all over, so I covered everything with some shiny duct tape. I had thought it was only silver duct tape, but it had writing all of it, so I had to spray paint it. I had bought a T-shaped pipe cover and used it to hold the steering wheel with the wheel and taped it all together.
(It held, but was very loose)

Pretty simple, but still didn't really look like Caps' motorbike

So I made up some shields for Nick's wheels out of the bristol boards.

I got some straight pipe covers to boost up the bike's appearance and then spray painted everything

Too late I realized I got silver all over the wheels. So I spray painted the wheels black

We added the light and now it was starting to come together

Now I was stuck, I didn't have any ideas about how to actually attach it to Nick's wheelchair. So I enlisted Kyle's help.

 We bought a broom handle and spray painted it silver, and then zip-tied the bike to the chair. It also lifted the wheels off the ground.

The last problem we had was how to keep the bike off of Nick's lap.
What we needed was something for the bike to just rest in.

In the end we had a bike rack that was able to be tied to the chair and sit around Nick for the bike to rest against. We covered the rack and the sides of Nick's chair with the pipe covers (which also protects it) and zip tied everything together.

Here is Captain America!

Marvel's Universe

As a treat for the kids for a great year at school we got them tickets to the Marvel Universe motorcycle show.

Nick's favorite Avengers character is Captain America. I got him a Captain America costume from ebay, but it came the wrong size, so he couldn't wear the whole costume, but he got to wear the mask as a costume

Because we knew that the show was going to be loud, we had earmuffs for Nick to wear. They were great! I don't think Nick would have enjoyed the show otherwise. 

Katheryn had a pair as well, but she just wore them for the beginning of the show. Once she was used to the noise she took them off.

They had face painting, so Katheryn wanted to be the Hulk

I got tickets that were 1 accessible and 1 companion, and then regular tickets right in front. When we arrived we found out that the accessible and the companion tickets were actually across and aisle from each other.
Luckily all the seats hadn't been sold. So I just pulled my chair over and sat beside Nick together.

The show started off loud... and with Loki

 There is a story line, and all of the Avengers (but not Giant Man or Wasp), Miss Marvel, some of the X-Men and Spider man, and some of their specific bad guys

The use all parts of the area and up on the bleachers (but not in the crowd)

 Nick was so excited when Captain America came on

 We got them a couple of souvenirs during the intermission.

Katheryn's favorite character was Black Widow

It wasn't a motorcycle show, but there were lots of times when the motorcycles were out and watching some tricks

Most of the show there  was no Hulk. It was just Bruce Banner. But of couse the Hulk showed up at the end

The kids had a great time at the show!

On the way home we took pictures of each other.

Katheryn took this one of Nick and me

Nick took this one of Kyle.

A great day out on the town!
Avengers Assemble!

Steve and the Zoo

Nick had an eye test at Bloorview (on a Saturday) so we decided that we would treat the kids to a trip to the zoo on our way home. As a surprise!
For a bigger surprise I found out that there was going to be a special guest at the zoo for a meet-and-greet!

 

Captain America! (Who is Nick's favorite Avenger)

He told Nick that he could call him "Steve", so all day Nick talked about how he got to meet Steve.

 

We each got to pick and animal to go and visit.
Katheryn picked the polar bears. Always her favorite

 

And we were there for feeding time

 

Nick picked the otter. We named her Marlene (just like in Penguins of Madagascar). She is so active that the kids loved watching her swim all around. We got to see her fed as well, and waited 10 extra minutes for the zoo keeper. Who threw in some food and when someone asked her a question she answered and then walked away.

 



 

My choice was the flamingos. I thought the kids would get a kick out of them, and we hadn't visited them for a while. They were in a part of the zoo we usually skip.

 

 

I though they provided a nice background for a picture

Kyle picked the penguins. We just missed seeing them fed

It was so hot and sunny that we stopped for a quick popsicle break and then headed out

They each wanted to ride the merry-go-round.
Nick didn't want to go onto anything, so  we used the wheelchair turtle. So he could take his wheelchair up a ramp and then get attached to the ride and go around.

Katheryn picked a flamingo

 

On our way out we saw Steve again

It was a fun surprise for the kids!