Baby Akatsuki (10 Months 9.19.09)

We had so much fun last weekend! To give you an idea of what we did we'll start the story this way:

Dennis posted this status on Facebook about a week ago:
Dennis: Can't wait for AWA15!!! Maia baby's gonna be smallest Akatsuki cosplayer? September 18 at 1:46pm

People's response to his status posting:
Thomas: I didn't know you were into cosplaying... or are you just making Maia cosplay? haha September 18 at 1:48pm

Dennis: We're newbies so no, we're not hardcore... but just maia this year. I think it'd be fun. September 18 at 1:58pm

Mary: If I can make it in time... September 18 at 2:00pm

Georgette: none of the words in your post make sense... September 18 at 2:13pm

Kelly: I second that Georgette! September 18 at 2:34pm

Alier: dude...don't you think you should let her enter nerd-dom of her own volition? Don't doom her to being a nerd so early in life! ;) (this is because I have no idea what you're talking about, so i assume it's obscure nerdese) September 18 at 2:42pm

Dennis: Waddya mean? Lots of stuff show up if you google it. Maia's dressing up as Uchiha Itachi, a member of Akatsuki in Naruto, the anime. September 18 at 2:42pm

Dennis: Awe its just halloween... extra early. September 18 at 2:43pm

...Then some talk about Yoda (Diego would be very cute as Yoda, btw) and Star Wars (That's DragonCon, not AWA)...

Continued:
Thomas: Itachi? How are you gonna jam those contacts into her eyes? September 18 at 3:01pm

Dennis: Naw, she won't have any mangekyou sharingan, but her hair might work, and when she's sleepy she has lines under her eyes like Itachi.

Well, if that still doesn't make sense to the majority of you, here's the back story. AWA is Anime Weekend Atlanta. Yes, Dennis and I are total nerds and fans of anime, especially the Naruto manga and anime series. Seriously, you should check out this anime at http://www.crunchyroll.com/ if you don't already watch it. It's addictive. If you go all the way back to Naruto Season 1 (Not the Naruto Shippuden), you'll have a year's worth of anime to watch if you don't die from sleep deprivation first.

Dennis' favorite character is Uchiha Itachi who is a member of Akatsuki (the craziest group of villians in Naruto). When Maia was born, she had these lines under her eyes just like Itachi, so one of our nicknames for her was Baby Itachi. We just found out about AWA a couple of weeks ago, and on a whim we decided to cosplay (costume roleplay) Maia as Baby Itachi and go. Even though we stayed up till 3 am making her outfit, in the end it was worth it. Maia was a hit at AWA!! Everyone wanted to take pictures of her! We had random people come up and give us the thumbs up. We had lots of oohs and aahs and lots of "Look it's a baby Akatsuki, that's awesome!". In the end, Maia put on her best no-smile look and she was a perfect Akatsuki! So, to give you an idea of what the people at these events are like watch this YouTube video.

It brings new meaning to "people watch" when you are at one of these things. We had so much fun camping out and guessing the characters as they walk by. Our goal was to have Maia take pictures with some of the best Naruto cosplayers that were there. Next year Kenpachi! Here are some of the pictures, ENJOY!