Irvine High School Swim Team Banquet

Tonight was Irvine High School's annual end-of-the-season banquet and awards ceremony for their boy's swim team. My life-long friend Kelvin has a son on the team, and it turns out the swim coach is a huge Star Wars fan, so I was asked to have R2 make a surprise appearance toward the end of the festivities.

The banquet was well attended, with over 100 people present.



In the meantime, R2 hid incognito in the kitchen.



Toward the end of the evening, I affixed the gift card that R2 was to present to the coach on his upper utility arm, as we prepared to make our surprise entrance.



And pleasantly surprised they were! Everyone was delighted to see R2 roll in and present the gift card, especially the coach.





That was fun, I'm glad R2 was able to bring some extra happiness to the event.

City of Cypress Police Department Open House

Today R2 helped the City of Cypress CA's police department out with their open house.



Fellow R2 Builder and Ham Radio operator Chris Romines' droid is in a state of disassembly, so I pinch hit for Chris's R2-A1.



R2 hung out at the booth, which provided a shady spot for the kids to attack him.




Don't droid and drive, and don't drink and drive.



Everyone had a good time, and I'm glad I could help out.

CHOC Visit

Today, R2 celebrated Star Wars Day with not one, not two, but three events! Up first, a visit to Childrens Hospital Orange County, along with members of the 501st and Rebel Legion.



As is usually the case with hospital visits, pictures with the patients are restricted without clearance, but suffice it to say that our room-to-room visits and interaction in the activity rooms were a big hit. And the staff always loves seeing the characters.




We wrapped up our visit around noon, and R2 and I were off to our next appearance, about 50 miles up the road at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Visit to CHLA

R2 joined several members of the 501st and Rebel Legion, as he made his second stop on his 3-event day on Star Wars Day at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.



The hospital was very strict about pictures, so I was only able to get a group photo before the visit the young patients.



We had a good 2 hours or so interacting with the kids, and they had a great time visiting with the characters. I wrapped up around 4:15pm, and it was off to my third event of the day, back in Orange County. Two hours of traffic awaited...

Charity Fundraiser

This evening R2 wrapped up his 3-event triple-header with a visit to TGIFriday's, in Westminster, CA. They were celebrating Star Wars day with a charitable fundraiser. Twenty percent of the day's proceeds were being donated to Ronald McDonald Charities, where they help kids with cancer go to camp, among other good causes.




I was joined by Margo Apostlos, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi. She was presented with a big thank-you cake, and it was good!



People lined up for pictures with R2 as soon as I arrived.



The restaurant staff really got into it, decorating the whole restaurant, and dressing up.





R2 annoyed this couple, that were trying to enjoy a quiet evening. But they're used to it, being my parents and all.



It was quite a successful fundraiser, and everyone enjoyed themselves.