Ethan's First Birthday

Today I did a favor for a friend of a friend and brought R2 out for 1-year-old Ethan's birthday. Ethan's dad is a big-time Star Wars fan, so the family arranged a surprise visit by R2 through me.

I had to sneak R2 into the restaurant incognito. Does this look suspicious to you?



Shortly after the celebration started, R2 made his surprise entrance. Ethan, being held, was unsure what to make of the droid, but everyone else was lining up for pictures.






A good time was had by all (with the possible exception of Ethan).

Discovery Science Center Summer Visit 2015 - Day 2

Today was day #2 of the R2 Builders visit to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, CA. I was joined by most of yesterday's club members, including Roy, Maddy and Robert.

Time to unload the Droidmobile.



R2 likes the color on this Tesla.



Today the droids got some minimal protection from the crowd.



Not everyone found them that fascinating, though.



At 3:00pm I gave a presentation, with help from Roy and Robert. Thank you to Roy's son Miles for helping with the pictures.





We wrapped up around 5:00pm, and put a finish on another successful weekend at DSC.

Discovery Science Center Summer Visit 2015 - Day 1

Today the R2 Builders visited both Discovery Science Centers in Southern California, in Santa Ana and Los Angeles. I headed up the Santa Ana visit, while Paul Thompson headed up the Los Angeles visit.

I was joined by Dave, Roy, Maddy and Robbie, and their droids and droids-in-progress.

We found a place to set up, and it didn't take long for people to start taking pictures.







At 3:00pm I gave a talk. I took a panoramic image of the crowd, but I don't have a picture of the talk itself.



We do it again tomorrow. Whee!

City of Rosemead 4th of July Parade 2015

Today R2 participated in his second 4th of July parade, this time in the City of Rosemead, CA. I resurrected his flag-waving apparatus, and he was ready to go!



Some police cadets took a picture before the parade started.



Meanwhile, indoors, over 100 costumed characters and wranglers were preparing.



And they took an opportunity to get a group photo. Poor R2 was anchored to his parade platform on the trailer, so he missed the group picture.



Around 10:45am it was time to pull out. Off we go!

We were somewhat behind the many costumed characters, so I wasn't able to get any good pictures of them. Oh well.



Lots of people lined the roughly mile-long route. Lots of waving and "It's R2-D2!" from the crowd.




There's our cadets.



Every once in a while I'd make sure R2 was still doing fine, either via the rear view mirror or by sticking my head way out the window. (We were moving about 1-2 mph.)



Everyone had a great time, and I hope R2 and I get to participate in a parade again next year!