Tour of Rancho Obi Wan

Lucasfilm's Steve Sansweet owns the largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world, which he houses in a museum he calls Rancho Obi Wan. After Celebration IV, we delivered a photo backdrop set called the "blockade runner," which was built by our friend Michael McMaster for the R2 Builder's room at the convention, to Sansweet's museum in the Bay Area. We rented a U-Haul to transport the large set which had been stored for a month in our garage, and traveled with our families by caravan. We enjoyed a tour of the museum. For more details on Rancho Obi Wan:

http://www.starwars.com/collecting/news/misc/f20060418/index.html
and
http://www.rebelscum.com/ranchoobiwan.asp

Art Institute of Calif 30th Anniv of Star Wars

R2-D2 was asked to appear at The Art Institute of California-Orange County Summer Studio Workshop celebrating the 30th anniversary of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars. The four-day, hands-on design, media arts and culinary workshop was an opportunity for high school students to try out a career in the applied arts as a part of a production team, working side-by-side with industry professionals, recreating the elements from the original Star Wars movie.

Legoland Star Wars Weekend

R2-D2 & the ewoks brought a lot of joy to Star Wars fans young & old who attended Legoland's Star Wars weekend. R2 & other 501st members helped kick off the costume contest, where the winning entrant was a young boy wearing an extremely well-made R2-D2 costume that used creative household items, including a flower pot for a dome. The ewoks once again stole the show. Since it was a warm day, they only lasted about 20 minutes in the fur suits before they needed a water break. Park guests kept going to Guest Services and asking when the ewoks would return. So at day's end we decided to take them out one at a time and trade off 20-minute shifts. This helped to avoid a lot of disappointment among the guests. The ewoks had a long line for photos every time they went out. We worked hard to avoid stopping for more photos while walking to and from the photo area in the park's main entrance, since once they stop, they get mobbed!

City Of Hope Pediatric Cancer Survivor's Picnic, LA

R2-D2 appeared once again at the annual picnic for pediatric cancer survivors from City of Hope, held in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.