This has been such a long day! Since our big fund raising Cat Walk, I spend about a half hour each morning in the school waiting for pledge envelopes and counting money to be deposited. From there, it was on to a fifth grade field trip to see The Da Vinci Experience. We walked from the school to the mall, toured the exhibit which had some really cool stuff, then back to school.
Who needs to go to Paris to see the Mona Lisa?
At that point, my pedometer was at 4 miles. After a short rest, it was off to teach my weekly 4-H club, GPS and Geocaching. This was our first time actually going out into the "field" which meant two caches that were close to the school. That added mile 5.5.
Clubs ended at 3:30 and we headed home so I could take Maggie to the doctor to try and head off or lessen what looks to be another shingles outbreak. We were at the doctors by 4, done at the pharmacy by 4:50, and then back at the school to pick Ellie up from her club. It was home for a few minutes, then back to the car at 6:00 so Griffin, Ellie, Ian and I could go to f.y.e. where they were celebrating the release of the latest Star Wars video game,
The Force Unleashed. There's a local group called "The Alpine Garrison" complete with stormtroopers, Darth Vader, and other characters from the George Lucas universe. Griffin was so excited when we went, but once we walked in the door and he saw some of them, he took off running towards the other end of the store. (This is where the rest of the mileage came in.)
Ellie tried to show him that it was easy after posing with the living statues in Italy.
After a half hour of kind of peeking around corners and a woman who worked with austistic kids and also the Alpine Garrison, we were able to get the first picture with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Boba Fett scared the pants off of him and Darth Vader still wasn't there! At 6:45, we saw a few of the characters go outside, and then, walking back to the store with them, was a tall man with a Vader mask in his hands. I think being able to show Griffin that they were just dressed up in costumes made a huge difference (except when it came to Boba Fett). We waited around the store while Vader got dressed and then, out he came! Griffin had agreed to maybe being held while we posed for one picture, but I guess the woman who had worked with us before had talked with the cast and he came right over to talk with Griffin. He shook his hand, they briefly talked about the cool Lego Star Wars shirt he was wearing (coincidental that that's what he chose to wear for the day), and then we quickly gathered for the picture. As we finished the second shot, Vader said to me, "Your children are well versed in the force. You have raised them well." (Giggle, giggle.) Grif was so proud of himself, but he took off running out the door.
As we left, we saw Anakin going into the store. He said he would like to have "met" him, but he couldn't take any more. (He was dripping with sweat from this whole experience. It was like being back in Italy again!) So I hope you enjoy the pictures. They said we could go onto their website in a week and see the professional pictures. (Mine were taken from a side angle, so we didn't get the full backdrop.)
I came home, looked at my pedometer, and collapsed in a heap. And yet, here it was after 7, and I still had to make dinner. We settled for BLTs with homemade McDonald's parfaits and I was asleep by 9:30 or so. I don't get many of those days, and I'm so glad!
(Okay, Blogger and I are having a tug-of-war uploading pictures, so they are all in the wrong order.)
Before we went to Italy, we got a couple "Flip" cameras for the kids to use. They're really easy to shoot with and even easier to transfer to your computer because there is a built in USB connection. Griffin came running out of his room and said, "Mom, you've got to see this!" Here's the result of his imagination with his legos, CD player, and a Flip video camera. 
As we were driving to school today, we passed a "Geek Squad" car. Ellie asked what it was and I explained--maybe poorly--that it's what Dad does: troubleshoot computers and electronics. Ellie naturally came to the conclusion that both John and Ian are geeks. I agreed and said that being a geek is a good thing because in the end, a geek can always support his family. Griffy thought that calling them geeks was a terrible thing and that we should be called to repentance. I put him on the phone to John so he could answer the question himself. Griffy tenuously said, "Dad, are you a geek?" to which he responded, "Yes." Griffin said that people shouldn't call him that, that he was not a geek. As John talked to him, I could see him getting almost distraught. When I parked the car, I got out to help Griffin and he was closing the phone. I asked what Dad had said to him and he said, "Dad said geeks like Star Wars, so I guess that means I'm a geek, too." I walked him to class so I could briefly talk with his teacher and he muttered down the hall, "I can't believe I'm a geek." I hope this moment doesn't come back in therapy!
