Celeste’s mom found a cute little snake out on one of our porch chairs.  The chairs are a mesh metal and, apparently, the little guy liked the coolness of the metal with the breeze blowing under his body.  She moved him away once, but saw him crawling back up onto one again not long after.  So we caught him, examined him (made sure he wasn’t poisonous), and photographed him then took him about a mile away to release him.

Celeste’s mom also used the opportunity to train their dog to stay away from snakes by letting her start to smell it then jerking on her leash and yelling a lot at her.  She (the dog) stayed WELL away from even our mentioning the snake from then on.  Lesson learned I think.

Leave a comment - 0 Comments yet

We picked up Chris and Kim from the airport this afternoon and knew the first place we had to take them was the new Nestle Cookie Store in the ABQ Uptown shopping area.  We were right… they loved it!

Leave a comment - 0 Comments yet

Yesterday after we dropped Wendy off at the airport (pictures of her trip coming soon) we drove by the Q Studios where they’re currently filming Terminator 4.

We asked about getting on the lot, and while they were really nice they didn’t let us on.  Very secure set they said.  And they verified that it was T4 being filmed.  However, we did get some pretty cool pictures of some “apocalyptic cars” that they had outside of the confines of the studio gates.

This area had apparently just recently been filmed as the “Special Event Ahead” and “flag man” signs were still up on the road before we got to them… not that the road would’ve had much traffic at all since it’s out in the middle of no-where.  The cars were painted to look rusted and old and had tumbleweeds strategically placed around them.  So we had to jump out and grab a few pictures.

Leave a comment - 0 Comments yet

We had a great time doing the American Cancer Societies Race for a Cure here in Albuquerque. There were 5 Stormtroopers, 1 Biker Scout, 1 Tusken Raider and 1 Rebel X-Wing pilot (obviously part of the Rebel Alliance), plus Celeste and other family members of other who showed up to walk.

There were a reported 19,000 walkers who raised almost $540,000, and it was great to be involved in such a worthy cause! While Marko (TK-7172) was the the only one of us who wore his helmet the entire time (great job Marko!) , we all walked the whole 5 miles in full armor.

When we crossed the finish line together you would’ve thought we were real celebrities the way everyone cheered and took our pictures. It was great fun

Thanks to Andre for the last 9 pictures.

Leave a comment - 5 Comments so far

We went to the UNM Children’s hospital tonight for my first “official” troop! We dressed in conference room, then spent the next hour or so walking around and seeing the kids.

Our “docent” would knock on the door of the child’s room, tell them there were some Star Wars characters here to see them, then, if the they wanted, we would go in and say “hi.” Sometimes the kids had “contact restrictions” in which case we’d wave from the door. Of course some of the kids, or the kids’ parents, didn’t want us to come in for whatever reason, but for the most part everyone wanted to see us.

In fact, the first wing we went through was pretty quick… 10 or 15 minutes to do the whole thing. We would wave, say “hi”, and move along, move along. But the 2nd wing we went through was a Star Wars fan club! Children had Star Wars books, parents had Star Wars tattoos, one young man (probably 15) had a poster of himself someone had made for “Episode VII”. So, needless to say, we spent much more time in that wing taking pictures and just interacting with everyone.

It was as great of an experience as I’d have hoped it would be. The kids (and parents) were all so excited to see us. “You’re the real deal,” one parent said. “You’ve met the Stormtroopers,” another told his son. It was sad in many ways to be there, but the smiles and laughter of the kids made it much easier. What a great first troop!

Leave a comment - 5 Comments so far

We took Jason back to the Gold Street Caffe this morning for breakfast on the way to the airport. It was so yummy! Jason and I got a green chili cheese biscuit with salmon, mascarpone cheese, tomatoes and 2 poached eggs. Celeste had some toast (with her own personal jar of jam) and a couple of eggs. It was all so delicious and we decided should be a tradition to take people to eat there on the morning they leave.

Leave a comment - 0 Comments yet

We took Jason to Bumble Bee’s the night before he left. It was good because he had fish tacos, which he had never had before, and which are a very “New Mexican” dish.

Leave a comment - 0 Comments yet

We took Jason to downtown Albuquerque today and walked around a bit. It was really fun as Celeste and I hadn’t been there to just walk around ourselves. We’d gone down there for business reasons, but walking up and down Central is quite different than parking at a government building to file paperwork.

One of the highlights was stopping in at the Gold Street Caffe. (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) We’re planning on going back there for breakfast on Tuesday morning before we drop him off at the airport.

After we went downtown we stopped off at Borders in Uptown Albuquerque. Celeste’s parents ended up coming by and hanging out a little as well. It was a great afternoon.

Leave a comment - 3 Comments so far