The Best Laid Plans

Tonight we went to pick up our 12 month old Alexis from Gram and Papa's.  Jack will be spending one more night.  Everyone looked haggard and tired...it looked like everyone was on a chocolate milk bender from the night before.  Grandma probably also handed out slices of cake in the morning for a little hair of the dog. Are there ever any rules at Grandma's? (NO!)

While we were there it gave me a chance to peek into Papa's workshop and see what he has been up to.  We were able to spy these photos:

Gary started by pulling the actual AT-AT patent drawing for scale.

Gary then turned to his brother Steve whose hobby is playing around in a Cad-Cam program.  Every piece was laid out to scale.  A 3D model was built and then pieces were exploded out.  Notice below that Gary has made templates.

Action shot.  Template placed on foot assembly and being routed.

Finished routed foot assembly

Leg Assembly.  Notice the dimension.  Lots of custom work going on here.

Showing off.  Yes he has 7 routers.  Not sure I have 7 of anything.  How does someone collect 7 routers?

The Back Story...

This weekend we went into full sprint on getting the kid's bedrooms prepped and painted.   Here's the story on how the Star Wars bedroom came to be.

The birth of our new daughter err...padawan is due in the next two months.  The new baby will be rooming with her older, wiser sister (14 months wiser).  We have two bedrooms for the kids and since Jack was the first born he was given the larger room.  But more importantly the larger closet. Yeesh, what were we thinking??

From experience I know that girls need more closet space and since two girls will be rooming together; well sorry Jack but you are going to have to move.  We had to think fast. What could we do to entice him? Candy?  No - stupid cavities. New toys? No - the excitement is short-lived. Hmmmm, how about a huge gigantic Star Wars contraption built in his room? YES!!

My wife Janine suggested that we give him the room of all rooms.  I have some creative thinking ability but it has never translated to the hands.  Jack's Papa on the other hand is a master carpenter and possibly one of the most creative and meticulous people you may ever meet.  Janine approached Papa with the idea and almost immediately the wheels started to turn.  I told him about the AT-AT Bed that I had seen online.  The plan was to think about another Star Wars vehicle but in the end, the AT-AT just worked the best.

This weekend both kids were dropped off at Papa and Grandma's so both rooms could get prepped and painted.   The kid's have been gone all day and I cannot recall the last time I was able to get this much work completed.  Can you imagine how productive I could be if the kid's lived over at Grandma's?  Let me dream for a minute....

First Post!

This is my first post in what I hope becomes a journal of my time spent playing, dreaming and watching all things Star Wars with my son Jack.  

I will also blog about the most unbelievable Imperial Walker Bed Jack’s grandfather (Papa) is building for him.  We got the inspiration from a design we saw on the internet (AT-AT Bed).

While I have always been a Star Wars fan I am not a Jedi Master in all things Star Wars.  Though familiar with the basics of Star Wars I myself am just a Padawan.  Please feel free to correct me if I misuse a term.  

This should be fun!