My letter to you for June 30-July 5, 2013

Here is my letter from July 6, 2013, just in case you do not receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing? I’m doing fine, though I miss you like crazy! I hope you’re having a good summer. It’s almost half over with – can you believe that?

Is summer school fun? When you last wrote, you mentioned you were learning about the presidents. Which president do you think is the best? One of my favorite presidents is Abraham Lincoln. He led the country during a war. But he is more famous for being honest. He always kept his word and promises. For example, one day he was running his store when he realized that he’d not given a customer all of her change, so he ran outside and gave it to her as she was walking away down the street. He could have kept the money, and the customer probably never would have known. But, as you know from school, one always should be honest. Do you know which bill Abraham Lincoln’s face is on?

How is your bicycle riding coming along? I bet you can ride it really well! Do you get to ride you bicycle in the park? I have a bicycle joke for you:

A man was standing on the street when a bicyclist collided with him, knocking him down.

“Boy, you’re really lucky,” the bicyclist said to the man.

“That really hurt!” said the man. “What do you mean I was lucky?”

“I usually drive a bus,” the bicyclist said.

Did you get to see the fireworks on the Fourth of July? I am going to see the fireworks tonight (Saturday) in Hudson. It is Booster Days here, and there is a big festival. The fireworks are held over Lake St. Croix. I wish you could be with me for the festival and fireworks.

Have you seen any movies this summer? I’ve been to “Star Trek” and “Man of Steel” (the Superman movie). I remember when you were three years old, and I told you the tale of how Superman came to Earth and grew up to become a superhero. When I finished, you said, “Wow – that’s a pretty good story!” I also want to see “The Lone Ranger” movie. What movies would you like to see?

I am still trying to work it out so we can see each other every other week. This could begin as soon as Friday (July 12) if other people involved in this decision agree to it. I am looking forward to being able to see you more often.

Well, that is all for now. I miss and love you very much. Hopefully, I will see you on Friday!

Best,

Daddy

Fourth of July visit to Moonlight Beach

Moonlight Beach, July 4, 2011

Two years today, we spent the morning of the Fourth of July at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, Calif. At the time, I only lived in San Diego about a half-mile from the beach.

I had to bring you back to your mother that afternoon, so I let you pick what we should do for our last few hours together. You said, "The beach!"

We made sand castles and of course went into the ocean for a bit! You had these cut sunglasses and blue swim clothes that you looked so handsome in - you wer turning all of the girls' heads!

Here's a bunch of pictures from our adventure!

My letter to you for June 23-29, 2013

Here’s my email sent to you June 29, 2013, in case you do not receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you today? I’m fine, though I miss you like crazy! I hope you’re having a great weekend full of fun!

Thank you so much for sending the email on Friday. I enjoy hearing about all that you’re learning in summer school, all of the fun places you’ve gone, and everything else about you.

Learning about the states sounds like a lot of fun! Knowing where the states are will be very useful when you travel. Do you know that you’ve been to 11 states? They include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin. I have pictures of you in each of those states but two: Colorado and Utah.

Discovering the stories about all the presidents is interesting, too, I bet! When I was a little boy, just a wee bit older than you, I had to write a report about a president. I wrote about James K. Polk. He was the 11th president, and during his presidency Wisconsin became a state. We also defeated Mexico in a war under his leadership, and that victory meant Mexico had to give up Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah (All states you’ve visited!) to our country, The United States.

I’m so glad you’re getting to throw the football at the park. You’ve always had quite an arm on you! Always remember to put your fingers on the laces when throwing the football – if you do, the football will go farther, and your throws will be more accurate.

Highland Park’s mist machines sound like a good time, too! Do you remember the big misting machine at the California Adventure theme park? Out of the bottom of a fake rocket engine, water would blow out – so much sometimes that it would fog up the area! You always liked when I walked you through it in the stroller. You would reach out and grab at the fog!

A very big holiday is coming up on Thursday – Independence Day! It’s also known as the Fourth of July. On that day in 1776, our country told England we no longer would be part of their country and were starting our own! What plans do you have to celebrate the Fourth of July? Hopefully you will get to see fireworks! I don’t think you and I have ever went to a Fourth of July fireworks together, though we got to see some great fireworks for Halloween and New Year's Eve.

Have you read any good books lately? I have. It was called “Apple Pie on the Fourth of July” and was written by Janet S. Wong. It’s the story of a little girl who tries to convince her parents – who were born in China and have come to the United States to live – that no one wants to eat Chinese Food on the Fourth of July. Instead, people want to eat hot dogs and have apple pie, she tells them. Does the little girl have to eat rice and egg rolls or will she get to have hot dogs and apple pie on the Fourth? You will have to read the book and find out! I bet you can get it at your school or city library.

Well, that is all for now. I look forward to receiving your weekly email, and will write again next week in response to it. I love and miss you very much! Have a Happy Fourth of July!

Love,

Dad

Fireworks we've seen together in the past

Lat night was the Fourth of July fireworks, and I was very sad that we weren't able to be together for them. This was supposed to be my year to have you for the Fourth of July.

We've seen a couple of fireworks shows before - most notably the Halloween fireworks at Legoland in 2011; we also saw the New Years Eve fireworks on Dec. 31, 2011, but a fog rolling off the ocean made watching really difficult (remember how they gave us 3-D glasses to wear so that the fireworks would look like exploding Lego bricks?).

You always begged me to take you to the Disneyland fireworks, and I promised I would when you were older - the fireworks were late at night,  and I'd knew you'd be too sleepy to really enjoy them, plus getting out of the theme park is very difficult after the fireworks, making for an extremley long night for both of us. How I wished last night that I would have taken you to those fireworks at least once...

But don't worry, Kieran - we'll see lots of fireworks in the days ahead, I promise.