Your visits to the state of Wisconsin

You and your Uncle Chris at your birthday party
at Grandpa and Grandma Bignell's in 2008.

One other state that you've been to - and after California and Minnesota is the state you've spent the most time in - is Wisconsin (My home state!).

You've been to Wisconsin twice. The first time, from Dec. 11, 2007, through early September 2008, you lived with Grandpa and Grandma Bignell on their farm in Knapp, Wis. I have lots of pictures of your stay there!

Then, in October 2008, we drove on I-94 from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to Baldwin, Wis. Along the way, we stopped at the visitor center in Hudson, Wis. (The center no longer exists.), and I got some Green Bay Packers football cards for you there!

Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's anniversary

Today is Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's anniversary. They have been married 48 years! That's a long time!

They met in spring 1964 while on a high school class field trip in Madison, Wis. They went to different schools but during the field trip ended up in the same elevator together! The next year, they got married!

They lived a few different places as getting their footing, but since March 1974 they've lived on their farm outside of Knapp, Wis.

I wish you were here to enjoy the anniversary celebration with them. They do, too. They took care of your for several months from mid-December 2007 through early September 2008. We all look forward to the day when we can be together again as a family.

Here's a link about them on our family website.

Photos of you when you were a year old

Over Easter, Grandma Bignell shared with me all kinds of pictures she had of when you were about 10-17 months old! You lived with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell from December 2007 to September 2008 on their farm outside of Knapp, Wis. In September 2008, you came back to California to live with me in Santa Clarita.

At above right is a picture of you with Grandpa Bignell and your cousing Rebekah. She is six months older than you and in kindergarten, too! The picture was taken at Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's house.

I am so glad to have all of these pictures of you. While I had a few, I now have tons of them!

Grandma Bignell also shared with me old family pictures of her grandparents and other ancestors. I have a website listing your family tree, but it's only of your grandpa's side of the family - researching that has been so time-consuming that I haven't had time to post your grandma's side!

My best friends in elementary school

One of the best things about going to school is that we get to make new friends. Often when before going to kindergarten, we don't have many friends at all, maybe just the next-door neighbor child, as we typically spend most of our time around our parents.

My best friend in Elmwood was Ronald Wolfe. He lived next door to me, and we were in the same grade. In first grade, we weren't in the same classroom (We had two first grade classrooms in my school), so we couldn't wait to see each other at recess and lunch time!

After moving to Knapp, my best friend for a couple of years was Marc Livermore. We played lots of games together at recess, and he introduced me to "The Six Million Dollar Man."

Marc and his family moved, though, and Jim Falkofske became my best friend in fourth grade. We both loved "Star Trek" and got to sleep over at each other's houses. But he was a year younger than me, so we didn't go to junior high together when I entered seventh grade. More on that in an upcoming entry!

Who are your best friends? What kinds of fun things do you like to do together?

Going to a new school in Knapp, Wis.

Just as you had to switch schools from California to Minnesota, when a little boy I also had to switch schools! When I was in second grade many years ago, my parents bought a new farm outside of Knapp, Wis. We moved there from Elmwood in March 1974.

Switching schools was very difficult. Not only did I leave all of my friends behind and not know anyone in my new school, but it also was very small. There were only 10 or so kids in my class at Knapp by more than 25 in my Elmwood class! The teacher at Knapp also was teaching different things than I was learning in Elmwood.

The Knapp school building was very old while the Elmwood school was brand new or only a few years old. To reach my classroom, I had to go up a long flight of stairs to the second floor. The Knapp school I attended isn't there anymore, as it was replaced by a new building.

But I made new friends and figured out all of my lessons, and it all worked out!

Moving from Elmwood to Knapp, Wis.

In March 1974, my parents moved from Elmwood, Wis., to a new farm outside of Knapp, Wis. Grandma and Grandpa Bignell still live there today!

They moved because the farm was much larger and could better support us. While I was little anxious about going to a new school, I was excited because I got my own room in the farmhouse we lived in (Though during winters I had to move back in to the room with my brother because it was better insulated and so warmer).

The farm was very large with a road running through it, so the barn and farm buildings were on one side while the house was on the other. It also was surrounded by woods, which were very fun to explore.

I do not have many pictures of the farm because our farm house burned down in 1985. But here's one for you of my brother (your Uncle Chris) and me (I'm on the left) sitting on the front lawn with the camera looking roughly northwest; the girl in the middle was a neighbor's daughter, and her name was Missy.

Places you've lived

Although you're only five years old, you've lived lots of places!

Here's a list of them:
g Crescent City, Calif. (birth to Sept. 2007)
g Eureka, Calif. (Sept.-Dec. 2007)
g Knapp, Wis. with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell (Dec. 2007-Sept. 2008)
g Santa Clarita, Calif. (Sept. 2008-Feb. 2009)
g Lancaster, Calif. (the "green house") (March 2009-March 2011)
g Palmdale, Calif. (April 2011-May 2012)
g Plymouth, Minn. (May 2012-current)

Where will you live next?

Today is Grandpa Bignell's birthday

Today is your Grandpa Bignell's birthday. He is 67 years old. That's treally old, isn't it! When I told him that, he agreed!

Although you may not remember him, you lived for a few months with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell. I have a couple of great photos of you and he laughing together when you were a baby, but they're packed away, so I couldn't post them here.

Grandpa Bignell was born in Durand, Wis., and grew up in the country near Arkansaw, Wis. He worked for a while at a meat packing plant in South St. Paul, Minn., where his father and an older brother also worked. But he spent most his life running and building his farm, outside of Knapp, Wis., which is where I grew up.

Here's a photo of Grandma and Grandpa Bignell in the late 1970s when I was a little boy. That's me on the right and your Uncle Chris behind me.