Remember your Lego Fire Chief Car set?

One of the many Lego sets you've had over the years - and one that you put together Feb. 8-9, 2014 - was the Fire Chief Car from the Lego City rescue set. The set included a fire department car, the fire chief, a tree with a cat atop it, and a woman holding a fish to get the cat to come down!

After you put it together that weekend while visiting, you took the car and two Lego back to your mother's, but we left the tree and cat on the house set I built while you were putting together the Monster truck and semitrailer set!

You've had quite a few of the smaller City Rescue sets, such as a fire truck and police motorcycle after robbers, over the years. I wonder which ones we'll get in the weeks ahead?

Your Lego Monster Truck Transporter kit

One of the great Lego toys we got this past weekend (Feb. 9, 2014) was the Lego Monster Truck Transporter kit.

I was so impressed that you put it together all by yourself! There were a lot of pieces in the kit, but you followed the instructions from the first to the last page while we listened to oldies and I built a house from the other Lego kit. Your ability to stick through the project from start to end with only a couple of short breaks to get up and stretch your legs was fantastic!

The kit made a semi truck and trailer with a Monser truck that fit on the trailer's back. There were three guys and other pieces as well.

I can't wait to put together more Lego kits with you!

Your Lego Star Wars Rancor pit

This past weekend (Feb. 8-9, 2014), we purchased and put together the Lego Star Wars Rancor pit. It's from a scene in "Return of the Jedi."

We found the Lego set at Target in Eau Claire. I had intended to buy some Legos for you and spotted this one on sale. You were excited to put it in the shopping cart!

 

You started putting together the kit when we got back that afternoon to Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's. I finished it off while you worked on your fire truck Lego set.

 

The set had a gate that moved up and down and two secret compartments. It came with Luke Skywalker, the Rancor, the Rancor's keepr, and one of Jabba's guards as Lego people.

 

You took the Lego character swith you back to your mother's place but I kept the Rancor pit!

Our day together: Feb. 9, 2014

Finding rocks and gems in your science kit. Feb. 9, 2014.

I had another fun day with you, Kieran! We started the day with a breakfast of Belgian waffles and bacon, which you devoured. Then it was off to playing with a variety of toys we had in your room, including the castle set you got for Christmas, and the great Rock and Gem kit I'd gotten for you at Michaels last week.

After a spaghetti lunch, we went to Wal-Mart and got another Lego kit - this time of a semi-trailer than carried a Monster truck on it. You spent the whole afternoon putting it together - I was so impressed by your focus and dedication!

We did lots of other things to - play Star Trek with our phasers and tricorders; play chess, play with the new Play Doh set we picked up earlier at that day. Our weekend together ended all too soon!

Our Saturday, Feb, 8, 2014

I had a great time with you today, Kieran! After picking you up at Caribou Coffee, we made a quick jaunt to the Dollar Tree in Hudson for sports books stickers then headed to your cousin Bryan's house for his brothday party. Shortly thereafter, we went up to Action City in Eau Claire (where the Terminator game unfortunately was broken) and then over to Target.

At Target, we picked up a Star Wars Lego set, among other items, and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's. We spent the rest of the afternoon putting together the Lego set and playing games, including chess! I'm impressed with how quickly you're picking up the game, specifically how the pieces move!

We also listened to lots of oldies, particularly my collection of songs from 1964-66. I remember how after hearing the TV theme to "Car 54, Where Are You?" you hummed the tune for the rest of the afternoon!

Our day together on Jan. 25, 2014

Playing with the new racetrack toy, Jan. 25, 2014.

I had so much fun with you on Saturday! We began the day by stopping in Hudson, where we stopped at the Dollar Tree and picked up football/basketball/baseball stickers, then at Target where we picked up BeyBlade tops and Lego kits, then at Culvers for lunch, and finally at Walgreens for football cards!

Then we went back to Grandma and Gandpa's where we looked at all of the football cards, put together the Lego sets, and placed stickers in our NFL book. Then we put togther and played quite a while with our racetrack set!

We also took some time to look at your report card. I am very proud of you - your grades and conduct improved across the board from first to second quarter!

While enjoying an early dinenr of hand sandwiches, we played Trouble and Hi-Ho Cherry-O. On the ride back, you watched the opening episode of Jonny Quest on my Kindle Fire.

Christmas Day 2013 together

I had so much fun with you at Christmas yesterday, Kieran!

You got a ton of presents. Your favorites, you said, were the Matt Flynn Oakland Raiders jersey (which you wore the rest of the day), the Lego sets (you received a police/robber/ATM set and a Star Wars set), and the Imaginext Eagle Talon castle!

You also gave me your first gifts ever for Christmas - a star ornament and a holiday picture frame, both of which you made in school. I shall place the star ornament on top of our Christmas tree forevermore!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures from our day together!

Your Lego clone trooper characters

On Saturday in the bag of candy I include a couple of the Lego clone troopers that we had constructed when in San Diego. I was so heartened when you said, "I remember putting those together with you!"

Here's a picture of what the complete set looked like. I remember putting together the vehicle while you made the clone troopers. You took the vehicle with you but somehow one or two of the troopers got left behind - actually, I think they were in a tote of toys I left in the back seat for you to play with when we drove to places.

I have several other Lego characters that I was able to save when moving from California. I'll give to you each time we get together over the next several weeks!

My email to you for Sept. 1-7, 2013

Here is my email sent to you Sept. 7, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Dear Kieran,

How are you today? I’m doing fine, though I miss and love you like crazy!

I so enjoyed my time with you on Thursday! We sure packed a lot into those two hours!

You certainly have a lot of energy, which is not surprising for a young boy, especially one who’s a Bignell. All of the Bignells – my cousins and yours – have a lot of spunk. Although I exercise daily, I must admit that all of the karate, football, spinning and wrestling we did wore me out! You are very strong and athletic, and I'm impressed!

I'm so very glad that you enjoyed the volcano we made! There are more “kitchen” experiments in the science kit, as well, including making a clock run with a battery made from a lemon or tomato! We will have to do some of those in the weeks ahead.

Putting together the Bionicles was a good time, too. It brought back lots of great memories of when we used to do that at Legoland or at my place in Encinitas. I hope you enjoy playing with your new Bionicles!

I enjoyed playing checkers, too. You really knew the rules well! When I was in fourth grade, I was a master checkers player. I was so good that no one wanted to play me because they always lost! So I turned to chess, but there were only a couple of other students who knew how to play that. I think you’re going to be a master checkers player, too!

Constructing the puzzle map was fun as well. You did a great job of putting it together all on your own while I worked on the Lone Ranger Lego kit, which I think is a mound that scorpions live in – there’s a little catapult on it that you can shoot the scorpions out of! Too bad we ran out of time to complete the puzzle (or the Lego toy).

Say, I don’t believe we looked at the football cards you received on Thursday. Which players and teams did you get? Also, did you see the first pro football game of the year on Thursday night? The Denver Broncos were playing the Baltimore Ravens. You may recall that Peyton Manning now plays for the Denver Broncos. He set a record by throwing seven touchdown passes in a single game! The Broncos won 49-27!

What books or stories did you read in school this past week? I read a neat book about autumn called “Leaf Man” by Lois Ehlert. The book has pictures of leaves arranged to look like a person – called Leaf Man – and traces his movement across the landscape. It has a lot of cool pictures of Leaf Man in it.

We next get together on Saturday, Sept. 14 – a week from today! Your mother and I are still working out the times. We no longer have to meet at the visitation center that we have been at since last winter. I have not yet decided what we will do when we get together, but I have some ideas and promise it will be a lot of fun!

I look forward to seeing you then. I miss and love you very much! Be a good boy in school this week!

Love,

Dad

 

My email to you for week of July 6-13

Here is my email to you for the week of July 6-13, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Hi Kieran,

How are you today? Hope you are doing well. I had so much fun with you yesterday! I’ve also attached the photos of our time together as I promised.

I am so glad you liked the “Star Trek” guys and the Enterprise. Having them take the pod to an alien planet and explore it, just like we used to play, was a good time. There are other “Star Trek” pod characters we can get, so I will look for them in stores and bring some along the next time we get together.

Putting together and playing with the Lone Ranger Legos was fun, too. There are a whole bunch of Lone Ranger Lego sets, so I will look for them as well. We have to find one with Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s faithful companion. I sure hope you get to see the movie soon.

You have really gotten fast – Catching you was really difficult when we played football! I am so proud of you that you working on your baseball and soccer skills and getting better at them. When you were younger, we had a T-ball set, and you were very good at hitting the ball. You had very strong arms and could hit the ball a long ways! You also could throw a great spiral with the football. Always focus on and master the fundamentals, and you’ll do really well playing any game.

You’ve also are really learning the states! I was amazed at how many of them you remembered when we put together the puzzle. Would you also like to learn where the countries of the world are, since you asked about Greece? I shall have to find a world map puzzle for us.

The air rockets that you shot off at school sound like a great class project. How high did your air rocket go? I once had a model rocket that looked like the Enterprise from “Star Trek.” It went about 40 feet in the air. When you are older, we will have to shoot off some model rockets at Grandpa and Grandma Bignell’s farm.

The “Snackin’ Safari” game with the elephant springs sure was neat, wasn’t it? Getting the food cards to stick to the suction cup is difficult to do, isn’t it? I think the game might better if the elephant trunk and the cars had magnets on them instead, don’t you?

Have you tried on the new shirt yet? It’s pretty cool how it says “California Lifeguards Association” on it! Since the Long Beach T-shirt I got you was a little big, this time I got you one that was a size smaller – I hope it fits!

Hopefully the Pokémon cards also will help your set that you have. I’m afraid I don’t much about Pokémon – maybe you can explain more about it to me next time!

Well, that is all for now. We next get together on Friday, July 26, and I can’t wait to see you! I love you and miss you very much; I think about you every day!

Love,

Dad

List of new 'Star Trek' Lego-like toys

Transporter (w/Scotty and Klingon)

I'm looking forward to seeing you today, Kieran. It is the highlight of my month when we can spend time together, if only for a couple of hours.

I will bring more of the "Star Trek" Legos for us to build and play with, including some characters. When we were together, we used to look online at all of the "Star Wars" toys that were coming out; so in advance of our visit, I thought I'd list all of the "Star Trek" Legos (They're actually not made by Lego but a competitor known as Kre-o) sets:
>>Transporter (w/Scotty and Klingon) HAVE
>>Dive Doors (w/Kahn, Captian Kirk) HAVE
>>USS Enterprise (big set)
>>Jellyfish ship w/stand
>>Klingon ship w/stand HAVE
>>USS Enterprise w/stand HAVE
>>USS Kelvin w/stand
>>Klingon Bird of Prey (w/characters)
>>Shuttlecraft (w/Sulu and Spock)

Which ones will I bring? You shall find out today at 2:45 p.m.!

My email to you for May 18, 2013

Here is my email to you for May 18, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Dear Kieran,

How are you doing? I’m doing fine, although I miss you very much and wish we could spend every day together. The good news is that we get to see once another again in just six days, on the afternoon of Friday, May 24! I can’t wait to see you again!

I put together the Star Trek transporter Lego kit for us to play with when we get together. It’s really cool. One side is the transporter room. You can put your Lego guy on the transporter pad; when you press a button, a blue light flashes, and the pad spins around to the back side, which is a scene from the planet he just beamed down to! There are some more Star Trek Lego characters I can pick up at the toy store, so I will make sure that we have some of them to put together and play with on the transporter kit!

We used to have lots of great Lego kits to play with when we lived in California. A few were from Harry Potter, a couple form Pirates of the Caribbean, and most were from Star Wars. Not only were they fun to put together but to later incorporate into our playtime with all of the neat Lego figures we had. I still have most of the Lego figures and will make sure to get them out for you once we’re back together again.

How is school going? You’re almost done with kindergarten and will soon be a first grader! What interesting books have you read? What are you learning about in math (I was so impressed that you could add 52 and 5 to get 57 when we were last together! I couldn’t do that in kindergarten!). Are you still studying oceans or have you moved on to a different topic in science?

I don’t remember too much about was taught when I was in kindergarten, but I do remember playing a lot. We also got to do a lot of arts and crafts stuff (like painting) that I didn’t have the materials for at home, so that was a lot of fun. I recall that for “aprons” to keep the thick paints from getting on our clothes, we wore our dad’s used shirt backwards so that the button side was on our back. It worked! Most of my friends and I had paint all over our dads’ shirts – but not on our good school clothes!

Have you read any good books lately? I have. It was called “Who Was King Tut?” by Roberta Edwards. The book is the nonfiction (or about real people and events) story of the famous Egyptian pharaoh King Tut. He also is known as the “boy king” because he ruled all of Egypt even though he was a boy. The book told about the mummy’s curse – it was said that bad things would anyone to who disturbed King Tut’s tomb (where he was buried). So did bad things happen to the scientists who found King Tut’s tomb? You will have to read the book and find out! You probably can find the book at your city library or a bookstore – be sure to look for it when your grandmother or mom take you there!

Well, that is all for this letter. I shall see you in just six days – on May 24. I love and miss you very much!

Love,

Dad