Visiting Museum of Man in San Diego

Playing in the Egypt chuldren's section
at the Museum of Man, Dec. 29, 2011.

Two years today, we visited the Museum of Man in San Diego's Balboa Park. This would mark your last visit to the museum.

I needed to drive to San Diego to pick up my last paycheck from my former employer (I edited magaines in San Diego but then left to start my own editing business). Since you were on Christmas break from preschool, you went with me from Palmdale for the long trip there and back.

You said you wanted to visit the Museum of Man (one of your favorite spots), and as I knew I wouldn't be going back to San Diego much since I'd moved to Palmdale, I figured going there again would be a great idea.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our visit.

Today has been a fun day in your life!

I don't think the ancient Egyptians wore
sunglasses, but you never know!

November 12 so far has been a very fun day in your short life, Kieran!

In 2009 - four years ago today - we went to Hollywood together! Specifically, we went to "Star Trek: The Exhibit," where you got to play on the set of the Enterprise-D bridge!

In 2011 - just three years ago today - we went to the Museum of Man in San Diego. The adventure included a ride on the trolley through  Balboa Park.

Click on the above links for photos of our adventure. You do need to be a member of Facebook to see them, though.

My email to you for May 11, 2013

Here is my email sent to you on May 11, 2013, in case you did not receive it:

Dear Kieran,

How are you doing? I’m doing fine. I had so much fun with you yesterday! I can’t wait to see you again in just two weeks on the afternoon of May 24.

Thank you for introducing your stuffie penguins to me! They look like they’ve received lots of love and affection from you, and that’s cool. I remember how much you enjoyed the penguin cartoons that you would watch on the DVD player when we made those long drives from Palmdale to San Diego. It was always a great pleasure of mine to hear you laugh and giggle from the back seat!

Putting together the “Star Trek” legos was a lot of fun, too. You did a great job of following the instructions. We still have the Klingon ship and the transporter to build. There were a couple of other “Star Trek” lego models at the toy store, so I shall pick them up for the next time we get together. I think there were some other characters we can get as well. They also had Lone Ranger Lego sets, so maybe we’ll do those when we run out of “Star Trek” kits!

Is your wooden car model holding up well? If the wheels ever fall off, you just have to use some wood glue to put them back together. You did a very nice job of painting the car!

You were very good at playing War! I shall have to find some additional games for us to play. Have you ever heard of the game “Operation”? You have to pick up little pieces out of a “body,” but if you touch the body it buzzes and you don’t get the piece. Whoever has the most pieces at the end wins. I bet you would like that game. Speaking of the body, the next time we get together I also will bring the human body book with the skeleton that we can put together.

I am glad you enjoyed the book about Egypt, too. It had a lot of interesting pictures, didn’t it? One of your favorite places to go when I lived in Encinitas/San Diego was the Museum of Man, which had a whole section of Egyptian mummies and sarcophaguses as well as a great children’s area for learning about Egypt. We’d take the trolley there, and on the walk over from the trolley stop would look around in the sculpture garden and sometimes have lunch in the open air cafeteria next to it. Their gift store was a lot of fun, too – if I remember correctly, we got you some Egypt and Darwin toys, there. Anyway, the museum was one of your favorite places, and you’d even beg me to go there!

We had so much fun that we didn’t have time to do everything, like play with the Hot Wheels car, the map puzzle, or the sticker play book. Maybe next time!

Well, that is all for now. I love you and miss you like crazy. I’ll write again next Saturday and will see you on May 24!

Love,

Dad

Recall visiting Museum of Man?

A year ago today we visited the Museum of Man in San Diego's Balboa Park. I admit, a month before I was a little concerned about taking you there, worried that you might not find it very interesting. Boy, was I wrong! You had a blast and literally begged me to take you back there!

We began the day with a trolley ride to the park's central square. Then we walked through the park's arcade to an open area at the art museum where we had lunch and looked at the sculpture garden. Then we went into the Museum of Man itself.

A good amount of time was spent at the Egyptian exhibit. You loved looking at the mummies and playing in the kids' learning area about Egypt.

The museum also had a neat exhibit on bones and a permanent exhibit on the evolution of man that you enjoyed. It was a long car ride there from Palmdale, though, plus you had a cold, so you were awful tired but still made the best of it!

Here's a whole bunch of photos from our visit.