Showing posts with label San Diego. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Diego. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Attending Scandinavian Festival

Viking encampment, April 17, 2010
Three years ago today we went to the Scandinavian Festival in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The annual celebration of all things Norwegian, Sweedish, Danish and Finnish was held at California Lutheran University. As you may recall, some of your ancestors came from Norway.

At the festival, we looked at Scandinavian cars, dogs and food. We also went through the Viking encampment, where you got to hold a big Viking sword (see the picture at above left). We also got you a cool Viking helmet as well as a Norwegian flag! A couple of years later, we would go to a different Viking festival near San Diego.

Here's a whole bunch of pics from our trip!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Our many Pacific Ocean adventures

June 20, 2011, Moonlight Beach,
in Encinitas, Calif.
Do you remember all of the times we went to the ocean? We went quite a number of times to the beach in Ventura and Encinitas and once to the beach in Carpenteria. We'd also do the boardwalk in Long Beach, and when you were an infant, you went to beaches in and around Crescent City.

You always liked to let the tide rush in at you and see if you could evade it by running away. Sometimes you were successful! Because you couldn't yet swim, I always had to make sure I held your hands so you wouldn't get knocked down and float away on me.

We also went to different aquariums that had fish, mammals and other animals that lived in the ocean. The Aquarium of the Pacific on Long Beach by far was your favorite. We also went once to the Birch Aquarium in San Diego and a couple of times to Sea World in San Diego.

Here's some pictures from a couple of those ocean adventures!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

My email sent to you Feb. 2, 2013

Oct. 4, 2011, San Diego, Calif.
Here is my email sent to you on Feb. 2, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing today? I had so much fun with you on Friday! It was great making the animal puppets, sharing some of Grandma’s baked goods, and playing with all of the toys. I am sorry that I did not bring any of the card games with me, but I will do so next time we get together, which is scheduled for March 1.

One way we can keep in touch until then is through email. As we discussed on Friday, you have the right to email me each week. I look forward to your response to this email. In that email, please send me a copy of your report card. It is very important that both of your parents know how you are doing in school.

Wacky Week at school sounded like a lot of fun! My elementary school didn’t have dress up days, though we got to do them when in junior high school (That’s when I was 12!). One of my favorite days was “Twin Days” when you and a friend dressed in the same kinds of clothes so you both looked alike! Believe it or not, coordinating all of that with a friend was very complicated. It sounds like the costumes and fun hats you and your friends wore took some creative thought, too!

I’m glad you liked the new stickers and play mats of the family’s house. I shall bring that back the next time we meet. We’ll have to come up with some names for the family members. Playing with our old cowboy gang of Sheriff Jack, his horse Luke, the Deputy, Calamitous Jane, and Baby Kieran (Whaa!) was a good time, too.

Do you remember the Russian submarine that we used to go into at San Diego? It was the one where people called each other “comrade” when talking to one another in it (I’ve attached a picture of you standing next to the sub). Anyway, I am editing a book now about the submarine. In the story, the submarine’s former captain decides he wants his old ship all to himself rather than allowing others to visit it, so he and a few mean guys steal it! I can’t wait to find out how the good guys get the submarine back.

Have you read any good books lately? I have. It was called “One Zillion Valentines” by Frank Modell. It’s about two friends who decide to make a valentine card for everybody in their neighborhood in hopes that people will send them back a valentine. Their goal is to receive one zillion valentines! I bet your school or city library has the book if you want to check it out.

Are you enjoying Minnesota’s snow? I understand that we are supposed to get some more this week. I bet you’ve gone sledding, maybe at school? Where I went to elementary school, we had a sledding hill behind our building and went sliding every recess during winter – except climbing the hill took a lot of energy, so we were all tired when we went back to class!

Well, that is all for now. I love you and miss you very much. I look forward to reading your email to me this week!

Love,

Dad

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Moving to San Diego and Palmdale

The night of April 1, 2011, your mother moved out of the green house in Lancaster. I had to go to court to get the right to see you, which I accomploshed on April 22. That allowed me to see you a couple of days a week unil I could get back in court on May 25 for it to order joint custody between your mother and me of you.

In late May of that year, I moved to San Diego for a new job. I worked at Business Leader Media, editing a suire of business magazines, and moved into the house in Encinitas. Thus began several months of us travling back and forth between the two towns on weekends and holidays.

By December, I'd finally got my business launched and went full time with it. At the same time, I moved back to Palmdale so that we culd spend more time together. That autumn, you entered preschool in Lancaster.

Then in March 2012, we moved into the condo into Palmdale, which Jane shared with us. That lasted until May, and brings you up to date on what has happened in my life!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Recall our hike to Mormon Rocks?

One year ago today, we hiked Mormon Rocks in the San Bernardino National Forest. It was on the way to the I-15, that huge freeway that takes you from Las Vegas and down the mountains into Los Angeles (and part of the route we always took to San Diego). You might remember there was a McDonalds, near the freeway intersection with the road, that we often stopped at.

The Mormon Rocks looks a lot like Vasquez Rocks because they were made the same way. About two million years ago, everything west of those rock formations was an ocean with rivers bringing water and sediment (sand and rock) down from the mountains. As the sediment fell to the river and ocean floor, it hardened into rock. Since then, the collision of two tectonic plates has raised the land out of the water and tilted them into the weird angles we see today.

During the hike, you took along your toy rifle that we picked up at Disneyland a few weeks before and played cowboy. You were Sheriff Jack as usual, and we were out looking for Black Bart!

Here's a whole bunch of photos from our hike!


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Recall going on the aircraft carrier?

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011: Manning the control center.
One year ago today we went to downtown San Diego and visited the USS Midway aircraft carrier. We'd gone there several times before, and by this time you were starting to really know your way around that old naval vessel! Among your favorite parts of the ship were:
g Conning tower - The two big areas here that you liked were the operations room where war operations were tracked (and where you liked to pretend you were a naval officer ordering the jets and other ships) and the captain's office, where a mannequin of the captain talked to you!
g Flight deck - Kids could sit in the cockpit of several jet planes and pretend to be flying them!
g Helicopters - On top of the carrier where the planes would take off were static displays of several aircraft; you always loved the helicopters because you could inside them and have pretend adventures.

There were lots of other sections we went to, including engineering, the brig, the store, and the deck for lunch.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our trip!

Monday, December 17, 2012

My birthday wish

Today is my birthday, and I have only one wish: That I could see you. Even a phone call or an email would be okay. Unfortunatley, several people who have very sick minds have prevented us from being together today or even being able to communicate with one another. I do not feel angry toward these people, though, and I hope you do not either, for the sickness of their minds prevents them from knowing right or wrong, prevents them from understanding the deep hurt they have caused. In any case, we shall prevail, and should dedicate our energies today to realizing our wish for the day that did not come true.

Last year on this day, we drove to San Diego together to pick up some of my belongings at my trailer. I had moved earlier that week back to Lancaster/Palmdale so that I could be closer to you. After we filled my car full of totes, we spent a few hours at Legoland and then on our drive back, stopped at Chuck E Cheese's in a suburb north of San Diego - I think it was Vista - where we had a great time playing games and eating pizza. I even have a picture of us taken where you sit in a booth and a machine draws us.

For me, the past 12 months truly lived up to Charles Dickens' oft-quoted words, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But I hold a strong belief that during the year ahead we will be reunited, and then it truly will be a time "of wisdom...a season of Light...the spring of hope" in which we have "...everything before us."

Monday, November 12, 2012

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.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

One year ago today: S.D. Safari Park

A year ago today we visited the San Diego Safari Park. It's a second "zoo" near San Diego, where they keep all of their large animals that there isn't enough space for at the main zoo in the city's heart.

I remember that you didn't want to go to the safari park, but once we arrived and walked through the cool main gates and you saw the park was landscaped like a lush semi-tropical African village, you went "Oooh!" and started having a good time.

Probably the two things you had the most fun doing was the pond we walked around in which you could feed the ducks (We spent a bundle on pellets!) and then feeding the lorikeets (We spent a bundle on lorikeet nectar!), which landed on your arm as they drank from your cup.

We also each had one really giant ice cream cone in a waffle cone that left us both super full!

Here are a bunch of photos from our time at the safari park.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Remember going to Fleet Week in S.D.?

Kieran in the Captain's chair.
A year ago today we toured a Navy ship and got to play around with a bunch of fun Marines gear during the Fleet Week Big Bay Family Festival in downtown San Diego.
 
The Navy ship tour was a little boring for both of us, but you did get to play with some of the stuff on a real, active duty Navy ship, including sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge (see the picture at right). You also look a little tired in the photos - no doubt because we had so much fun the day before, I think at Disneyland.
 
San Diego is a big Navy town with a base there and a major Marine base to the north on the way to Los Angeles.
 
Afterward, we went over the maritime museum and played on the submarines and an old sail ship (the Star of India) that had a kid's play area featuring a model pirate ship. You always loved to go to the the maritime museum (I'll be sure to post some photos of that in another entry).
 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Radio shows highlighted your favorite Beatle - Ringo!

I'm very sad that we didn't get to spend time together this past weekend so that we could listen to the various Beatles radio programs together. Sunday marked Ringo’s 72nd birthday, so all of the programs played Ringo songs galore, and of course, Ringo was your favorite Beatles the past couple of years!

“The Beatles Years” was particularly good as it told stories about how he and his father were separated (like us) when he was a little boy, how he became a Beatle, how some of his most famous Beatle songs (like “Yellow Submarine”) came to be, and his acting career.

After that, "Breakfast with the Beatles" played lots of rare Ringo songs.

Unfortunatlely, none of them played "Boys," your favorite Beatles song when you were a preschooler!

Especially when I lived and worked in San Diego, we use to listen to the Beatles radio programs whileon our way to and from museums, zoos, parks, and more. Hopefully now that you know your way around the computer, you can find some of those programs online (try TuneIn) - and know that I'll be listening to some of those same Beatles programs, too!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Building Bioncles at Legoland

Remember how we used to build and then play with Bioncles at Legoland in San Diego? Sometimes we'd spend an hour there trying to construct the robots and then would make up these elaborate stories as our good and bad guys battled one another (Usually ending with my bad guy falling into the trash compactor if I recall!).

The last time we were at Legoland was New Years Eve for the fireworks. That day, we sat at a table with another father and his two children, all constructing and playing with the Bioncles together. Anyway, yesterday he sent us pictures of you and me that he took that night. More than seven months had passed sinced then, and I figured either the photos didn't turn out or he'd lost my email address. I've posted a couple of the photos here.

One time I purchased for us two set sof Bioncles that we could. When we got back to our trailer in Encinitas, you wanted tobuild them, and so we each started on a package. I was certianI would have to help you, but you followed the directions all on your own and constructed the Bioncle in no time flat! I was so proud of you, of how you looked so closely at the pictures, and even after making a mistake, backtracked and relooked at the instructions, only to put it together correctly all on your own.

I can't wait until we're together again to build (and battle) more Bioncles. This time Lord Zoltar will be victorious and conquer the Earth!