Princess Leia action figure

Among your favorite toys growing up were Star Wars action figures. We easily collected close to a hundred (if not more) of them. In fact, it got to the point that we had purchased all of the ones available for sale at Wal-Mart/Target and so were reading up on what new ones were coming out and then looking through comic book stores for old ones "no longer available" for sale!

I was only able to bring a few of them with me when moving from California in 2012, so I tried to take the ones that you enjoyed the most. One of those I grabbed was Princess Leia from the planet Hoth scenes in "The Empire Strikes Back." I'm not sure why I took that one; perhaps because it was the best of the Princess Leia's that you had. I do recall, though, that we often set up the rebel base on Hoth and that this Princess Leia usually was in the command center (which the Bat Cave playset nicely doubled as!).

Recall your football action figures?

Do you remember your football action figures? We had quite a few of them, including Peyton Manning (as a Colt), Jay Cutler, Adrian Peterson, Drew Brees, and Larry Fitzgerald.

We always had fun pretending to play a football game with them, usually three-on-three. Sometimes a Star Wars action figure would sub in the game!

The action figures were great because they 20 movable parts, but they'd fall apart because of it, especially with how roughly we played with them! I remember putting them back together (only for them to fall apart), taping them up to keep a leg or arm from falling apart, and then just plain buying a new one to replace a broken one!

We also would print then cut out and paste onto blocks pictures of action figures we didn't have!

Your Lincoln Logs Frontier Junction set

Do you remember your Lincoln Logs Frontier Junction set? We used it to build a mini-fort/general store. It came with a cowboy and a horse.

The toy wasn't quite your cup of tea, mainly because it fell apart easily during construction and especially once you started playing with it! That was a bit frustrating for you!

I probably should have waited to get it for you until you were a bit older, but I loved Lincoln Logs so much as a kid, I was certain that you did, too! I probably was older than you though, when I got my set.

We still put the Lincoln Logs to good use. We'd use the pieces to build fences or walls for our army men and superhero action figures during their battles!

Recall your Bucky action figure?

Do you remember your Bucky superhero action figure? Of all the superhero action figures you had, it was one of your favorites to play with when a preschooler.

Bucky started out as Captain Amrica's sidekick in the 1940s Marvel comics. Later he came back from the dead as the Winter Soldier and then even became Captain America when Steve Rogers, the man who was Captian America, was presumed dead.

I'm not certain why you liked Bucky so much. I suppose it might be because he appeared younger and was more boy-like than the other superstrong, manly superhero action figures we had, and so perhaps you identified more with him.

I still have your Bucky action figure in one of the totes, by the way!

Remember your space shuttle toy?

Do you recall your space shuttle and launching pad toy? It was made by Fischer Price Imaginext, and we used it on lots of great adventures in which our intrepid astronauts would explore other worlds.

The shuttle had cargo doors that opened, so often you put Imaginext astronauts or Star Wars action figures in them. After pushing a button on the shuttle, a countdown would begin and then it 'd make a blast off sound, as if its rockets were firing!

Then you'd pick up the shuttle and with guys I was carrying in another of your spaceship toys, we'd fly the two crafts through the house to a table or desk and land the ship. Our astronauts then would explore the planet (and usually have to escape it)!

Recall your Star Trek Pez dispensers?

Do you remember your Star Trek Pez dispensers? They were a set of eight dispensers of the major characters from "Star Trek: The Original Series": Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov with the USS Enterprise.

I bought them at World Mart in Santa Clarita, I believe. They came with Pez candy, which after you ate up I didn't replace so as not to spoil your dinner! You didn't seem to mind, though - you were more than happy to play with the dispensers as if they were action figures.

Later, I got actual action figures of all the ST:TOS characters for you at Christmas 2011. Unfortunately, I don't have all of the dispensers or action figures any more, but I'm certain one day when you're older you'l be able topurchase them as a collector, should you wish.

Remember your Star Trek bridge play set?

The new "Star Trek" toys that you like so much during our last couple of visits reminded me of the great "Star Trek" play sets you had when the last movie came out a couple of years ago. One of them was the bridge set that your action figures could play on.

The base of the play set was a plastic sheet that was the bridge's floor showingwhere all of the pieces went. It came with a large viewing screen and the captain's chair with helm station.

The other bridge stations came with the action figures that we bought. Of course, we had all of the action figures!

We often put the transporter station (That'll be another entry!) and bridge play sets together so that we could have been big adventure.

Our Star Trek movie action figures

With the new "Star Trek" movie coming out in a few more days, thought I'd share with you some memories of the action figures we had from the last movie. You had all of them!

You liked the Uhura and the Captian Kirk action figures the most for some reason. The pony tail broke off our first Uhura, and it took a while for me to find a replacement one, but we did! Then I think our Sulu or Captain Kirk broke, but I was able to tape him back together.

The belts never stayed on them, but we the phasers did a fairly good job of being in their cupped hands. Sometimes we taped them in place to keep them there!

There were both tall and short ones, so we had two of each character! Usually we played with the small ones, though, because they fit with the transporter and the bridge play action action we had. They also were closer in size to our Star Wars action figures, so we were able to have the two interact.

I think the above picture is of the tall ones, because Chekov is missing, and he wasn't in the tall set.

We had lots of other Star Trek movie tie-in toys, too, and I'll have to bring them up in future entries!

'The Clone Wars' going off the air

I read yesterday that the Cartoon Network plans to take "The Clone Wars" off the air at the end of this season. It's been on for five years, and our time together certainly has touched upon that series a lot.

We began watching it together on Friday nights during the second season. Then we began collecting all of the action figures and assorted toys associated with the series - and boy, were there a lot of toys! Soon, though, we had virtually every action figure, and so we started looking online togther at when new ones would be released during the months ahead!

You even had a blue clone wars bedspread and sheets in your room at the green house! There's a picture of it at left.

We also caught up with the first season by buying it on DVD. Hopefully you still have it and the second season. If not, do not worry; I shall repurchase it andthe other four seasons for us to enjoy one day.

Dad's favorite TV show - 'Star Trek'

Spent a little time talking with your Grandma today (Who can't wait to see you by the way - she took care of you every day for several months when you were a baby and your mother stayed with them.), and she read to me some "Star Trek" trivia questions that appeared in one of her magazines. I got 1 out of 2 right but dispute the veracity of the second question!

Anyway, if you don't already know, "Star Trek" is my favorite TV program. You enjoyed watching the cartoons versions of it and The Original Series (The ones with Captain Kirk) while a toddler and in preschool). For a while, you even had each of the action figures fromt he series!

I watched "Star Trek" ever since I was your age (five) and really got hooked when the cartoons came on the air - I was probably in first grade when that happened. Of course, the show was cool in that it offered all kinds of action and cool monsters and neat gadgets. But I also really liked the adventure of traveling to new and exotic locations - one of the most interesting "planets" that I always wanted to visit as a kid was filmed at Vasquez Rocks County Park - where we did lots of hiking when we lived in California!

But what I liked most about the show was its philosophy that people could get along and work together out of mutual respect for one another. The Enterprise crew were noble people who came in peace and only wanted to learn about places and cultures they encountered. They defended a civilization where people were equal, intellectual and just.

Do you still watch "Star Trek"? I would love to watch it with you (and introduce you to Grandma, too!).

Remember our Batman shows, action figures and books?

Alfred Pennyworth,
Batman's butler.

Remember when we used to watch Batman on TV and DVD? There was a nightly Batman cartoon on cablem and we'd sometimes watch "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" on DVDs. We sometimes also watched "Justice League." The series were great introductions to all kinds of comic book superheroes from Plastic Man and the Green Lantern to Aqua Man and the Green Arrow.

We used to collect all of the action figures from these comic books series. You had a great Batcave playset that we often used as part of the set when we played with our Star Wars action figures.

We also had a bunch of Batman and other superhero books that we'd read before bedtime. One was about how a young boy name Bruce Wayne overcame his fear of the dark; you really seemed to be inspired by that one.

I was able to save some of your favorite superhero toys from those days. Wish I could have saved more. When you're allowed to see me again again, I will have to get you a new Batcave with superheroes for it.

The picture is a cartoon cutout of Alfred Pennyworth from the Batman cartoon series we watched. Since we couldn't purchase Batman's butler as an action figure, we printed this on the computer and pasted it to a block!

I always was so glad that you liked Batman. He definitely was my favorite superhero when I was that age.

Remember our paper doll characters on blocks?

While writing my new book, "Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities for, before and after the Trail," I suggested an activity that I quickly realized was something I'd pulled from our time together, "Paper Doll Friends": "For preschoolers, create a hiking family as well as animals seen along the way that they can use to relive their adventures or to make up new ones, getting them excited about the next hike. Paper dolls and cartoon animals easily can be found through a search engine for images, printed and cut out. Have your kids help select the paper dolls to print. To get the paper dolls to stand, glue or tape them to blocks that your kids easily can hold in their small hands."

Do you remember when I used to do that with you? Whenever you came to like a new television show, and we couldn't find action figures to buy, I'd locate pictures of the characters online, print them out, and tape them to blocks. I did it at least for "Johnny Quest," "Fireman Sam," "Scooby Doo" (the villains anyway), and "Caillou." Since the ink on the paper always had to dry, and I'd always glue the paper to cardboard so it would hold up longer, there was this terribly long wait for you, and you'd always ask me if the pieces were ready yet!

One day after I'd taught you to use a scissors and glue, you started cutting out Peanuts characters from the Sunday comics and taping them yourself to blocks! I was so proud of you, and so moved that you loved these paper dolls so much that you would make them yourself, just like daddy did.