Finger lights to search for monsters!

I bet your remember the cool finger lights we had when at the condo in Palmdale! They came in three colors - red, green and blue - and could be worn on your fingers with a little elastic band that held them in place.

The condo was perfect for the finger lights because even during the day as two back bathrooms were dark enough that we could sneak into them, pretending to search for monsters. Of course, they were even better at night when almost every room could be dark!

You liked to play so much with the finger lights that you actually drove me crazy! I'd have to break up the pay with other activities.

When we moved back to Minnesota/Wisconsin, I got some new finger lights that you, Bryan and Rebekah played with at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Cowboys and Indians character toys

Do you remember the cowboys and Indians playset that you had in spring 2011? They were small and plastic like green Army guys.

You were really big into the Old West that winter/spring, so I picked up the toys at a trading post in Arizona when traveling cross country with Jane that spring. You and I had stopped at the same trading post a year before when we drove to New Mexico, and for some strange reason I remember the toy being there, so I just had to stop and pick them up for you!

If I recall correctly, I bought two sets - which made for a lot of cowboys and Indians! We had some great "battles" with them that spring!

Remember your Thomas the Train PJs?

Do you remember your Thomas the Train PJs? You had two sets of them - one red and the other blue - that you absolutley loved to wear!

The PJs certainly must have been comfortable and warm; the material had an almost felt-like feel. But I think you really liked to wear them because you loved Thomas the Train!

We had tons of Thomas the Train toys and Thomas the Trian DVDs. We went through a period when you were two or three years old of when treated to a toy you always wanted a Thomas the Train engine or car!

Above is a picture of you wearing the red PJ set on Christmas morning 2010!

Recall your Pirates of the Caribbean boat?

Do you remember the Pirates of the Caribbean Queen Anne’s Revenge Hero Ship Play-Set we once had? We bought it in fall 2011 during a visit to Disney. You'd been looking it over a lot during previous visits, but it was awfully expensive.

Then I landed a little extra money editing and with a 10% discount on my Disney annual pass, decided "Why not?"

You were in the stroller and had to hold it the entire way back from Downtown Disney to the parking ramp because it wouldn't fit beneath it. You were so excited you couldn't stop looking at the box and gripped it hard so it wouldn't fall.

I lived in Encinitas at the time, and we put it together the following morning. It was huge - about 2-1/2 feet long and 2 feet tall. It included an escape hatch, a retractable plank, a mid-section that slid open, and a rotating crank. I recall a cool glow-in-the-dark skeleton that hung on the ship's prow.

We had lots of Pirates of the Caribbean action figures that we were able to play with it, too!

Recall your Imaginext boat toy?

Do you remember your cool Imaginext ocean boat toy? We had lots of fun playing with that when you were a preschooler.

We'd clear off the glass-topped coffee table in the living room and pretend it was the surface of the ocean. Then we set a jungle playset you had at one end and have our boat sail toward it. Sometimes we used the ocean animals that came with the boat (and that we'd aquired elsewhere) and have them attack the boat!

The boat came with a cool submersible that we could put the crew in. We'd also use a boat from a Peter Pan set of toys you had and have our crew row it to the island.

There also were addditional guys who went with the boat that we bought.

Remember your cool Lego RV toy?

Do you remember your Lego RV that we out together together when living in the green house in Lancaster? Since you liked both Legos and RVs, it felt like the perfect toy to have!

You were fairly young so only helped me put together part of it. You sure liked playing with it, though!

After a couple of days, though, you started taking it apart. I think you were interested in how it all was put together and kind of wanted to do that again.

That didn't bother me, as I sure could relate to such a desire. When I was about the same age, my dad built this great model railroad set for me. I  had so much fun helping him do it (Though he did most of the work!) that I tore it all apart so we could put it together again!

The downside of taking apart the Lego RV, though, was that parts would get lost so that I couldn't put it back together! The instructions also couldn't be easily followed because the parts taken off didn't match the order in which they were put on!

My very first model kit ever

While going through lots of old photos, I found this one that brought back lots of good memories from my childhood - and reminded me of you!

It's the cover for the box to my first ever model that I bought and put together - the "Star Trek" exploration set. It included a communicator, a phaser and tricorder that you could put together. They were great toys to play with as a kid (I was 10 and bought it the summer of 1976)...except eventually my communicator flip top broke, my dog took the phaser in his mouth and carried it off (crushing it in the process), and the tricorder I later put a radio in.

Later in life I replaced all of those toys with better quality models - models that you also loved to play with as a toddler and preschooler! You'd pull the tricorder over your shoulder and carry around the phaser in one hand and the communicator in the other. We'd go on a "landing party" of our own and play "Star Trek" in the house!

Getting together on Wednesday nights

One year ago today we got to spend the evening together. It was a Wednesday night, and I picked you up after preschool. I was living in the house off of Avenue K in Lancaster at the time.

We had a great time playing with all of the new toys we'd picked up since Christmas; I remember us having adventures with the "Star Trek" action figures and the Sheriff Jack cowboy set we got at the Hart Ranch gift shop. We also built play lasers out of the old wooden and plastic tool kits I'd bought for you long ago.

While being with you always brightens my day, that night us getting together was particularly nice. Jane had just spent the previous week with me, and I dropped her off at the airport that morning so she could head home. It was a bittersweet morning, but at least I had you to look forward to later in the day. Thanks for being such a wonderful son!

Recall your Imaginext helicopter?

Do you remember your red Imaginext helicopter toy? We had hours of fun playing with it when you were a preschooler!

It came with two guys who had the letter "R" on their shirts. Though it stood for "Rescue", you thought it meant "Robin" of Batman fame because Robin had an "R" in a circle on his shirt just like our helicopter pilots! So you always claled it "Robin's helicopter"!

The neat thing about the helicopter was that it had a string on a winch that could hang from the door and attach to a gurney. When one of our characters was injured in a "fire," we could place that person on the gurney, pull them into the helicopter, and then take off to the hospital! Usually this character was a girl from a Playmobil set whose hair we lost, so she looked like she had a head injury!

The first place I remember living

I suspect the first place you remember living in is the "green house" (as you called it) in Lancaster, Calif. Well, the first place I remember  living as a little boy was a farmhouse in rural Plum City, Wis. The picture at right is of me as a four-year-old in the living room of that farmhouse at Easter 1970.

All of my toys fit in a cardboard box and were kept in the living room, where I spent most of my day playing. My bedroom was upstairs on the second floor.

I had a dog named Scotty when I lived in the farmhouse. We went on lots of adventures together! But winter in the Midwest is long, so I only got to go outdoors for maybe five months during the year!

The house is still standing, though the garage, small barn and various trees that were there when I was a little boy are gone. When we are together again, I will show you the place!

Garbage trucks: Your fave Matchbox cars

When  you were two years old, Kieran, little Matchbox cars by far were your favorite toy. Should we go to Target or Wal-mart or Albertson's supermarket, you were certain to want to look at them and get one.

You most liked the garbage trucks. I'm not certain why, for you were deathly afraid of real garbage trucks whenever they came to our house each week! If you heard one on the street, you'd come running and crying to me for protection. Then I'd take you outside and hold you as we watched the garbageman pick up the neighbor's bins and then our own. They didn;t seem so frightening in my arms. You always waved at him, and usually he honked his horn back.

Another favorite Matchbox car of yours was the street sweeper. That you never were afraid of when it made its way once a month down the street. We also went out to wave at the driver, and he almost always waved back, and then we'd go inspect how he'd cleaned the curb of leaves and detritus.

Just a couple of quick memories for you. The picture at above right is of two of your Matchbox garbage trucks. A little fuzzy (my apologies), but pehaps one day if you ever want to collect the toys of your past, you'll now know what they look like.