New book has your picture on its cover

Wish we together today, Kieran, so we could go out and celebrate: Your picture is on the cover on my latest book, "Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities," which was released yesterday (Friday, July 20, 2012). The picture was taken in April 2011 when you were just barely 4 years old during a hike we took to Vasquez Rocks (which you called the "Kirk Rocks") near Agua Dulce, Calif. There are lots of pictures of our hikes there in my Facebook photo albums.

Anyway, the new book lists all kinds of games and activities parents can so with their children before, during and after a hike. In fact, if you read the book, you'd probably recognize most of the games in them - mainly because we tested almost every one of them in the car and or when out in the wilds!

During the enxt few weeks as I promote the book, your picture probably will appear on lots of different newspapers and on plenty of websites. I'll be sure to save copies of them for you to look at later in life and will note them on this blog for you.

Your favorite: 'The Book That Eats People'

"The Book That Eats People" by John Perry had to be your favorite book growing up. You liked the one we checked out from library so much that I had to buy it for you.

The book is apparently a monster that likes to eat people - and the story tells of all the kids it ate and how it was captured. It's full of warnings about what you should do to remain safe whenever with the book.

You loved the safety tip that says we should grind up the page's book in your "daddy's coffee grinder." You were only 3 or barely 4 when you told me "We should do that, Daddy!"

Another part of the book tells how it swapped covers with the book "All About Dolphins." I once checked out a book about dolphins at the library (when you 3 or barely 4), and you got scared because you thought hidden under the cover it might be the real book that ate people!

The last line of the book was "Because this is a book that eats people!" and whenever I finished reading it, I'd snap the book at you like it was going to bite. You'd jump back and roll in laughter and ask me to read the book again.

Can't wait to read the book to you again - and to give the copy of the book to you to keep forever!

Do you remember going to the beach?

Ventura city beach, Feb. 2012

One of your favorite places to go when you were little was to the beach. There were a couple of ocean beaches in particular that we uusally went to - the Ventura city beach next to the pier in Ventura, Calif., and Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, Calif.

We spent a lot of time building sand castles - which you then always liked to knock down in some large imaginary battle! You'd usually help me build a couple of turrets, play with the sand toy vehicles for a bit (Sometimes you'd bury the vehicles in the sand and ask me to find them!), and then ask me when I'd be done with the castle so that you could knock it down! Sometimes you;d let me bury you in the sand, too.

Next we'd head down to the water, where we'd play chase and avoid the waves. You loved to get wet and splash in the water. Sometimes I think you were pretending it was a great monster trying to capture you.

Both beaches also had playgrounds, and we'd usually spend a little time there to warm up after going into the cold water. If we were lucky, there usually was an open food stand nearby so that we could enjoy a snack!

I'm afraid the water bodies here in the Midwest aren't quite as exciting as the Pacific Ocean, but there are some neat beaches on the St. Croix River that I can't wait to take you to.

Your picture is on another online article!

My article “Hiking with Kids – Avoiding Common Summer Injuries” appears in the latest edition of Seattle Backpackers Magazine - and pictures of you from hikes we've taken together appear with it!

The article examines how to avoid and treat sunburn, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Seattle Backpackers Magazine is an online magazine focusing on backpacking, hiking, climbing and camping.

The top picture is of you enjoying water during a rest break we took before entering Nightmare Gulch at Red Rocks State Park north of Mojave, Calif.

The next photo down is of you at the southern edge of the Mojave Nature Preserve in Southern California, just off the I-40. I believe the Providence Mountains are in the background. It was taken in March 2011.

The bottom photo is of you playing with my trekking pole on Ritter Ranch Preserve near Acton, Calif. You're standing on rock that's half a billion years old!

There are photo albums of all of these hikes/travels on my Facbeook site.

I can't wait to go hiking with you again - there are some great trails in northwestern Wisconsin for us to hike!

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.

Got new glasses this weekend

Got a new pair of glasses this weekend so I might look a little different the next time you see me. You might recall that I also shaved off my goatee just before we were forced apart. So I suppose the look of the dad you remember probably will be a lot different when we next see one another! I know that you'll look much different, too, as you're growing up so fast. Missing out on watching you grow kills me every day, Kieran, but I know no matter what either one of us looks like, we will still have fun together, and no matter how many years we're apart, we'll still have that bond we forged in those first minutes after you were born.

I wonder if one day you'll have to wear glasses. I've worn them them since fifth or sixth grade - well, actually I was supposed to wear them since fifth or sixth grade but didn't take it seriously and only started wearing them regularly when I began ninth grade. They were uncomfortable to wear, and I thought I'd be picked on for wearing them. My school work in junior high in part suffered for it, though, and I decided I needed to quickly remedy that.

During college, I did wear contacts for a couple of years, so some of my pictures from that era will show me eyeglass-less or in sunglasses. But thanks in part to mild allergies I often get dry eyes, so that wasn't very conducive to wearing contacts, and I went back to glasses.

I won't moralize by telling you to wear your glasses should you need to get them (Though I guess I just did!). Every one has to make their own choices - and I know you're smart enough to make the right one.

What you wanted to be when you were little

You always loved to play dress up and roll play as a preschooler. You also always were changing what you wanted to be when you grew up - which is not unusual for little kids!

I myself wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. But I was a kid during the late 1960s and early 1970s when moon launches were the norm. Then like so many other in our family, I had to start wearing glasses somewhere around fifth or sixth grade - unfortunately, at the time you couldn't be a pilot (or an astronaut) if you wore glasses, so I passed on the dream and went on to become a writer/editor (which I enjoy quite a lot, by the way).

Here are some of the things you said you wanted to be when you grew up:
g Doctor
g Fireman
g Policeman
g Jedi knight
g Football player
g Guitar player
g Drummer
g Navy sailor
g Army soldier

I wonder what you want to be now?