Recall our hike at the dry lake bed?

Two years ago today, we hiked across the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed near Palmdale, Calif. It's a low point in the desert where water collects in spring as snow melts off the mountains, but it quickly evaporates in the heat and dry air. At one time, when the climate was more wet, it probably was a real lake.

There was a neat nature center at the dry lake bed that we went to before going on the the hike. I purchased a roadrunner stuffie for you there! You loved your roadrunner and often took it many places with you.

You were just getting old enough that you liked to walk on our hikes, so you went all the way out to the dry lake bed on your own. I was so proud! But alas, that really tired you out. I wore the child carrier on my back, however, so I hauled you back to the nature center (which we then went into to buy the roadrunner stuffie!)

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

My sixth email sent to you!

Here is a copy of my sixth email, sent to you today (Oct. 27, 2012), just in case you do not receive it.

Hi Kieran,

Hope you are doing well. I am doing fine, though I miss you like crazy and can’t wait to see you!
Which brings me to some good news: We should get to see each other in just a couple of weeks, the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 9! We will get to spend a couple of hours together. I have a fun afternoon of games and toys and books for us. Would you like me to bring anything special for you?

I did not receive your email responding to my last email (from Saturday, Oct. 27). Perhaps your mother sent it to the wrong address when she changed the email name. Hopefully you will be able to send the email to me Sunday (Oct. 28). Also, I have yet to receive your emails to my second and third emails to you. Perhaps you could resend those, too?

Have you decided if you will be Anakin or a firefighter for Halloween? Your cousin Rebekah is going as a witch for trick or treat. Your cousin Bryan, however, is in seventh grade and too old to go trick or treating, so he doesn’t have a costume. Is your school planning a Halloween party? What are some of the costumes your friends plan to wear?

I wish I could be with you this Halloween. Last year we had lots of fun at Halloween celebrations, going to Disneyland, Legoland, Sea World and the pumpkin festival in Santa Clarita. We even got to see the Halloween fireworks at Legoland! Here are a whole bunch of pictures from our Halloween celebrations we went to last year.

This afternoon I got to hear a Beatles radio program, “The Beatles Year,” that we sometimes listened to Sunday mornings last year on our way to various places. The program told how the Beatles came up with some of songs from their CD “With the Beatles” and then played those tracks. When we first got the CD and listened to in the car, you thought it was called “Breakfast with the Beatles” – which actually was the name of a radio program we sometimes listened to – and you would get frustrated with me because you asked to listen to “Breakfast with the Beatles” but I’d tell you the radio show wasn’t on. You’d say “It’s not a radio show!” Eventually we figured out you really wanted to her the CD “Meet the Beatles”!

Have you read any good books lately? This week I read “Oh No, Not Ghosts!” by Richard Michelson. It’s about a brother and sister who after going to bed at night keep hearing strange, scary sounds – like the floorboard going creeeeeak – and see something wriggling, sniggling, and slithering in the shadows. Except they don’t want to wake up their daddy, who is sleeping in the other room, because they don’t want him to know they’re scared. Guess what was making the sounds though? It was their daddy snoring!

Well, that is all for now. Be sure to have your mother recheck the email address and resend your emails! I love you!

Dad

At Grandma and Grandpa's

Here's a picture I found of you at Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's! It was taken when you were about  a year old (winter of 2007-08) and were just starting to walk around. It looks like you are in their living room. They've since replaced the carpet with a wooden floor and rugs. I'm not quite sure what you're putting on your head, but it sure look like you're having fun doing it!

Places you've lived

Although you're only five years old, you've lived lots of places!

Here's a list of them:
g Crescent City, Calif. (birth to Sept. 2007)
g Eureka, Calif. (Sept.-Dec. 2007)
g Knapp, Wis. with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell (Dec. 2007-Sept. 2008)
g Santa Clarita, Calif. (Sept. 2008-Feb. 2009)
g Lancaster, Calif. (the "green house") (March 2009-March 2011)
g Palmdale, Calif. (April 2011-May 2012)
g Plymouth, Minn. (May 2012-current)

Where will you live next?

A 'picture' of my cat Winnie as a kitten

I saw a picture that I had to share with you because you have a kitty cat, and the picture reminded me so much of my cat of many years! Her name was Winifred Grace, though I called her Winnie for short. The photo that I saw is at right (It's not of Winnie but looks just like she did).

I got Winnie in 1993 in Las Cruces, N.M., when she was just a kitten. She stayed with me until dying in June 2008. That was a long time for a cat to live.

Whenever I used the computer, Winnie always would try to place her chin on my hand, and that meant I couldn't type! So I placed a book between the keyboard and Winnie so that she could set her chin on that instead. She did that but then started nudging the book toward the keyboard so she could get closer to me!

What neat things does your cat Yoda do with you?

Two years today we were at Disneyland

Two years today we went to Disneyland in Southern California. As I'm certain you remember, we lived outside of Los Angeles until your mother moved you to Minnesota, and usually went to the theme park once a month (and sometimes almost every weekend!).

We had year-round passes so that we could park for free and get in on any day of the year. Usually we started at Disneyland and then when it got crowded after lunch went over the California Adventure.

In 2010, by far your favorite part of the park was Fantasyland with all of the kiddie cool rides. In fact, the photo I've included with this post shows us in Fantasyland while we were waiting to get on the It’s a Small World ride. You're explaining to someone how old you (It was your latest thing at the time!).

Here's a whole bunch of photos from our visit to the park that weekend.

Halloween 2011 at Disneyland

One year ago today we spent the day at Disneyland enjoying all of the Halloween sights and sounds!

Among the highlights was going through the Haunted House, which was decorated for "The Nightmare Before Christmas". The rest of the year, you never liked to go to the haunted house because it was too scary, but at Halloween you always loved it! I think "The Nightmare Before Christmas" stuff made it less scary.

The other big highlight was getting to meet Jack Skellington and Sally, characters from that movie. You wore a black T-shirt with skeleton bones on it, and Jack told you how much he liked your shirt!

You also got to meet Woody from "Toy Story" that day when we went over to his ranchhouse and colored some bat puppets! Later that evening, we drove back to my place in Encinitas.

Here's a photo album of our day at Disneyland!