What is your favorite color?

When you were a little boy, you always told me that you liked green the most. When you were old enough, you'd even ask me to put you in a green shirt when I dressed you! The picture here, taken in 2009, shows you wearing one of those many green shirts you liked so much!

Once you got into preschool, you told me that you like blue the most. That's my favorite color, too, though I also like burgundy and forest green. Actually, I like lots of colors - it's how they're used together that's interesting!

You learned your colors from a very early age. When only a year old, I'd point out the colors of cars to you, and eventually you'd start telling me the colors of cars everytime we passed one as driving down the road!

What is your favorite color?

Recall laying on a bed of nails?

A year ago today we visited the California Science Museum in Santa Ana, Calif. The day was a bit cold and wet still had lots of fun.

The first part of the expedition was spent indoors exploring and playing with the cool science exhibits. One of them was a bed of nails that you bravely laid upon! There also was a sand/water tp demonstrate erosion. We then watched a large IMAX showing of a dinosaur movie that kind of freaked you out, but by the end you wanted to see more!

We then went outside to the dinosaur part of the exhibit. I'd last taken you there about two years before, so I was neat to see how big you'd grown since then!

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our visit.

Remember dressing up as a knight?

Sir Kieran, a brave Knight of Ni.

A year ago today we got in touch with our Medieval selves at the Escondido (Calif.) Renaissance Festival.

I dressed you up in knights costume I found at Target and let you carry around a stiff cloth sword we purchased a year before at another Renaissance festival that you used mainly as a light saber!

We had lots of fun at the Escondido festival. We played games and on the playground (including a relaly cool tire swing), watched a huge battle, and found a great cloth pirate set to play with. All fo the Renaissance Festival participants thought you looked so cool being all dressed up!

Here are some pictures from the festival.

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!

My email sent to you on Nov. 3, 2012

Here's a copy of the email I sent to you on Nov. 3, 2012, just in case you don't receive it:

Hi Kieran,

It is wonderful to hear from you! I hope you are doing well. I love you and miss you very much!

I am very glad Mom has got the email all worked out.

Freeze tag is a very fun game to play! I played it in school, too! We also played dodgeball and kickball a lot. I bet you are very good at freeze tag!

The guinea pig sounds like a fun classroom pet. What does the guinea pig eat? What color is it?

I used to go to the Como Park Zoo, too, when I was your age. They didn’t have a Minnesota Zoo back then! I always liked to see the chimpanzees and the giant tortoises. I heard that the carnival rides have been remodeled and are now open again. They have penguins, now? Cool!

I bet the Halloween party at school was fun. Which costume did you decide on?

Skippy Jon Jones books are the best. His group of imaginary Chihuahua friends is very humorous. Speaking of a book about presidents, there is a big election Tuesday! Who do you think will win?

That is all for now. Write back soon!

Love,

Dad

 

 

Watching splashdowns on television

One of my favorite things to watch when a little boy your age was the return of the astronauts from space. We were sending people to the moon during those days, so when they returned from their expedition, it was big news and on TV!

The astronauts would come back to Earth in a capsule that sort of looked like a cone. They would "land" in the ocean - which is why it was called a splashdown - where a helicopter would pick them up and take them to an aircraft carrier.

As the capsule descended toward the ocean, three parachutes would hope up to slow its descent. Once the capsule hit the water, the astronauts would bail out and then grab a life preserver attached to a rope and be pulled up into the helicopter. It was quite exciting to watch!

The importance of 'self-development'

Every once in a while in these entries, I like to discuss with you some important "values" to possess. Values are a sort of "rule" or guideline that you try to follow and live by so that you can lead a meaningful, happy life. A couple of values I've already mentioned are honesty and persistence. Another important is self-development.

A person never should think of himself as "finished," meaning that they've learned all that they need to know. The world is constantly changing, and we always meet new people. Because of that, we have to personally evolve or we will find ourselves isolated and left behind.

There are a lot of ways we can "self-develop" or "grow." For example, we should always keep learning about the world. We should always keep mastering new skills. We should always keep trying to understand ourselves and others (rather than limit ourselves to just being with a few people who we've known for a long time).

I know this is a heavy topic for a five year old! But I'm also writing these entries in case something ever should happen to me and we're unable to talk. When you're older, hopefully they will be useful guides and reminisces.

In what ways will you try to grow and evolve today and in the months ahead?