My email to you for week of April 21-27

Here is my weekly letter sent to you on April 27, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Dear Kieran,

How are you doing today? I am doing fine, though I am sad that we were unable to get together on Friday as planned. I want you to know that I was not the one who cancelled our visit and that I was looking very forward to seeing you. I miss you every day, and there’s not an hour that goes by in which I don’t think about you. The good news is that we are scheduled to get together again on Friday, May 26, and that we will see one another again before then, though the exact day has not been worked out yet.

How is school coming along? Have you finished your unit on oceans? What new things are you learning in math? What interesting books are you reading? You are almost done with kindergarten – that must be exciting, knowing that you’ll be in first grade next year! I saw a children’s book at the book store called “First Grade, Here I Come!”, and I think I will pick it up for you so we can read it at one of our visitations during the next month.

The weather finally has turned nice, and I bet the last thing on your mind the past couple of days has been sitting in a classroom. There are lots of exciting outdoor places to go in the Twin Cities that mom and your grandpa and grandma can take you now that the weather is nice. I bet you can’t wait to go back to Como Park Zoo with the penguins. Although I bet the penguins don’t like the warm weather!

Now that the days are warm, I plan to do a lot of hiking, just like we used to do when we were together. I am writing books about the places I’ve hiked. There are many interesting places near the Twin Cities to hike. At one of them, you can walk across basalt (lava rocks) that are 1.1 billion years old! At another one of them, you see an interesting rock formation that looks like an old man’s face. Another park has a waterfall that is 168 feet high! So far, I’ve written four hiking books and three books about being a writer. Each of them are dedicated to you, and you are on the cover of two of the hiking books!

Since the snow is still melting in some spots, I probably will run into mud during my hikes. In fact, I recently read a great book about mud, which I bet you would like as well. The book was called “Mud” (What else would it be called?) by Mary Lyn Ray. It has lots of colorful pictures of people walking through mud. Each of them must avoid stepping on the blades of green grass that increasingly pop up in the mud with each turn of the page. I bet you can find the book at your school or city library.

I am getting very excited not just about hiking but the new “Star Trek’ movie. It comes out May 15. No one knows who the villain is in the movie, but there will be Klingons in it. Of course, with a new “Star Trek” movie means there will be new “Star Trek” toys! I can’t wait to go to Toys ‘R Us and see what the new toys are for us to play with.

Well, that is all for now. I love and miss you very much! I hope to see you within a few days.

Love,

Dad

 

Remember going to the LA Zoo?

At the L.A. Zoo play area, April 26, 2011.

Two years ago today we were at the Los Angeles Zoo!

After looking at the animals from Australia and the Africa savannah, we went to your favorite spot at the zoo: Neil Papiano Play Park. It as a huge play area with lots of animal statues that kids could crawl all over.

One of your favorite animals to play on was the hippo, which was "submerged" in a soft blue covering that helped cushion kids' falls. Another part of the play area you liked a lot was the "water slide" - a slide molded to look like a waterfalls.

In many ways, you liked the play area more than the zoo animals!

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

Past the big trees and the big waters

Kieran, 10-12 weeks old,
Crescent City, Calif.

Caught the end tail of a televsion program about Redwood National Park and instantly thought of you. You were born in Eureka, Calif., when we lived in Crescent City, Calif., wich is where Redwood National Park is located. Redwood State Park near Crescent City is where I took you on your first hike when you were just four months old.

Both cities were on the Pacific Ocean. Eureka was the larger of the two cities; the Eureka-Arcata area had about five times as many people as Crescent City, so about once a month we'd go shopping there at the larger stores and mall.

Whenever we'd go to on the trip, I'd say to you, "We're going on a big trip past the big trees and the big waters to the big city!"

You'd just smile back!

Our day at the Poppy Festival in 2010

Carrying your bubble gun at the knights exhibit.

Three years ago today we went to the Poppy Festival in Lancaster City Park together! You were just three years old but had a great time.

We began by going on some of the carnival rides. I was very impressed that you didn;t mind going on them by myself, as usually you wanted me to go with you on all of the rides at fairs (Which was difficult for me to do because I was too big for many of them, but we managed!).

One of your favorite carnival attractions was the fun house with its mirrors and glass maze. The carnie girl running it thought you were cute and so let you go into it over and over without a ticket!
You also got a bubble gun and were carrying it around blowing bubbles everywhere. When we got to the car show area, some of the car owners thought you looked so cute with it that they called you "Bubble Boy" and asked you to blow bubbles arounf their cars! You happily obliged!

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our say at the festival!

Remember our "You're No. 1" exchange?

Last night your Uncle Chris and I got together and had coney dogs for dinner. I said to him, "You know why we like coney dogs?" He said, "No why?" I said, "Because we're both awesome."

Which got me to thinking about a wonderful, fun little exchange you and I used to do when we were together. You were about four years old when we began doing it.

It would start by one of us saying to the other, "You're No. 1."

To which the other would respond, "No, you're No. 1."

Then we'd both say at the same time as pointing at the other, "We're both No. 1!"

You're No. 1 to me, Kieran!

One year ago today: Poppy Festival

A year ago today, you, Jane, and I went to the Poppy Festival in Lancaster, Calif. We started the day by going on the rides at the kid's carnival.

You asked if we could go on the Tilt-a-Whirl, and it didn't look so bad, especially as we'd gone lots of spinning Disney rides, so I said okay. Boy, was I wrong! We both got off the ride all green in the face and staggering. You turned to me and said, "We're never going on this thing again!"

In the picture, you might notice there's a big slide in the background. You and Jane went down it together several times. Then we went to have a little picnic lunch and looked at some of the displays, like the quilting club and NASA booths.

But then the day starting getting hot, as is usually the case during late April in the High Desert, so we headed home.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures form our time at the fair together!

Our last visit to the Mojave air show

A year ago today, we attended our last air show at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, Calif. We usually went to it every month, though sometimes we'd skip the ones during the hottest months of summer and coldest months of winter.

This show was neat because they hosted a robot competition in which college students built robots to do tricks. You enjoyed watching them! You also got to sit in a lightweight experimental aircraft and to see the first privately owned spaceships!

I always enjoyed going to the air shows with you. We had a lot of fun at them learning about airplanes and spaceships and even got to meet some interesting people, like the actor who played Worf on "Star Trek."

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