Our adventure in Lake Arrowhead

On a playground at Lake Arrowhead.

Three years today we drove up to Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains in California. The area is a big resort community where a lot of people go to escape the heat during the hot California summers.

When we first arrived, we went to a famous observatory that sits at top and edge of a mountain. After that, we drove into Lake Arrowhead and walked around the village.

In the village, you fed ducks in the lake. Then we found a playground and some kiddie carnival rides in the park. Then we spent some time a toy and book store where you got a sticker book about the DC comic superheroes.

We wrapped up the day at a 1950s-style cafe with hamburgers, fries and a chocolate malt!

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

My email to you for July 27, 2013

Here is my email to you for Saturday, July 27, 2013, in case you do not receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing today? I sure had fun with you on Friday! I’ll write more about our time together in an upcoming letter.

What have you been doing for fun this summer (Besides getting together with your dad J)? I would love to hear about your bicycle riding, friends that you’re spending time with, and summer school. Unfortunately, I have not received an email from you in two weeks. Perhaps you could have your mother resend those emails to me.

Have you seen the Lone Ranger movie yet? I haven’t seen it, so if you have, don’t tell me what happens! But it is on my list of movies to see this summer. With all of the fun adventures we went on as pretending to be Sheriff Jack, the Deputy and the Lone Ranger, I am certain I will be thinking of you the entire time I’m watching it.

Speaking of movies, did you know that three new “Star Wars” movies are going to be made? The next one – “Star Wars VII” – is supposed to come out in 2015, just two years from now. The actors and actresses who played Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca are supposed to be in the new movie. It should be a lot of fun to watch!

Did you know that you actually can see the desert city where “Star Wars” was filmed? It was built many years ago in Tunisia, a country in northern Africa. Many people travel there every year to walk through it. Unfortunately, it one day may be buried by an advancing sand dune, scientists say!

Monday is Grandma Bignell’s birthday. We are having a big birthday celebration with cake and presents. Your cousins Bryan and Rebekah and your Uncle Chris and Aunt Susie all will be there. We wish you were allowed to be there, too. In fact, I think I know what Grandma Bignell’s wish will be when she blows out her birthday candles.

With the arrival of the month of August, school will soon start. You must be very excited about entering first grade! When is your first day? Do you know yet who your teacher will be? What kind of school supplies will you need (Maybe the list for those supplies hasn’t come out yet, though!)? Getting school supplies and new school clothes always was one of my favorite things about the month of August while I was growing up.

Well, that is all for now. I miss and love you more than anything in the world and can’t wait to see you again in just two weeks, on Friday, Aug. 9. Be a good boy, and I will write again next Saturday!

Love,

Dad

Remember reading 'Hi! Fly Guy'?

Your cousin Rebekah this week got from the library a great book that instantly made me think of you - mainly because we'd read it together long ago!

The book was called "Hi! Fly Guy," by Tedd Arnold. It's about a boy who wants a pet - but the animal he can catch is a fly! The stories tell about the adventures of the boy and the fly, usually as the boy tries to pass off the fly as his pet!

We checked out the book from the Lancaster library in Lancaster, Calif. Are there other books from the library that you remember us reading together?

Maybe you can find the book again at your local library and read it on your own!

Your visits to the state of Utah

At a wayside along I-15 in southern Utah.

Another state you've been to a couple of times is Utah. You were there twice, in September and October 2008. Both times we traveled on I-70 between the Colorado border and Cove Fort and then on I-15 between the Arizona border and Cove Fort.

The first time, we drove west in the early evening from the Colorado border. We stayed overnight in Green River, and I bought you a cool dinosaur shirt that was a little too big, but when older you wore it lots of times.

The second time, we drove east from the Arizona border. The day grew very cold as night approached and climbed into the mountains. We stopped at an Arby's near Cedar City for dinner then drove through the night into Colorado.

Remember peakbagging Throop Peak?

Pointing at the highest point
of Mount Throop.

Three years ago today, we peakbagged Throop Peak in the Angeles National Forest, California. Mount Throop peaks out at 9,138 feet, and it was our highest peak to date!

I hauled you up the mountain on my back in the child carrier. The trail was about two miles long one way, and when I'd stop to make sure I didn't lose my breath (There's less oxygen at that high of an elevation.), you'd tap me on the shoulder and say, "Go, Dad - Why are you stopping?" :)

When we neared the peak, you asked to be let out of the carrier, and you walked the last 100 feet with me! We found a rock at the the top of the peak that had been painted by someone else who had peakbagged it.

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

Our visit to Disneyland two years ago

In the band at the House of the Future in Tomorrowland.

Two years ago today we went to Disneyland together! That summer, I was living in San Diego, so we often stopped in Disney along the way from Palmdale to Encinitas.

You participated in the Jedi Academy, and around this time that summer, we had memorized the three light saber moves: "To the left shoulder...to the right leg...to the head"!

We then went over to the House of the Future, where you played the drums in a band! That aftenroon, we spent a good amount of time playing at the Redwood Challenge Trail in California Adventure.

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

Your trip to the state of New Mexico

El Malpais ranger station near Grants, N.M., March 2011.

Continuing with our pictures of states you've been to, today I'd like to write about New Mexico. You were there for two days in March 2011 when we drove on I-40 across the northern part of the state from the Arizona border to Santa Rosa, N.M.

Along the way, we stopped at a national parks visitor center near Grants, N.M. They had a prairie dog colony there that you really enjoyed watching.

We also took a side trip to Crownpoint, a Navajo Indian community, and walked through their elementary school! We also stopped a truck stop outside of Albuquerque and got an ice cream cone as well as silly rubber band strings shaped like musical instruments!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures from your trip to New Mexico.