Do you remember your U.S. puzzle map?

When you were five years old, I purchased for you a puzzle that was a United States map. Each piece was a state (or a group of small states, such as those in New England).

We always started by piecing together the outside border of the map, which had each of the flags for the states. Then we usually started by going west to east.

You quickly learned all of the big states - like California, Texas, Florida and Minnesota - and then soon began to remember the shapes of other states. I was very impressed at how quickly you picked them up! Often I told you stories about your visits to each of the 10-12 states you'd been to.

A map puzzle was how I learned each of the states - their names, their shapes, their locations - when I was a young boy. I am so glad to pass on this "tradition" to you...perhaps one day when you are a daddy, too, you'll teach your son about the states by using a map puzzle, too!

My email to you for Sept. 1-7, 2013

Here is my email sent to you Sept. 7, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Dear Kieran,

How are you today? I’m doing fine, though I miss and love you like crazy!

I so enjoyed my time with you on Thursday! We sure packed a lot into those two hours!

You certainly have a lot of energy, which is not surprising for a young boy, especially one who’s a Bignell. All of the Bignells – my cousins and yours – have a lot of spunk. Although I exercise daily, I must admit that all of the karate, football, spinning and wrestling we did wore me out! You are very strong and athletic, and I'm impressed!

I'm so very glad that you enjoyed the volcano we made! There are more “kitchen” experiments in the science kit, as well, including making a clock run with a battery made from a lemon or tomato! We will have to do some of those in the weeks ahead.

Putting together the Bionicles was a good time, too. It brought back lots of great memories of when we used to do that at Legoland or at my place in Encinitas. I hope you enjoy playing with your new Bionicles!

I enjoyed playing checkers, too. You really knew the rules well! When I was in fourth grade, I was a master checkers player. I was so good that no one wanted to play me because they always lost! So I turned to chess, but there were only a couple of other students who knew how to play that. I think you’re going to be a master checkers player, too!

Constructing the puzzle map was fun as well. You did a great job of putting it together all on your own while I worked on the Lone Ranger Lego kit, which I think is a mound that scorpions live in – there’s a little catapult on it that you can shoot the scorpions out of! Too bad we ran out of time to complete the puzzle (or the Lego toy).

Say, I don’t believe we looked at the football cards you received on Thursday. Which players and teams did you get? Also, did you see the first pro football game of the year on Thursday night? The Denver Broncos were playing the Baltimore Ravens. You may recall that Peyton Manning now plays for the Denver Broncos. He set a record by throwing seven touchdown passes in a single game! The Broncos won 49-27!

What books or stories did you read in school this past week? I read a neat book about autumn called “Leaf Man” by Lois Ehlert. The book has pictures of leaves arranged to look like a person – called Leaf Man – and traces his movement across the landscape. It has a lot of cool pictures of Leaf Man in it.

We next get together on Saturday, Sept. 14 – a week from today! Your mother and I are still working out the times. We no longer have to meet at the visitation center that we have been at since last winter. I have not yet decided what we will do when we get together, but I have some ideas and promise it will be a lot of fun!

I look forward to seeing you then. I miss and love you very much! Be a good boy in school this week!

Love,

Dad

 

I enjoyed our time together Thursday

I so enjoyed my time with you yesterday, Kieran! We sure packed a lot into those two hours!

As a young boy, you certainly have a lot of energy. I must admit, all of the karate, football, spinning and wrestling wore my out! You are very strong, and I'm impressed!

Putting together the Bioncles, playing checkers, and constructing the puzzle map were a good time, too! I hope you enjoy playing with the Bioncles at home!

I'm so very glad that you enjoyed the volcano we made, too! There are more "kitchen" experiments in the kit,as well, including making a clock run with a battery made from a lemon or tomato! We will have to do some of those in the weeks ahead.

Here are some pictures of our time together!

Your Uncle Chris' birthday is today!

You and Uncle Chris playing together
at you birthday party in 2008.

Today is your Uncle Chris' birthday! He was born when I was four years old. That was a long time ago!

I have tons of great memories about my brother and will have to tell you some of stories when we get together.

You got to spend lots of time with Uncle Chris when you stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell in the winter/spring/summer of 2008. He even bought you a toy tractor for a birthday present!

He and his family miss you very much and can't wait until the time comes when they can see you again. I signed the birthday card I got him with both of our names on it.

Remember your space shuttle toy?

Do you recall your space shuttle and launching pad toy? It was made by Fischer Price Imaginext, and we used it on lots of great adventures in which our intrepid astronauts would explore other worlds.

The shuttle had cargo doors that opened, so often you put Imaginext astronauts or Star Wars action figures in them. After pushing a button on the shuttle, a countdown would begin and then it 'd make a blast off sound, as if its rockets were firing!

Then you'd pick up the shuttle and with guys I was carrying in another of your spaceship toys, we'd fly the two crafts through the house to a table or desk and land the ship. Our astronauts then would explore the planet (and usually have to escape it)!

Remember your squishy goo toy?

Remember your blue squishy goo toy you had as a presschooler? It was a flexible blue tube filled with gel that you could squish in your hands. Inside the gel were plastic pieces of stars, planets and a crescent moon.

We picked up the squishy goo toy at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. I thought of the squishy goo and you because a couple of days ago I visited the science museum in St. Paul and saw some similar (but not the same) stuff (And yes, I picked up a couple of surprises for you that I'll share on Thursday when we next get together!).

You loved playing with the squishy goo! Unfortunatley, it eventually developed a pinhole leak and started fripping the gel, so we had to toss it. :(

Recall your Star Trek Pez dispensers?

Do you remember your Star Trek Pez dispensers? They were a set of eight dispensers of the major characters from "Star Trek: The Original Series": Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov with the USS Enterprise.

I bought them at World Mart in Santa Clarita, I believe. They came with Pez candy, which after you ate up I didn't replace so as not to spoil your dinner! You didn't seem to mind, though - you were more than happy to play with the dispensers as if they were action figures.

Later, I got actual action figures of all the ST:TOS characters for you at Christmas 2011. Unfortunately, I don't have all of the dispensers or action figures any more, but I'm certain one day when you're older you'l be able topurchase them as a collector, should you wish.