Remember hiking to the dry lake bed?

Celebrating that we've reached
the shore of the dry lake bed

Three years ago today we hiked the El Mirage Dry Lake Beds east of Lancaster, Calif. It's in the Mojave Desert below the back range of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The day we were there, the dry lake bed wasn't entirely dry, though! Rain had recently fallen, so there was an inch or two sheen of water across much of the lake bed.

At this point in your life, you were able to walk on your own during our hikes, but the amount of mileage you were willing do varied each time; we didn't walk very far on this one. I think you were fairly excited about going to the nature center, though, and so wanted to cut this hike a little short!

Here are a whole bunch of photos from our adventure to the dry lake bed!

Remember your Thomas the Train PJs?

Do you remember your Thomas the Train PJs? You had two sets of them - one red and the other blue - that you absolutley loved to wear!

The PJs certainly must have been comfortable and warm; the material had an almost felt-like feel. But I think you really liked to wear them because you loved Thomas the Train!

We had tons of Thomas the Train toys and Thomas the Trian DVDs. We went through a period when you were two or three years old of when treated to a toy you always wanted a Thomas the Train engine or car!

Above is a picture of you wearing the red PJ set on Christmas morning 2010!

Do you recall your Green Lantern plane?

Do you remember your Green Lantern plane? It was an Imaginext toy and went with the all of the superhero toys made by that company (like the Batcave and the Joker's hideout)!

Perhaps because green was your favorite color as a preschooler, you had a definite affection for the Green Lantern, though there wasn't much on the air about him. I do recall a couple of Batman cartoon episodes involving the Green Lantern, though.

In any case, we often used the Green Lantern plane when taking astronauts on adventures to other worlds (usually a table in another room!) rather than as a superhero toy! Our Imaginext astronauts fit perfect into the cockpit!

Where we were four years ago today

Four years ago today, we spent the afternoon at California Adventure!

You enjoyed the water play area near what used to be the Farmers Exposition area (Now it's the Cars section) and got absolutely soaked! Fortunately, it was a warm day, so after a change into dry clothes, you were all okay!

You'd actually discovered the water play area the day before (on a Saturday) in our two-day excursion to Disneyland. So you were very keen on going back there Sunday and kept asking me when we would get to the fountains! The morning was a bit too cool to let you get soaked (I didn't want you to get hypothermia!), but by afternoon, the sun had fully warmed the theme parks.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from that weekend!

Four years today at California Adventure

Four years ago today we spent together at California Adventure!

It ws at the age when you enjoyed meeting the characters. And boy did we meet a bunch of them that day!

There was Chip and Dale, Mickey Mouse and Goofy. I quickly learned that if you want to meet characters, the best place to do it is California Adventure because there are no lines!

We also went on rides. I specifically remember doing Monsters Inc. and the lady bug cars.

Here's a whole bunch of photos of adventure!

In Disneyland four years ago today

Four years ago today we spent our day at Disneyland!

The whole place was decked out for Halloween, which was cool. It was our first exposure to Disneyland decorated for Halloween.

You were a the right age to be really interested in meeting characters. You got to meet Pinocchio on Main Street USA!

One young Disney girl taking pictures in Fantasyland thought you were the cutest thing and you two talked and talked! At above right is a picture she took of us together in a teacup!

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

Remember the Science Museum?

Four years ago today we visited the Discovery Science Museum in Santa Ana, Calif.!

This was your first visit to the museum! We spent a little time looking at the interactive stuff.

But most of our time was spent in the dinosaur section. It had a great play area that you really enjoyed!

Afterward, We spent the afternoon at Disneyland!

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our trip at the science museum.