Remember going to the snowy mountains?

Dec. 28, 2010

Three years ago today, we drove up into the back range of the San Gabriel Mountains and enjoyed some snow!

While temperatures on the desert floor were comfortable in the 40s and 50s (At the time, we lived in the green house in Lancaster, Calif.), a mile up on the mountain tops, snow fell rather than rain. So when the weather cleared up there, we drove up to find several feet of snow, blue skies, and temps in the 20s!

I had bought a blue sled for us, and we went sliding down the Pacific Crest trail near Big Pine, Calif. What is funny is we went hiking there just a few months before!

Here are some photos from our adventure!

'Luke, how did you get up there?'

McDonald's in Acton, Calif.

You might remember on Christmas Day I told you the story of how we always used to joke about the horse that was atop a McDonald's in Acton, Calif.

When you were 4 years old, if we drove by the McDonald's, you'd say, 'Luke, how did you get up there? Not again!' as pretending to be Sheriff Jack, one of our Old West cowboys (I always was Sheriff Jack's sidekick, "The Deputy"). Luke was Sheriff Jack's trusty horse (You even had a horse that you named Luke in your set of cowboy figures.).

Playing the Deputy, I'd suggest all kinds of crazy ways of getting Luke down, like "We could get a crane and lift him down" or "We could fly one of them newfangled air balloons over the McDonald's and lift him down" or "We could divert the river and flood the whole town so that Luke could swim down from the roof."

Anyway, here's a picture of that famous Old West-themed McDonald's with Luke the horse atop it!

Christmas Day 2013 together

I had so much fun with you at Christmas yesterday, Kieran!

You got a ton of presents. Your favorites, you said, were the Matt Flynn Oakland Raiders jersey (which you wore the rest of the day), the Lego sets (you received a police/robber/ATM set and a Star Wars set), and the Imaginext Eagle Talon castle!

You also gave me your first gifts ever for Christmas - a star ornament and a holiday picture frame, both of which you made in school. I shall place the star ornament on top of our Christmas tree forevermore!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures from our day together!

Photos from Christmases past

Merry Christmas, Kieran! I am looking forward to spending the day with you and making great memories that will last the rest of our lives!

Here are pictures from our previous Christmases together:
>>2012
>>2011
>>2010
>>2009
>>2008
>>2007

Dragon Happy Meal toys

Do you remember all of your plastic dragon toys? They were picked up at McDonalds in Happy Meals, distributed during the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" in April 2010.

We had most of them - there were a couple that for whatever reason we never got - and in a few cases (especially Night Fury and R.D.) we had multiples of them! We seemed to use the dragons in quite a lot of our play. Most often they were part of our knights and castle play, but sometimes they were bad guys in our adventures with Star Wars or superhero action figures.

I thought of the dragon toys because a sequel to the movie is coming out next summer. I wonder if Mcdonalds will release another set of them for us to collect?

Our similar haircuts at Christmastime!

I found this really old photo of me in one of Grandma Bignell's photo albums and was struck by how similar our hair styles are! This photo was taken in the early 1970s, probably when I was in seond or third grade. I guess my mom decided I needed a really short haircut, too!

Anyway, we're at my Auntie-I and George's, my great aunt and uncle, who raised Grandma Bignell when she was a teenager. Their house was in rural Fall Creek, Wis., and this is their living room at around Christmas time, I remember that Uncle Chris (the littlest boy in the photo; my back is to the camera) received the black puppy dog toy for a Christmas gift. It could be wound up and then would move, bark, and wag its tail!

The photo is a bit aged, because the carpeting in their living room was a pale pink, and here it looks orange. Years later, when they replaced the carpet, my parents put it in my bedroom, because I only had a wooden floor in it!

A new drawing book for you

Earlier this week at the library I checked out for you a kid's book about drawing. I'm going to photocopy it and give it to you on one of your upcoming visits.

I've noticed during our last few visits that you've taken an interest in drawing, boldly trying to copy - without tracing - scenes from books. You appeared to enjoy the challenge, and I might add that for a six-year-old, were quite good at it!

I've always tried to encourage your interest in art by having paints, colored pencils, colors, markers and Play-Doh available, as well as scissors and glue to make collages. I also took you to a few art museums.

Perhaps the book will be too advanced, perhaps for you this is just a passing fancy. But I think you'll find drawing very satisfying in both the challenge of creating something and in the meditative pleasure it brings.