Four years ago today: Saddleback Butte SP

Feb. 15, 2010

Four years ago today we hiked Saddleback Butte State Park in the Antelope Valley, California! The park was about 15 miles east of our house.

The butte has a large number of Joshua trees that sit on the desert floor beneath a large rocky hill. We hiked to the top of a smaller butte/rocky hill at the park's norhwest corner and then through the Joshue Tree forest below it.

The hike was quite brief in terms of mileage - only about 0.75 to 1 mile long, but you were at the point in your life in which you wanted to walk the trails rather than be taken in the child carrier, and that was about all the distance you could handle!

I also remember the day being fairly warm, in the high 60s.

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

Four years ago: Aboard the Queen Mary!

Queen Mary sun deck, Feb. 14, 2010

Four years ago today we toured the Queen Mary and attended the Scottish festival in Long Beach, Calif.!

After the long drive there, we enjoyed lunch aboard a sit-down restaurant on the former ocean liner. Some of the parts of the ship we toured were the engine room, the officer's quarters, and the bridge, the latter two of which you treated as a playground!

At the festival, we listened to bag pipes and then went back inside the ocean liner to look at the vendor's displays, which included some swords. I remember that I forgot to bring my camera with me, so I bought a disposable one at the Queen Mary gift store!

Here's a bunch of photos from our adventure!

Your Lego Star Wars Rancor pit

This past weekend (Feb. 8-9, 2014), we purchased and put together the Lego Star Wars Rancor pit. It's from a scene in "Return of the Jedi."

We found the Lego set at Target in Eau Claire. I had intended to buy some Legos for you and spotted this one on sale. You were excited to put it in the shopping cart!

 

You started putting together the kit when we got back that afternoon to Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's. I finished it off while you worked on your fire truck Lego set.

 

The set had a gate that moved up and down and two secret compartments. It came with Luke Skywalker, the Rancor, the Rancor's keepr, and one of Jabba's guards as Lego people.

 

You took the Lego character swith you back to your mother's place but I kept the Rancor pit!

Four years ago: Hiking Ripley State Park

Feb. 12, 2010

Four years ago today we hiked the Ripley Desert Woodland State Park - one of the last virgin stands of Joshua trees in the Antelope Valley, which is where our homes in Lancaster and Palmdale, California were located.

The park was located way out in the desert, about 15 miles from our house. It was very easy to get to but had no facilities to speak of.

You most enjoyed the numbered markers posted along the trail! The numbers corresponded with a brochure that told about Joshua trees and the local ecosystem. You had great fun searching them out and making sure you got the next number in the sequence!

Here's a bunch of photos from our adventure!

Three years ago today: L.A. Zoo

Our view of the elephants, Feb. 11, 2011.

Three years ago today we spent the afternoon at the Los Angeles Zoo!

We did the zoo "backwards" - usually we would go clockwise through the Australian section then uphill to the African section and finally downhill to the play area. We instead went counterclockwise, starting in the playground then zipping around what then was the new elephant enclosure, then down to the gorillas in Africa and finally to Australia!

I'm not sure why we did the zoo this way - I think I was trying to get us to see some sections over by the playground and South American section because we usally skipped that side; typically after going through the playground, we'd head home.

Here are a whole bunch of photos from our adventure!

Two years ago today: Santa Clarita

Two years ago today, I picked you up for the weekend at Barns and Noble in Palmdale, Calif., for the weekend. At the time, I was dating Jane, and so you got to meet her for the first time, though you had talked with her on the phone a few times.

The three of us then went out to eat at the Texas-themed restaurant in the Palmdale mall. From there, we drove back to Santa Clarita, where we were staying in a hotel for the weekend.

We spent the weekend doing a lot of driving about - on Saturday morning we drove to Lancaster to look at apartments and then headed back to Santa Clarita for the afternoon. On Sunday, we drove into Los Angeles, and then on Monday morning it was back to Lancaster to drop you off at school.

Our day together: Feb. 9, 2014

Finding rocks and gems in your science kit. Feb. 9, 2014.

I had another fun day with you, Kieran! We started the day with a breakfast of Belgian waffles and bacon, which you devoured. Then it was off to playing with a variety of toys we had in your room, including the castle set you got for Christmas, and the great Rock and Gem kit I'd gotten for you at Michaels last week.

After a spaghetti lunch, we went to Wal-Mart and got another Lego kit - this time of a semi-trailer than carried a Monster truck on it. You spent the whole afternoon putting it together - I was so impressed by your focus and dedication!

We did lots of other things to - play Star Trek with our phasers and tricorders; play chess, play with the new Play Doh set we picked up earlier at that day. Our weekend together ended all too soon!