My letter to you for Aug. 31, 2013

Here is the letter/email I sent to you on Aug. 31, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Hi Kieran,

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

I had a lot of fun with you Friday!

Your memory is very good, I must say – you remembered exactly where every chess piece went on the board and how they moved. You are on your way to becoming a master chess player!

You also impressed me with your cool karate moves. You’ve got quite a strong punch and kick! Keep working on those moves! I’ll keep practicing my Canadian karate moves, too! J

I’m glad that you enjoyed the Lone Ranger and Army Lego pieces. I’m sorry that the Army Lego Jeep was frustrating to put together – the instructions looked very complicated, so no wonder you didn’t want to follow them! I think, though, that I might have in one of my totes a Lego car that is very easy to make…I shall bring it next time, and we can build it together, okay?

Your knowledge of the states keeps improving, too! I think you knew twice as many on Friday as you did just the week before! I am still looking for that world map puzzle, though. I may have to order it online.

Speaking of online, I looked up and watched the Disney XD show you told me about – I thought you had said “Crash and Burn Scene” rather than “Crash and Bernstein”! I can see why you enjoy the show so much; the humor is exactly what you would find hilarious! I like Crash’s T-shirt showing a skull with headphones on it.

Too bad that you’re friend Milo didn’t come back to school this year. Losing a friend to moving always is difficult; when I was in third grade, my best friend Marc moved, and I had no idea where or if I’d ever get to talk with him again. He introduced me to “The Six Million Dollar Man” and we liked pretending we were “The Bionic Boys.” I was happy to hear that Richard and all of your other friends are back. You guys should have a lot of fun this year!   

Going up north to the farm and the lake sound like a good time. What did you all do on the farm and lake?

I forgot to ask you on Friday how you liked the Titanic book you took home last week. One of the neat things about first grade is that you’ll learn to read and soon will be able to read the book all on your own!

I’m very excited – we get together again on Thursday (Sept. 5)! I miss and love you very much and can’t wait to see you again!

Love,

Dad

Recall your Pirates of the Caribbean boat?

Do you remember the Pirates of the Caribbean Queen Anne’s Revenge Hero Ship Play-Set we once had? We bought it in fall 2011 during a visit to Disney. You'd been looking it over a lot during previous visits, but it was awfully expensive.

Then I landed a little extra money editing and with a 10% discount on my Disney annual pass, decided "Why not?"

You were in the stroller and had to hold it the entire way back from Downtown Disney to the parking ramp because it wouldn't fit beneath it. You were so excited you couldn't stop looking at the box and gripped it hard so it wouldn't fall.

I lived in Encinitas at the time, and we put it together the following morning. It was huge - about 2-1/2 feet long and 2 feet tall. It included an escape hatch, a retractable plank, a mid-section that slid open, and a rotating crank. I recall a cool glow-in-the-dark skeleton that hung on the ship's prow.

We had lots of Pirates of the Caribbean action figures that we were able to play with it, too!

Learn something new every day

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to be with you each day, Kieran, so I am unable to lisen to and talk with you about your concerns and problems. Because of that, I will on occasion offer advice about moral codes to live by. Here is another such entry.

As we go through life, we have a tendency to focus on a few narrow paths: our careers, our immediate family, our college major, our community. Each of those areas certainly is enough to keep us busy!

They may not be enough, though.

Often we feel unfulfilled because we do nothing but work, raise our kids, study a specific field, live in one small area. We desire to get away from it all for a while. This is necessary to keep our minds fresh.

We don’t necessarily have to travel long distances or abandon all we find comfortable to reboot our mental and emotional health, though. Oftentimes the solution is as simple as learning a little something new every day.

Picking up new knowledge also may be paramount to maintaining a job, family and community. With new information, we can bring a different perspective to work problem, parenting, and local issues. With new information, we can better adapt to new situations because we’re no longer trapped by the notion of “But we’ve always done it this way.” With new information, we’re better able to think creatively. This all occurs because when we actively learn new stuff, our understanding of how the world operates broadens. We gain an understanding that transcends our everyday lives.

How can you learn something new? It’s easy. Google a word. Open a dictionary to a random page and find the first word you don’t know. Go someplace you’ve never been before. Talk to someone who specializes in something you know nothing about. Take a class. Listen to public radio. Attend a lecture. Read a book.

What new thing will you learn today?

Remember that big St. Bernard stuffy?

When we lived in the grene house in Lancaster, you might recall that I had a couple of big pillows a large fluffy St. Bernard dog stacked next to the television in the living room.

Sometimes you way lay on the pillows and dog while watching television. Other times you'd play tackle the dog!
When we did football, "tackle drills," I'd place the the pillow beneath my knees so I'd beyour height for you to ram into.

The dog was a stuffy I got for your mother before you were born. She liked St. Bernards, and for a while we were putting together a mystery novel about a nurse whose St. Bernard solves murders that the nurse gets entangled in!

Always stay physically fit

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to be with you each day, Kieran, so I am unable to listen to and talk with you about your concerns and problems. Because of that, I will on occasion offer advice about moral codes to live by. Here is another such entry.

In our modern times, most of us are spared the physical labor that our ancestors had to endure just to survive. Machinery does the work instead, and many of us now spend our days seated comfortably at desks. The result is many of us gain weight and become physically weaker.

“So what?” you might ask. “Less physically demanding labor sounds like a good thing.”

That’s true enough. We’re now free to pursue personal interests and have more leisure time.

Still, there’s plenty of good reasons to stay physically fit by exercising, walking and watching our diet.

Research shows physical fitness reduces the risk of contracting debilitating diseases from diabetes and heart ailments to various cancers. Each of these diseases can be expensive to treat and can limit our ability to function even if we’re just sitting behind a desk.

In the short term, staying physically fit improves one’s mood. Exercise increases production of endorphins, which in turn reduces depression. A brisk walk or swim has been shown to boost your memory and ability to learn.

Regular exercise also means you’re more likely to live a longer life. With strong bones and muscles and not suffering from disease, your body will be able to recover more quickly from illnesses and injuries that strike you in old age.

So why not make a difference in your life right now and for the long-term by lifting some weights, dancing, or even just stretching?

Remember our Disney figure sets?

During our many visits to Disneyland, we got into the habit of purchasing play figures of characters from Disney movies or rides. Usually six or seven came in a set, and there were at least a dozen sets!

One of them was the villains set (see pictures). It contained bad guys from various Disney movies.

Often these figures/characters became parts of other play sets! The Peter Pan pieces, for example, were part of our pirate toys while the Buzz Lightyear toys became part of our space toy collection.

Unfortunately, none of the figures had movable parts. Still, they stood upright quite well (better than our various action figures!) and were a lot of fun to play with anyway!

Our hike along the Sierra Alta Trail

Sierra Alta Trail, Aug. 25, 2010

Three years ago today we hiked the Sierra Alta Trail in the Angeles National Forest!

The trail was about 6800 feet above sea level so nicely overlooked some canyons yet was shrouded by higher mountain peaks.

The trail was surrounded by greenery and very comfortable in temperature, a nice respite from the sandy, hot desert where we lived!

You got your own trekking pole for this hike. It was a brief enough trail that I let you walk it by yourself. You had a blast, though I had to keep telling you to wait up as you wanted to run ahead out of my sight!

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