Two years today we went to fly-in

Two years ago today we attended the Mojave Air Show and Fly-In in Mojave, Calif. I tried to take us to the monthly event every month, though sometimes the weather was too hot or too cold because of its location in the desert.

The air show always had a good mix of airplanes and space stuff, as a lot of private rocket and spaceship companies had facilities at or near the airport. In fact, it was at the Mojave Air and Space Port that the first privately owned spaceship went into space during the early 2000s!

Another fun thing at the air show was the tram ride. You always were keen to go on that. It took us around the airport so we could see various airplanes, and sometimes it would stop and let us off so we could walk into hangars and see all kinds of goodies, such as airplane props used in movies.

Here are a whole bunch of photos about our adventure!

Recall going to the big RV show?

A year ago today we attended the the 58th annual California RV Show at the Fairplex (the Los Angeles County fairgrounds) in Pomona, Calif. It was the second time we'd been to the show, though we've stopped off to tour RVs displayed at other fairs.

You actually asked me if we could go to the RV show! You always liked walking through them, opening the cupboards, sitting in the drivers seat pretending to drive them, playing with the radios, and climbing all over the beds!

For lunch, we stopped off at a stand and enjoyed hot dogs from the famous Pink's in west Los Angeles. They had a stand at the fairgrounds. I'd have to say it was the best hot dog I've ever had!

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from the RV show.

Comic from 'Darth Vader and Son'

You might remember from a couple of days ago that I told you about the book, "Darth Vader and Son" that I purchased for us. Here's a comic from it that I think you'll like!

My fourth email to you

I'm posting my fourth email to you, sent via email to you today, in case you don't receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing? Hope all is going well from you. I haven’t received any of your emails since Sept. 24; I’m hoping that you could resend them to me.

I would love to hear how kindergarten is going. Do you go to all-day kindergarten? I only had to go to half-day kindergarten when I was your age. Hopefully soon you’ll be able to show me your classroom and introduce me to your teacher and friends. It’s very important for parents to be involved in their children’s schooling.

Today I’m listening to a radio program about the Beatles, called “The Beatles Years.” Sometimes we would catch it on the car radio Sunday mornings when I lived in Encinitas. The show today is about all the big things the Beatles did during the month of October.

I bet you remember the Beatles concerts we went to. Of course, they weren’t the real Beatles, but they looked and sounded a lot like them, didn’t they? They’re called “tribute bands.” There are lots of Beatles tribute bands where we live now in the Twin Cities, and once you and I are able to see one another again, I’ll take you to see some of their shows if you should like.

I bought you (well, really “us”) a new book a couple of days ago while shopping in downtown Hudson: “Darth Vader and Son,” by Jeffrey Brown. It’s a series of comics about what Darth Vader would have been like as a dad if he had raised Luke Skywalker as a little boy!

Besides being very funny, the book seemed really special to me as we both like “Star Wars.” You might also remember that one Halloween we went trick or treating together with you dressed as Luke Skywalker and me as Darth Vader. And I’m certain you'll recall all of the great light saber battles we had in which you were Luke and I was Darth!

Some of the comics might not make too much sense until you’re a daddy yourself. That's okay - I'll be sure to save the book for you to enjoy with your own little boy one day!

How is the bicycle riding come along? Have the training wheels come off yet? With school and the colder weather, I bet you don’t have as much time anymore to ride your bicycle except on weekends. There probably will be some warm days yet before Halloween sets in to ride your bicycle. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

What costume do you plan to wear for Halloween this year? Is your school planning a Halloween party? I always looked forward to my school’s holiday parties because you got to eat lots of different cookies, bars and cakes that the others’ kids parents made but that my own mom didn’t!

Well, that is all for now. I look forward to hearing from you and receiving your other missing emails.

Love,

Dad

New book: 'Darth Vader and Son'

I bought you (well, really "us") a new book yesterday while shopping in downtown Hudson: "Darth Vader and Son," by Jeffrey Brown. It's a series of comics about what Darth Vader would have been like as a dad if he had raised Luke Skywalker as a little boy!

Besides being very funny, the book seemed really special to me as we both like "Star Wars." You might also remember that one Halloween we went trick or treating together with you dressed as Luke Skywalker and me as Darth Vader. And I'm certain you'll recall all of the great light saber battles we had in which you were Luke and I was Vader!

Some of the comics might not make too much sense until you're a daddy yourself. That's okay - I'll be sure to save the book for you to enjoy with your own little boy one day!

During the next few weeks I'll post some of the comics from the book here for you to enjoy. I can't wait for us to get together again so we can read the book together!

Recall Scottish festival in Ventura?

Two years ago today we attended the Seaside Highland Games - a celebration of all things Scottish - in Ventura, Calif. Since you're Scottish (on your mother's side), I thought it'd be a fun festival for you to attend and learn about your heritage!

The photo at right shows you standing by your family emblem. You're a descendant of the Clan MacDonell of Glengarry (a branch of Clan Donald).

The big thing that you really enjoyed at the festival was the parade of bagpipe players! I lifted you up onto my shoulders so you could see the whole thing! You also liked watching the border collies herd the sheep in some of the demonstrations of old Scottish arts being held.

There was a fun little playground as well. One of them included a ramp that would slant in different directions depending on where you stood on it.

Here's a bunch of photos of us at the festival!

My years working as a teacher

You probably remember from a past entry that I mentioned I was a teacher for a few years. When I first went to college, I earned a degree in education so that I could teach English and journalism to grades 7-12. While in collegeat the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, I taught for several weeks at Park High School in Cottage Grove, Minn., under Joe Adams, the head of the English Department there.

I decided to go into journalism after graduating but then went back into teaching. From 1992-94, I taught at Deming High and Middle schools in Deming, N.M. My first year there, I was named teacher of the year at the middle school thanks to an essay written by one of my best students ever, Chris Martin Briseno.

I then moved back to my home state of Wisconsin and taught at Merrill Middle School. I mainly taught English to eighth graders. During that time, I earned a master's degree in education at UW-Stevens Point. In 1999, though, I went back into newspapering.