Recall our hike to Mormon Rocks?

One year ago today, we hiked Mormon Rocks in the San Bernardino National Forest. It was on the way to the I-15, that huge freeway that takes you from Las Vegas and down the mountains into Los Angeles (and part of the route we always took to San Diego). You might remember there was a McDonalds, near the freeway intersection with the road, that we often stopped at.

The Mormon Rocks looks a lot like Vasquez Rocks because they were made the same way. About two million years ago, everything west of those rock formations was an ocean with rivers bringing water and sediment (sand and rock) down from the mountains. As the sediment fell to the river and ocean floor, it hardened into rock. Since then, the collision of two tectonic plates has raised the land out of the water and tilted them into the weird angles we see today.

During the hike, you took along your toy rifle that we picked up at Disneyland a few weeks before and played cowboy. You were Sheriff Jack as usual, and we were out looking for Black Bart!

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

Working in Crescent City, Calif.

After working in Palm Springs for a year-and-a-half, I made the big leap and became a managing editor of a newspaper once again. In October 2006, I went to work in Crescent City, Calif., at The Daily Triplicate newspaper.

It was a wonderful opportunity, and my staff and I made a lot of changes in the news we covered and the paper's look. Perhaps the biggest story we covered was when a tsumani wiped out part of our harbor. We won lots of awards for our writing!

I lived in a really nice three-bedroom ranch house with a garage and huge yard. It was about a mile or so from the Pacific Ocean.

But the most important thing that happened to me in Crescent City was that you were born while I was living there! I shall tell you all about that in a future entry!

My email to you from Jan. 12, 2013

Here is the email I sent Jan. 12, 2013, just in case you don’t receive it:

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing? I love and miss you very much and can’t wait to see you on Feb. 1, in just three short weeks. Unfortunately, I’m still not receiving the emails your mother is supposed to send. Perhaps you could please have her resend your emails responding to mine from Dec. 22, Dec. 29, and Jan. 5?

How was your first week back to school? I bet seeing your friends again after a couple of weeks off was a lot of fun. When I was a little boy your age, it also was a lot of fun to find out what all of my friends got for Christmas and some of the neat places they went during their winter break.

Do you enjoy the snow in Minnesota? You always liked it when we went up to the mountains together after a snowfall. We’d go sledding together and throw snowballs. Sometimes we’d stop off for a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Although the winters do get long in Minnesota, one nice thing about them is you have lots of opportunities to drink hot chocolate!

I am glad you’ve enjoyed the games, toys, art supplies and books I’ve been bringing to our visits. Playing with and reading to again has been a lot of fun for me, too. What games should I bring next time? I was thinking some card games like Old Maid or Go Fish. Email me to let me know which games you’d like to play.

Thank you for the watercolor painting you made of the letter Y eating a gumball. I have it hanging over my desk. If I ever go to chew a stick of gum, I make sure I stay clear of that letter Y!

Have you read any good books lately? I have. I recently read “If I Had a Snowplow” by Jean L.S. Patrick. The book is about a young boy who imagines how he might help his mom if his toy trucks were real. He starts in January using his snowplow truck to clear a path for the car and ends in December using his toy truck to deliver lots of presents to his house. The book starts out,

“If I had a snowplow, you know what I’d do? I’d crash through the deep snow, just for you!”

That is all for now. Have fun at school, and I look forward to seeing you in just 21 days! I miss you very much!

Love,

Dad

Remember your Dancing Elmo?

For Christmas 2008, when you were almost two years old, you received the hit gift of the season: a Dancing Elmo!

You thought it was absolutely cool. Elmo would talk to you and ask how you were feeling. He'd tell jokes and laugh and sing songs. Then he'd dance aorund as singing. Finally, he'd get tired and lay down and go to sleep.

You were absolutely fascinated by the Dancing Elmo and often tried to interact with it, as if it were actually living! You'd respond to what it was saying and dance along with it.

Eventually Dancing Elmo's gears or motors gave way, and he'd tip over as trying to dance. So we put him in the garage, but by that time you'd outgrown him.

Working in Palm Springs, Calif.

In July 2005 after working for 2-1/2 years in Iowa City, I landed a job at the largest newspaper I've ever worked for - The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., circulation 72,000+. I was their editorial page editor!

I did much of the same work in Palm Springs as in Iowa City. Probably the most famous person I met and interviewed was Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie actor and then governor of California.

I lived in a very nice one-bedroom apartment near downtown Palm Springs. From my bedroom balcony window was a beautiful view of Mount San Jacinto.

The job in Palm Springs is what brought me to California - which is where you were born and have spent most of your life (at least as of this writing)!

I can't wait to attend your school events!

I read a very sad story today about a father who dropped his son off at the boy's soccer game and said he would be back in a couple of hours to pick him up. The son told him he thought he was going to stay for the game. The father said he was very busy but promised to go to the next game. His son told him that this was his last game.

I understand that you must feel disappointed when I am not at your school, church or other events. I am disappointed, too, that I am not there.

However, you need to know that unlike the father in the story, I want to attend and would attend such events. Unfortunatley, others have made it so I am not allowed to. I am working very hard at changing this, but the very people who won't let me attend your events keep working to prevent me from getting this changed.

It will be a happy day once this is overturned, and I go to your school event. I will be very proud of you!

Pics at Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's

Today I'm posting several pictures from winter 2007-2008 when you stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell. You turned one years old that February (2008). I hope you enjoy them!

You and your cousin Rebekah Bignell.

Rebekah, Grandpa Bignell, you and Bryan Bignell.

You and Grandpa Bignell.

You with Rebekah and Bryan Bignell in background
and Grandpa Bignell in chair.

You in Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's kitchen.