Recall your San Diego Chargers football?

One of the many fun things I enjoyed doing with you was playing football - especially with you San Diego Chargers football.

It was a softer ball and a little smaller than the footballs the professionals use. This made it easier to handle and ensured that it didn't hurt in case it should bounce out of your hands and into your nose (Ouch!).

I got the ball for us when I was living in Encinitas, which was just outside San Diego. The Chargers weren't doing too bad that year, if I recall - or at least they got off to a good start!

We used the football when I taught you how to tackle, throw the ball, and to take a handoff. When we were outside, we also practiced kicking off!

Recall our hike to Franklin Canyon Lake?

Two years ago today, we took a little hike around place you probably see a lot on television: the Upper Franklin Canyon Lake. It's been in a "Star Trek" episode and most famously in the opening credits of "The Andy Griffith Show."

You were fascinated with tossing sticks and pebbles into the water and seeing how it made ripples (see the picture at right!). You also took your favorite stuffie, Logs the bunny rabbit, with you for the whole adventure!

Though the lake looks like it's in the mountains or country, it's right smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles (well, Beverly Hills specifically). That's why a lot of TV shows are made there - because most are produced in Hollywood, which is very close by.

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

Recall visiting the William S. Hart home?

Feeding the mule deer fawn

One year ago today we drove over to Santa Clarita and visited the museum ranch and home of silent film cowboy star William S. Hart. He was one of the first great stars of the western motion picture, and you were really into cowboys at the time. It seemed like a perfect fit to tour his home!

The ranch included a little mini zoo where you could feed the animals. You got to feed chickens, rabbits, a mule deer fawn, and a big Brown Swiss cow. The pigs were sleeping, though!

After the zoo, we hiked up a hilltop to Hart's home. I was very impresed with you - though it was a long tour, you were really well-behaved and very interested in everything there.

On the way down, we stopped at the gift store, where we purchased the toy cowboys and Indians set that included Sheriff Jack, the Deputy, Calamitous Jane, Luke the horse, and Baby Kieran.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from the visit.

Moving to San Diego and Palmdale

The night of April 1, 2011, your mother moved out of the green house in Lancaster. I had to go to court to get the right to see you, which I accomploshed on April 22. That allowed me to see you a couple of days a week unil I could get back in court on May 25 for it to order joint custody between your mother and me of you.

In late May of that year, I moved to San Diego for a new job. I worked at Business Leader Media, editing a suire of business magazines, and moved into the house in Encinitas. Thus began several months of us travling back and forth between the two towns on weekends and holidays.

By December, I'd finally got my business launched and went full time with it. At the same time, I moved back to Palmdale so that we culd spend more time together. That autumn, you entered preschool in Lancaster.

Then in March 2012, we moved into the condo into Palmdale, which Jane shared with us. That lasted until May, and brings you up to date on what has happened in my life!

My letter to you from Jan. 19, 2013

Here is my email sent to you today, in case you don’t receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing? I’m doing fine, though I miss you very much. I miss not being able to spend time with you and talking to you on the phone every night like we used to do .

I am very excited, though, that we will see each other in just two short weeks on Feb. 1. When we get together, we will have two big days to celebrate: Valentine’s Day and your birthday! Grandma is whipping up some fun Valentine’s Day sweets for you, and all of us – me, grandma and grandpa, Uncle Chris-Aunt Suzy-and-your-cousins-Bryan-and-Rebekah – all have bought birthday presents for you. They all miss you, too, and though you may not remember them because you were so young the last time you saw them, they all remember you! They can’t wait, either, to finally see you again.

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.

You may notice that these questions were the same that I asked the previous week. Unfortunately, your answers to them were not sent. So, I am repeating them in hopes that your mother will correct this problem by resending your answers (as well as your emails to my last three weeks of emails to you).

Have you read any good books lately? One good Valentine’s Day book you might like to find at your school or city library is “Hedgehug: A Sharp Lesson in Love” by Dan Pinto. We read it together a couple of years ago, and you liked it a lot. You might recall that’s about a hedgehog who looks for someone to be his valentine, but no one wants to hug him because hedgehogs have prickly hair. Will he find someone to give his Valentine card to? You’ll have to read the book!

That is all for now. I love you very much and can’t wait to see you on Feb. 1!

Love,

Dad

 

Finding fossils, gems in Opal Canyon

Two years ago today we took a hike into Opal Canyon. Located in Red Rock State Park about 35 minutes north of where we lived in Lancaster, Calif., the canyon is most famous for its opal gems, but three sites also have been known to yield 7-million- to 12-million-year-old fossils.

We went opal hunting but kept our eyes out for fossils as well. You enjoyed tapping away at the shale with my geologist’s hammer as we looked for some cool finds.

And we did find some stuff! One was a fossilized impressions of tiny leafs and an opalized bone fragment in a chunk of shale. I also found a partially opalized bone fragment from a piece of shale; it looks vaguely like a tooth. I still have the fossils and gems and will show them to you one day!

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

Living at 'the green house' in Lancaster

Pear tree in backyard of "the green house."

In February 2009, we moved from Santa Clarita to Lancaster, Calif., specifically to the "green house" as you called it. Your mother worked at the hospital in Lancaster, and I was a stay-at-home dad, taking care of you!

I loved the "green house". It had a garage (that we used more as a storage shed), a neat galley kitchen, a cool bedroom for you (That I put these wonderful tote shelves into for your toys and boys), and a family room (that opened up to the backyard), where I had my "office." We had beautiful plants growing in our backyard and a grille on the side porch.

We had many great adventures together when living in Lancaster, especially hikes. Much of our day was spent playing, punctuated by trips to the library or errands we neded to run.

We stayed in the green house until April 2011,  a little more than two full years!