Remember peakbagging Throop Peak?

Pointing at the highest point
of Mount Throop.

Three years ago today, we peakbagged Throop Peak in the Angeles National Forest, California. Mount Throop peaks out at 9,138 feet, and it was our highest peak to date!

I hauled you up the mountain on my back in the child carrier. The trail was about two miles long one way, and when I'd stop to make sure I didn't lose my breath (There's less oxygen at that high of an elevation.), you'd tap me on the shoulder and say, "Go, Dad - Why are you stopping?" :)

When we neared the peak, you asked to be let out of the carrier, and you walked the last 100 feet with me! We found a rock at the the top of the peak that had been painted by someone else who had peakbagged it.

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

Our visit to Disneyland two years ago

In the band at the House of the Future in Tomorrowland.

Two years ago today we went to Disneyland together! That summer, I was living in San Diego, so we often stopped in Disney along the way from Palmdale to Encinitas.

You participated in the Jedi Academy, and around this time that summer, we had memorized the three light saber moves: "To the left shoulder...to the right leg...to the head"!

We then went over to the House of the Future, where you played the drums in a band! That aftenroon, we spent a good amount of time playing at the Redwood Challenge Trail in California Adventure.

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

Your trip to the state of New Mexico

El Malpais ranger station near Grants, N.M., March 2011.

Continuing with our pictures of states you've been to, today I'd like to write about New Mexico. You were there for two days in March 2011 when we drove on I-40 across the northern part of the state from the Arizona border to Santa Rosa, N.M.

Along the way, we stopped at a national parks visitor center near Grants, N.M. They had a prairie dog colony there that you really enjoyed watching.

We also took a side trip to Crownpoint, a Navajo Indian community, and walked through their elementary school! We also stopped a truck stop outside of Albuquerque and got an ice cream cone as well as silly rubber band strings shaped like musical instruments!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures from your trip to New Mexico.

Your trips to the state of Arizona

A few days ago I wrote about the times you'd been to Oregon. I've decided to continue writing about the states you've been to with a look today at Arizona!

You were to Arizona three or four times. When about 18 months old, in September 2008, we drove through a corner of the state on the way from Las Vegas to Santa Clarita, Calif. We repeated that about month later but in reverse.

Then in March 2011, you and I drove across the northern part of the state on I-40 a couple of times over four days. We stayed both times in Flagstaff, Ariz. Along the way, we stopped at some Indian traders, where you discovered cloth handmade Navajo dolls. We got four of them, and you pretended they were they Beatles!

The picture above shows us at a fake teepee at a roadside stand near Winslow, Ariz., in late March 2011.

My email for week of July 14-20, 2013

Here is my letter to you for July 20, 2013, in case you do not receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing? I am doing fine, though I miss you very much! I did not receive your email this week – could resend it to me, please?

How has summer school been going? What kind of things are you studying? Have you finished learning about the presidents and which ones are on money? There are a lot of presidents to learn about, aren’t there?! In a previous email, I told you about my favorite president, Abraham Lincoln. Do you have a president that you like or admire more than the others?

What kind of stuff have you been doing for fun this summer? When I was a little boy your age, I lived on a farm near Elmwood, Wisconsin, and spent my summers playing outside. We had a big pile of sand that I could run my trucks and construction toys through all day long! I also liked to check out all of the animals on our farm, which were kept in different buildings. We had cows in the barn, two pigs in their own little shed, chickens in the chicken shack, and cats in our hay mow. Sometimes I also visited my best friend, Ronald, who lived next door. We thought it was amusing that both of our names started with the letters “Ro”!

Do you have plans to go to the State Fair later this summer? It doesn’t start for another month or so. It always is a lot of fun – there are carnival rides, farm animals, interesting displays, and lots of great fair food like cotton candy and corn dogs. I have not been to the State Fair in many years, and I hope you get to go since you live so close to it. The fair is held in St. Paul, and it’s much bigger than the Los Angeles County Fair that we used to go to in Pomona…you may not remember that fair, though, as the last time we went you were just three years old. Here are some pictures of it. 

Another great event in Minnesota held each summer is the Renaissance Festival. That is when people dress up like they live in the Middle Ages in England. People back then had castles, and there were knights! The festival also has lots of fun shows you can go to and neat costumes and toys you can buy. We went to a few Renaissance festivals when we lived in California; at one of them, you got a Robin Hood cap. At another one in San Diego, you dressed up in a knight costume! I hope you can go to the Renaissance Festival in Minnesota!

How is your baseball throwing and catching coming along? If you like, I will pick up a softball for us to toss to one another when we get together. The visitor center has a playground area outside that we can go to and safely throw the ball without worry about breaking windows. Just let me know!

We now get to see each other every other week, and we next get together on Friday, July 26 – that’s in just six days! I can hardly wait to see you again! I’ll bring the tote full of new stuff for us to do and with some of our old favorite standbys in it as well. Let me know in your next letter if there’s anything special toys or books that you would like me to bring.

Well, that is all for now. I love and miss you very much! I’ll see you on Friday!

Love,

Dad

Your many trips to Oregon

When we were last together putting together the U.S. puzzle map, I mentioned that you had been to Oregon a few times. You said you didn't remember going there. That's not surprising, as you were just a baby when  you went to Oregon!

I don't remember how many times you've been to Oregon, but it mainly was to Brookings for shopping trips as we lived in Crescent City, Calif., at the time. We also went a few times to Medford for shopping and the airport there; those trips took us through Grants Pass.

A couple of bigger trips we took to Oregon was to a kitchy place where fiberglass dinosaurs were dsiplayed in the forest and once to a safari camp where you could drive your car through an area with wild animals like lions and bears!

I've included a picture here of me holding you at an Oregon wayside along U.S. Hwy. 101 overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was taken in the evening during autumn 20007.

Remember our pear tree and flowers?

Pear tree, July 2010

Do you remember all of the great plants we had at the green house in Lancaster? They come to mind this morning because about this time each year the fruit on our pear tree (see photo at right) would ripen.

We never ate the fruit because that would require a lot of special care of the trees to ensure they were edible. I just liked seeing the fruits on them and the annual spring blossoms that smelled so wonderful!

We also had an apple tree in our backyard and lots of flowers (including a gigantic rose bush) in front of the house and along our backyard wall.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures of plants that blossomed during July at the green house!