Almost had a Cole...

The night was young, darker than normal because of the heavy gray storm clouds that had hidden the blue sky from view since the night before. Rain fell, cool, drizzling rain, like a thick sea fog without the stench of salted life. Dad and I had been trapped inside all day, except for the quiet excursion we made to see Mama on her last day of work. We'd made our visit, even managed to stop at Toys R Us when the rain let up for a bit, and then headed home. Dinner was ham and egg salad, and we were most of the way through when Dad got the call.

Mom said she was having contradictions, no, contractions and they were coming about every five minutes. Not strong, she strong she told him, just steady. I was put in a bath, then to bed, none the wiser.

What I didn't know, was that Mom and Dad thought things were getting close enough to call in the resources (meaning Grandma).

When I got up in the morning, after waking Dad at 0515 hours, I found Grandma downstairs and took full advantage of this unexpected visit, don't you think...


When I found out why Grandma had come over (Cole had tried to come then decided to take a few more hours of swim time), I decided to get Cole a little Welcome Home Party organized. Here's what it looks like so far. A lot more of my friends turned out than I thought would be possible on such short notice. It's nice to have good friends.


Good things are afoot here in our household. Stay tuned, big news is imminent.

Little Brother's Got a New Blog

It's new, it's growing, it's about to explode with activity. Check out www.herecomescole.blogspot.com. He's gonna be here very, very soon. You won't want to miss a moment.

My Family Monster

Biggest school project of the year is my Family Monster. Dad and I put our Family Monster together just today and had loads of fun doing it. Tomorrow we take him, who I've affectionately named Three Kol Hup, to school to find him a place on campus. Three Kol Hup is made entirely from household items, items including:

Two Glad Extra Strong ForceFlex garbage bags
Hundreds of white peanut packing nuts
Several strips of silver duct tape
8 foot and half long sticks from the backyard
12 spines from artificial flowers
15 happy-face stickers
half of a small rubber ball
1 Wheaties hat
and a shoelace.

So, without further adoo, let me introduce you to Three Kol Hup, our Family Monster:



Happy Halloween to all my peeps out there. Talk to you again soon. I just learned I will be doing a Shoebox diorama of a scene from my favorite Halloween story so look for that story coming soon.

Hunter out.

SuperFly Photography LLC

So, I've been dabbling in photography (mostly cause it seems my Dad always has a camera in hand and loves trying to get the perfect pic, and he's got some good ones) and thought maybe I'd share some of my work with you here, see what you think... Be gentle. I'm certainly open to constructive criticism but I am still only four years old.





I'm not really focusing on my medium at the moment (no offense Dad), just trying to refine my technique, watching my lighting, playing with perspective, that sort of thing. Dad helps every now and then, but I pretty much pick up the camera whenever I feel like it and just start shooting. Most of my stuff is just super-pixelated digital camera fodder, but hey, I'm four! Ansel Adams wasn't four when he wandered Yosemite snapping pics, was he? I don't think so. Anyway, here's our latest family pic for those who just check the blog for family updates and aren't interested in my artistic whims.


Oh, and I suppose everyone will want to see this pic as well...


Love to all my fans, you've all been a wonderful part of my very busy life. Thanks for hanging in there with us.

Hunter

Critters in My World

So, I'm really into critters right now, critters of all sorts and every time Dad gets an opportunity, he grabs a photo of whatever has crawled, squawked, fluttered, and crept into or life. Here's a Trio in the great circle of life that I found interesting recently:


This is a fine example of the digrammia decorata, or in un-Latin terms, the Decorated Granite Moth. With a wingspan of only 22-32mm, it has quite the range, with flights as far north as British Columbia and Manitoba and stretching as far south as Arizona. This particular specimen was photographed by my Dad on the wall outside our front door on 09-30-10 at 0845 hours. The Digrammia Decorata can be found in California starting in March with flights still appearing in September. I just think it's kinda of a unique little moth with a lot of style.

Next in our Trio is this fine fellow:


This bug-eatin squawker was ravaging the wild-area of the hill in the backyard with two of his buddies. In Latin he's known as Aphelocoma californica, but we just know him as the Western Scrub Jay. This lanky bird with its hunched-over posture is commonly referred to as a backyard bird and is notorious for being such. The Western Scrub Jay is an assertive bird, vocal and inquisitive. When looking for this bird outside your backyard, you'll often find them in a lookout position, always watching what's afoot on the ground below them and giving a squawk that naturalist W. L. Dawson said "curdles the blood, as it is meant to do." During the spring and summer months, the Western Scrub Jay can be found foraging for bugs and fruit. During the fall and winter months, their diet switches to nuts and seeds. Occasionally, they'll feast on small lizards and even nestling birds, but more often than not, these birds have a thieving nature about them, often stealing from other birds to fill their own stash. However, the Western Scrub Jay has also been known to ride piggyback on mule deer, picking off and eating the ticks and other unwanted parasites hiding there. So, if you ever have a tick, find a Western Scrub Jay. He'll be more than happy to take care of ya.

The last, and most sinister looking of my Trio is this fine specimen (My Dad really nailed this photo, don't you think?):


This is the Argiope argentata (as best I can tell. It seems to meet the markings criteria), a garden spider also known as the Silver Argiope. They have a wide range, from California to Florida and as far south as Argentina, but prefer the warmer, drier climates. They bite, and the bite can be stingy and itchy for about an hour before subsiding. However, the bite can have medical repercussions for children, elderly, and the physically weak. The Silver Argiope makes an orb web with shiny, radiating stabilimenta. Stabilimenta are a decoration some spiders use in web construction, usually by those spiders who specialize in the orb web. You can recognize this form of web decoration by the thicker, often zigzaggy looking shiny threads placed between the main threads of the web. Why these spiders do it appears to still be a matter of some debate.

Well, hope that was educational and fun for you. I think it's always nice to learn a little something more about this brave, huge world we live in and I plan on learning as much as I possibly can. Which means I'm on the hunt for a new Trio of Critters in My World.

Chao for now, my peeps. Hunter out.

Update on Mama

The due date for Cole's arrival (October 27th) is fast approaching. Mama is now 37 and a half weeks into the baby growing phase of little Cole's life and is still causing Mama all kinds of grief.

I was the perfect baby to be carrying, of course, perhaps a little too good, cause Cole seems to be giving Mama a run for her money. Mama now has a cane she uses to help her get around some times because she says her hips aren't working quite right. I like the cane, personally, and will probably try to take ownership of it once Mama has put it aside. It has a soft, squishy handle and adjustable heights. It really is...sorry, rambling. Back to Mama and Cole.

So, I know I haven't written a whole lot about it, only cause we've been living it everyday. Cole sure has made an impression on all of us, that's for sure. I think Mama has suffered just about every side effect she could have being pregnant, even failed her glucose tolerance tests (Only not the way the doctors expected. You rock, Mama!). But, even though this pregnancy has been super tough on Mama, there are definitely some things I have really enjoyed. Here's just a few of the things I will always remember.

#5 - The cane of course.

#4 - Mama's tummy. It's neat thinking my little brother is in there right now, just chillin, and that one time I was in there too. Kinda neat actually, when I think about it like that. I like Mama's tummy.

#3 - Kind of goes with #4, but I love putting my hand on Mama's tummy and trying to feel Cole move. Sometimes, he's movin' so much you don't even have to put your hand on Mama, you can just watch him moving around inside her. That is wicked cool (learned that from Ethan and Caleb)!

#2 - Listening to Daddy talk to Cole. Every now and then, I catch Daddy leaning over Mama's tummy and talking to it. It sort of confused me the first time I saw it, so I asked and Mama said Daddy was talking to Cole. I thought, How cool is that? Daddy is talking to Cole. Watching him talk to Cole is sort of responsible for my #1 thing I love and will miss about Mama being pregnant.

#1 - I love giving Cole a hug and a kiss by way of Mama's tummy. Any time she goes anywhere, she gets love and Cole gets some love. I love that I am getting to know my little brother before he is even born.

Things have been crazy around the house, but we're all really excited about the coming addition to our family. Cole William Roberts. Sounds good, can't wait to meet ya. And Mama, you're doing awesome. Love you 100 Million.

Hunter Out. Oh here's a pic!

What would you do?

Just thought I'd share a picture my Dad took at work the other day when a concerned citizen found something in his yard and thought my Dad would know what to do with it. I've learned my Dad can pretty much fix any problem you throw at him, and this one was no different, but what would you have done if this was brought to you in a cardboard box?


Talk about "not your average day at work"! Although I don't think my Dad's (Or my Mom's for that matter) version of an average work day is much like anything anyone else might consider average. For those unfamiliar with this particular creature, it's a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. An old one too, by the look of his tail. If you look close enough, you can even see the blue forked tongue tasting the air! Super cool pic though, right?

Hunter

Willow Wood School

So, to begin the arduous task of catching you up with me and my family, I guess I should start with my new school. I started going to a Jr. Kindergarten program at a small private school near our home called the Dainty Center/Willow Wood School. It's a Pre-K through 6th Grade program that I am really enjoying.

There are nine of us in my class (small compared to the public schools around here who are bursting at the seams with 32 kids) and Ms. Veronica is our teacher. We're learning all sorts of cool things, but the thing I love most about the school is that we get to do a lot of our learning by getting involved with the world around us. I don't really know how to explain it other than to show you some pictures of my school campus. It's unreal and unlike anything I ever thought a school could be. Anyway, here's the pics:


So, this is the front of my school with the driveway and flagpole. The office is in the cool looking cabin-like building with the sign on it. We sign in and out every day.


Here is our fish, frog and turtle pond. It's right outside the office and a fun place to go and check out once in a while. No joke. On the day we went to do our tour of the school, there was a turtle sunning himself on a log in the pond. It was sooooo cool!


This is part of our play yard. It's huge, and you can't see it in this picture, but off to one side is a huge stage for our special activities and events. We even do a graduation night with caps and gowns and stuff. Straight ahead at the back of the property is our very own little farm. No kidding. We've got a pig, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits. We've also got a variety of birds in our aviary (which you can't see in this pic). Most of the animals wander the play yard as we're playing. Some of the chickens were even raised by some of the kids at the school as part of a school project! How cool is that!?



These two pics are of some of the play structures in the yard and you can see my classroom as well. I love going to school but Mama and Daddy have yet to have a day when I come home clean in my uniform. Poor Daddy. He has to clean them and I know it's never easy. I take my playing seriously especially with a playground as cool as this one.




And these pics are from my first day of school, in uniform even (Blue shorts and white or light blue polo shirts. We have cardigans and royal blue shirts we wear as well with the school patch on it.) Well, that's school. I really like going and I'm learning a lot. I've got really cool friends and have been to two really cool birthday parties already. We've been on a field trip to Chevy's, (We got to see how they make tortillas. Food field trip, so, as you can imagine, I wasn't totally in to it, but it was fun.) and there is a ton more cool stuff planned, so don't go far. There's lots to see, not to mention it's only DAYS until the arrival of Cole!

Choa for now, my Peeps. Hunter is outtie.