I Am Hunter, Hear Me ROAR!

Summer has Come and Gone

2011-07-31T09:07:00.001-07:00

With my first day of kindergarten less than 24 hours away, I figured it's time to share a few thoughts about my summer (Especially since I've written nothing about it at all!).

We've had a very good summer, kickin' it off with our end of the year school picnic and barbecue at Contra Loma State Park where I got to do some fishing with my Dad, and my graduation from Jr K!

We didn't catch anything, but Dad said not to worry about that. He said it was more about learning how to fish. It was my first time using one of his poles, so the whole experience was a lot of fun. Maybe next time we can try and catch some fish.

Graduation from Jr K was pretty cool. There was a whole cap and gown thing that was pretty neat. Grandma even came out to see it.

We also took Cole to the Oakland Zoo for the first time. We had a pretty good time. I love zoos and aquariums, any sort of wildlife habitat, really. I just love animals. I can't wait to go to Safari West with my school! Anyway, here's some of the pics we took at the Oakland Zoo.

Oh, I forgot about the animals! We saw all the usual suspects (my favorites!), lions, tigers, and elephants, oh yes!

There were zebras, flamingos, and a warthog!

And, of course, meer cats and giraffs.

With our summer zoo trip behind us and June fast approaching, it was time to get ready for Ethan and Caleb's return home from school and the Big Vacation...Disneyland!

Probably the biggest news of the last five years came during this summer as well (other than the news that I'd be getting a little brother of course). That news we got when we went down to the Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic in San Jose to have my diagnosis re-evaluated. For those of you who don't remember (and I doubt many of you who actually read this blog could or would ever forget), I was diagnosed with Autism right around my second birthday at this very same clinic. Three years ago! It's been a short but long three years for everyone and we hoped, beyond hopes, that all the work we've been doing, all the sacrifices we've made, and all the dreams we've had to put on hold, were about to be justified. The medical professionals around haven't always believed in the things we've chosen to do to try and win this battle, but they've always been supportive of our decisions, regardless. That was a blessing, to be sure. So, we headed down to San Jose, had some fun at our hotel...

And then we headed over to the Clinic the next morning. It was a worrisome morning. I know my Mom and Dad have worked very hard to help me overcome a lot of the obstacles I've come up against, and while the progress I've made has seemed so very obvious to those around me, nobody was sure what the professionals would say.

After almost four hours of talking and interacting and testing of all kinds, what the psychologist said, with tears in her eyes, was that in all the years she'd been working with Autistic children, in every aspect of their therapy, from early intervention to clinical diagnosis, she has never been able to tell a family their child had improved so much, that she could no longer uphold the previous diagnosis. She had never been able to tell parents their child no longer met the criteria for a diagnosis of Autism or any of the other associated disorders. I am recovered!! The joy as we left the appointment was palpable, thick like banana yogurt. Thanks Mom and Dad, and everyone else for being so patient with me and my Mom, who probably terrified you all during these last few years.

So, what does a child look like that doesn't have Autism? Well, he looks sort of like this...

What's next? Well, Disneyland, of course.

The Rest of our Crazy Month...

2011-05-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

Somehow, my last post got posted before the post was completed so I'm back for the rest of the post, a continuation of our crazy month.

So, after Frog Fest, we had our field trip to Clayton Valley Farms to learn everything we could about worms, bugs, and growing things. It was a super fun field trip where we learned about making compost (soil), worm factories, and worms in Wormville...

Then we moved over to Sproutopolis and learned about the miracle of growing plants. We even got to plant a sunflower seed!

After Sproutopolis, we took a little train ride through the farm to Bugland and got to go a lookin' for bugs...

One of the coolest bugs we learned about was the bumblebee, a bug very important to the farm and plants because of its role in pollination, the process by which fruiting plants get fertilized and are able to produce the fruits that carry their offspring. Dad even got a picture of a bee carrying out its pollination responsibilities.

Then along came Easter with an egg hunt and a giant white bunny. Cole even got to join the fun!

That last pic is of me and my Jr. K class at Willow Wood School. Ms. Tiff was in our picture too. She's a great Jr. K teacher. To finish the month off, Mom and I took an afternoon trip to Blue Goose Park, a park near our home where you can run, play, and get a little wet to cool off on a hot day.

So, that was the crazy month we had, loaded with fun and school stuff, and just a lot of good memories. But, it's not over yet. No, my peeps, we're just getting started. So, stay tuned for more exciting stuff.

How much can YOU do in a month?

2011-05-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

Alright, so here we go.

First there was our bimonthly assembly at school. My class and I were bugs for the assembly and had to share a cool fact about the insects we represented. I was an ant.

Yes, that's me on the end pulling off one of my own antennas. It was hot on the stage and we were all in black. Did you know an ant can lift twenty times its own body weight?

After the assembly we had Frog Fest. Yes, a celebration of everything frog. We at Willow Wood celebrate life in all its glorious forms. Frog Fest is one of the ways we continue to appreciate the world around us. And how'd we do it?

Frog legs, yum. There were more frog legs than you could imagine and they tasted surprising chicken-like. I like frogs, not necessarily the eating of their legs, but frogs in general, as a creature of our fine world, frogs are pretty dang cool. We have a frog pond at the school...

...with turtles and Koi. Maybe it's a Koi pond with turtles, or a turtle pond with Koi. I haven't seen the frog since the end of last summer.

Farewell to Nissa and Feeding Therapy

2011-04-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time coming, but the end of so many of my parents worries is coming to an end. Since I was five weeks old, I have fought to whole idea of eating, a condition that worsened with the onset of severe acid reflux and the poor medicinal practices of my first pediatrician.

I'm now five and this was my last meal with Nissa, my feeding therapist for the last two years:

If you're having a hard time figuring out what's on the plate, well, let me help you. There are three items on this dinner plate of mine: Fettuccine in Alfredo sauce, cheesy broccoli, and beef frank.

It has been a lot of hard work, worry, and patience, but I think everyone would agree, it has really paid off. In fact, I'm doing so well, it's possible my G-tube could come out this summer or early fall (hopefully before school starts).

I just wanted to take a moment and thank all those who have played a part in getting me to this wonderfully fun part of my life. I am trying all kinds of new foods, almost daily, and discovering things (you can eat) I never thought I would enjoy. And I'm not just thanking those who have had an active role in getting me to eat, but all those who cowered in the dark corners of their own houses for fear of invoking the wrath of my mother should you somehow interrupt my feeding (you know who you are). You had a very big role to play as well. I will never forget the patience and understanding you showed my folks as they struggled to help me eat.

I have a good family, the best, and I thank you all for helping me get this far. Now, I've got a bowl of Lucky Charms and a fruit cocktail cup to eat for breakfast. Chow for now, my peeps.

Party on. Hunter.

Random Family Photos

2011-03-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Life moves along, faster for some of us than for others, and here's a look at how life has been moving for me and mine...

Things you should notice in these pics:

#1 In the pic of my beautiful Mama, sitting on top of her never-left-at-home notebook is a tube of Buttpaste. No joke. It's really called Buttpaste, isn't that the coolest name of a product you've ever heard?! Buttpaste.

#2 Yes, that's me in a swaddle. Ah, reminds me of the good ol' days...

#3 The wedge Cole is on is designed to get him ready for American Ninja 2030!

Alrighty then, more pics.

Daddy's working on a pillow fight video but he's having some issues with the USB streaming feature of his laptop. Apparently Microsoft felt it necessary to make streaming video through the USB port less than easy. But for now, enjoy these random family pics.

Hunter out.

The 100th Day of School

2011-01-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

At my school (Willow Wood, for those that don't recall the name), we like to celebrate all sorts of things. Recently, our school won Best of Parade in the Brentwood Holiday Parade. It was our third year in a row winning. Amongst the other usual celebrations, we celebrate the 100th Day of School. You might be wondering, how does one celebrate the 100th Day of School...? (Unless of course, you've gotten stuck on the Why do you celebrate the 100th Day of School, a question I'm not going to address because I don't really know the answer). But, to answer how, we do it like this:

...we celebrate it with a hat of course! But not just any hat, a hat decorated with a hundred items! That's right. Our 100th Day Hat has 100 things attached to it! My 100th Day Hat had 10 groups of these ten items:

Squishy Frogs
Paperclips
Safety Pins
Monster Truck Stickers
Rubberbands
SpongeBob Stickers
Mickey Mouse Stickers
Zoo Animal Stickers
Legos
Metal Washers

Here's what that looks like in picture:

Not only were we tasked with making hats to celebrate the day, but at school we had a 100th Day Hat Parade (Apparently my school is big into parades as well). And after the parade, for snack time, we had 100th School Day Trail Mix (another at-home project where I got to choose ten of my favorite snack foods and make a 100 Day Trail Mix. You might wonder, knowing my limited snacking options, What could I possibly put into a trail mix that I would actually eat? Well, let me tell you:

10 Swedish Fish
10 Bow Pretzels
10 Cheese-Its
10 Gummy Bears
10 Rainbow Goldfish
10 Gummy Worms
10 Cheetos
10 Gummy LifeSavers
10 SpongeBob Cookies
10 Raisins

It was quite the unique trail mix, if I do say so myself. So, to all you schoolers out there, on this, the 100th Day of School, I just like to wish you all a very Happy 100th Day!

Hunter Out.

The Crystal Growing Experiment

2011-01-17T07:26:00.001-08:00

For Christmas, my big brother Ethan asked for a crystal growing experiment. He got one and over the break we started growing his first batch of crystals. This experiment was called the "Golden Citrine Experiment" and it was designed to grow golden-colored crystals using a piece of granite rock as a base. Here's a look at how we documented the crystal growth:

Day One (the morning after the mixture and rock were placed in a plastic bath together):

You can small crystals starting to form not only on the surface of the granite rock, but also along the base of the plastic bath. So far, everything looks to be growing just as planned.

Day Three (there was little notable change on Day Two):

The crystals have made some noticeable growth and the water level has dropped in the bath, causing crystals to start forming where the water level had previously been. There are also more crystals forming around the base of the granite stone, more so than on the surface of the stone itself.

Day Four:

There was a considerable amount of growth seen in the plastic bath on Day Four of the experiment, so we took several pics to document the growth. This was also the first day growth on the surface of the rock breached the surface of the bath's liquid. It was very exciting!

As you can see from the pics, there is lots going on in the bath now. It's a lot of fun to watch and see how the crystals change and what surfaces they seem to grow best on.

Day Nine:

These two pics were taken from above the bath, one with a flash and one without a flash. Notice how the flash changes the color of the growing crystals.

Day Seventeen:

After over two weeks of observation, the crystals have stopped growing and the bath is empty of liquid. Daddy broke out the crystals and took these pics of the final crystals. Pretty cool.

This was a super fun experiment. Thanks Ethan for letting us keep it going for you. Hope you like what we did and can't wait to do it again when you get back this summer. My next experiment will involve the hatching and raising of prehistoric sea monsters!!

See you soon. Hunter.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, we spent most of the holiday sick and at home. But, if you've been to our home, you know the only thing we have to leave for is food, cause my brothers and I have tons to keep us busy. Between giant Nerf Wars and fort building, video gaming and science labs, books, movies, and LEGO building, and a host of other activities, we can stay pretty much holed up in the house for a long time without any complaints.

Daddy did take us out to see Tron: Legacy which was AWESOME! Daddy talks about the original Tron sometimes, and although I haven't seen the original, this movie rocked!

Christmas was cool. We all got lots of cool stuff and had loads of fun, but wait, I'm totally getting ahead of myself! I'm 5! Five years old! And what did Mama and Daddy get me for my birthday?

Yes, I really enjoy my drumset and have wanted one for a while. BestBuy got rid of theirs, so Daddy couldn't take me there to play anymore. So, now onto Christmas, just a quick look at some of the fun...

There was just fun and more fun for hours and hours, and it was the first Christmas that I really dug the whole present thing, unwrapping and giving, it was very exciting to be around all my family...

Along with all the festiveness, I had another gymnastics show at the Little Gym. This show was so much more awesome than the last one. I was adventurous, daring, fearless, which made the whole experience that much more cool!

So, that pretty much brings you up to speed with us. Cole had a few things to add, but I think I'll let him tell you about it. Oh, there was one other thing, I recently had to give up the chair that has been my good friend for a very long time, it was a sad goodbye...

Coming Soon...more Creatures From My World, but up next is Ethan's Crystal Growing Experiment! Check back soon, Hunter out.

My First Christmas Pageant!

2010-12-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

December 17th was my last day of school for the year and we celebrated with a class Christmas Party, but the week before, we had our Christmas Pageant. The theme...The Mice Before Christmas. My class and I were gray mice...

We'd been practicing the play (songs and dances) and our lines for weeks. I didn't start out all that excited, but by the day of the show, I couldn't get my line out fast enough...

"Look! Look! A gingerbread house. A midnight snack for a little ol' mouse." That was my line and I delivered with a finesse that made my Dad (a Thespian himself) and Mama proud. Here's a look at some of the other shots my Dad got of me at the show...

It was a much better experience than I thought and a lot of fun. I have great classmates and a great teacher which makes everything else so much more delightful and easy. Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!

Plumbing Catastrophe!!

2010-12-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

It started out like any other weekday morning. I got up, dressed, ate, and went to school. It was when I got home that things got out of control. And it all started with the downstairs toilet backing up. My Uncle Ben and Aunt Dani stopped by for the night on their way home from their vacation and we were just starting to talk about dinner when Mama called Drain Right Plumbing for help. That call ultimately lead to this when the toilet backed up again the next morning:

Yes, that's me inspecting the clean-out for the sewer main coming from our house. What you can't see is the giant roots that have busted through the clay pipe the city or original contractor installed nor the giant root clump in the pipe just out of view. Those discoveries lead to this front lawn disaster:

I can think of only one thing to say about this December catastrophe...Are you kidding me? Needless to say, but the tree causing the whole problem no longer communes with Mother Earth. Here is one last look at the tree from my Dad's curious point of view:

Chow for now, peeps. Hunter is out! Oh, and you can see more of my Dad's curious pics on his very own blog coming soon.

More SuperFly Photography LLC

2010-12-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

I cannot even tell you how fast time is flying for us right now. It seems like every day my little brother is getting bigger and I am getting older. School is going well and I've taken up a new hobby, one my Daddy enjoys as well, photography. You can see some of my first attempts at capturing digital images in one of my previous posts, SuperFly Photography LLC, but my experience with the camera continues and I look for every opportunity to practice my new hobby as you can see in my latest works. I call this photo set, "People and Faces".

This first pic I've entitled "Uncle Ben and His Boys". My Aunt Dani and Uncle Ben were here visiting recently and I took this pic while my Uncle Ben, Caleb, and Nathan were all on the couch in the living room.

Next is a pic I call "Ward Missionaries". Again taken in the living room, I caught this scene on digital media before anyone could object. People from the Church are always stopping by to see how we're doing. Makes me feel pretty good that we're being watched over.

Next is a pic I call "MamaRoo Baby". I got this pic of Cole in his MamaRoo during one of his quiet times (which he doesn't have too often, seems like that little brother of mine is always wanting something. Mama and Daddy can't hardly put that boy down before he's crying for something. It's crazy busy around here.)

Last is one of my favorites. I call it "Father and Son". I don't think I really need to say anything more than that. The pic says it all.

Well, that's about it for now. I will get more writing done soon. There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of time to sit and ponder much anymore these days, crazy baby days.

Uncanny Resemblance

2010-11-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Dad was going through some pics of me and came across this pic of me when I was about five weeks old...

And then there's this pic of Cole taken at about three weeks old...

Me in week one of my life...

And here's my brother Cole, last week...

Ya, I know exactly what you're thinking...What a pair of super cute babies! If you ask me where I get my cuteness from, I'll tell you...no, not my Dad, (Silly people), I get it from the Cuteness Store. Cole's been there too.

Talk to ya again soon, Hunter out.

Field Trip!

2010-11-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

Now that you've met my little brother, I've got some catching up to do on my own special events (not that the birth of my little brother isn't just the coolest thing to happen for a while, I just don't want to steal any of his thunder by posting his stuff here. You know what I'm talking about, right?).

Top of the done list was this years Pumpkin Patch Field Trip. This year I was at a new school and we went to a new pumpkin patch. I wasn't all that sure about it, took a long time to get there from the school, but no car trip is ever boring with my Dad along. So, here's a look at the pumpkin patch and our day there. Did I mention is was a real live working farm?!

There were loads of farm animals we could get right next to and even feed, which was cool.

I couldn't believe all the things there was to do, not to mention chilling on some hay to eat lunch. He did have a great time. Yes, we did.

Well, that was our field trip. It really was a good time. I love having Mom and Dad both along on my school outings. Stay tuned for more. There's another Critters in My World coming soon.

Hunter out.

One Crazy Night!

2010-11-02T12:50:00.001-07:00

So I went to bed Thursday, usual time, 7:30, eight, something like that, no big deal, nothing going on despite Cole being a day late. And when I woke around 0530, I rolled myself out of bed and went into Mom and Dad's room, climbed in to their bed and guess what I found...

Nope, not Cole (nice thinking though), and not even Mom or Dad. No, what totally blew my mind was crawling into my parents' warm, comfy bed and finding Grandma! I was dumbfounded, literally, but not so tired to forgo a full interrogation of the startled figurehead before me. I was going to make sense of this turn of events, no matter what the cost, so I asked Grandma, "Where is my Mommy?" She smiled, one of those tolerating sleepy smiles that says quietly if I answer you, you will go back to sleep, as if she had some kind of Jedi mind control power (only my Dad has been trained in the ways of the Force, but he says he'll start training me soon). I waited. She composed herself and told me, "Your Mommy is at the hospital with your Dad. They went to get Cole."

WHAT?! They went to get Cole without me? I was beside myself. How could I have let this happen? Grandma must have sensed my frustration as I tossed and turned on the side of the bed where she'd said I could sleep, because she got up and said we could go downstairs.

Breakfast came and went, and still nothing. And you know that song, the wheels on the bus go round and round (you're singing it already aren't you? he he.), well, that was me and my wheels were leaving thick layers of rubber on the gray matter of my brain as I tried desperately to get a solid grip on what was going on in my world. How could things get so out of control so quickly? Why had Mom and Dad gone to the hospital after I'd gone to bed. Surely they knew I wanted to see and pick up Cole as well. I can't imagine they'd think otherwise. And yet there I was, rocking back and forth in my banana chair playing LEGO Star Wars. I should be at the hospital. I should be with my Mom and Dad. I should be there to be a big brother.

Then the phone rang. Hope filled me as I watched Grandma through glassy eyes filled with expectation. He was here. Cole was here! I was gong to meet him, talk to him, teach him all the cool stuff I'd already learned. This was better than I ever expected.

I could tell by the look on my Grandma's face that she was very pleased with the news. Look at me, Grandma. Tell me everything, I wanted to shout. Then she turned to me and told me I had a baby brother. Cole was finally here.

And that's just my short side of the tale, you should see how Cole tells it (FBI Clue: Check out his blog! Peace Out.)

Almost had a Cole...

2010-10-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-10-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Slave to Technology

2010-09-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Been unable to write for some time because our router crashed, crashed hard core. Just up and died, and apparently there's only one place we can get one to replace the one we were using. Well, we finally got one. Today. So I thought I'd put up a quick note and a pic. There's a lot to tell you about, but not tonight. Tonight, I just wanted to send you a hello I thought might put a smile on your face. I like making people smile. So, Hello, hope this brings a smile to your face...

It was crazy hair day at school. We should all be able to have crazy hair days. Feels good. Be crazy once in a while, live all the time.

Talk to you again soon.

A Tribute to My Older Brothers

2010-08-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

On this their 10th birthday, I just wanted to let Ethan and Caleb know how much they mean to me. I don't get to see them often enough so I don't get to tell them how much I love that they are my brothers. I look forward to every day that they get to spend here with us and miss them every day they're gone. A fella couldn't ask for better big brothers. Happy birthday, guys.

Here's some of my memories of the last year together...

Oh, but that's not everything. There are so many more memories, like the time we, wait...I don't think Mom and Dad know about that so, I'll just show you some more pictures...

And then there's this pic... How could anyone forget Ethan's "Soccer Hair".

Again, thanks for being my big brothers. You make every summer super duper and I look forward to every one. Love you guys. Happy Birthday. And be excellent to each other until we meet again (Christmas won't come fast enough).

Your little brother.

Be Prepared!

2010-08-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

It's a motto my Dad grew up with in Scouts, something I hope to do one day. I've seen my Dad's old Scout shirt and all his excellent looking patches, seems he had some pretty cool adventures. And everything he was taught seemed to prepare him for doing something else.

With my new baby brother on the way (29 weeks and counting) things are starting to change around the house. Living arrangements are being modified, (I'm getting a new room! Stay tuned for pics! My brothers are moving into the Star Wars Room which they seem totally stoked about.), schedules are getting adjusted (I'll be starting a new school soon. One with farm animals including a pot belly pig named Porky!), and Mama has broken out the bins of my old clothes to see what my little brother will be wearing when he comes in October.

Being prepared is a lot of work. Maybe the motto would be more aptly named if it was "Get Prepared". I know I've been a little bit of a handful for my parents, but what kid isn't really? With my little brother coming soon, it's my turn to start living the family motto. And how am I doing that?

Well, for an example, I was helping Mama sort through some of my old clothes, seeing what I could still wear and what needed a storage space. When something didn't fit quite right, I looked at my Mama and kindly informed her that that particular item should be set aside for my little brother. And into a storage bin it went. Now, a name has been chosen for my baby brother, but until my Dad can disclose the chosen name to my Grandpa Roberts, we're kinda keeping it hush hush. I like the name. It's a good one.

Well, just wanted to say a little something to let you all know we're still here, just getting prepared. Choa for now, peeps.

Hunter

Disneyland 2010

2010-07-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

For six years we've been traveling to the Land of Happiness and Dreams. We've made a lot of memories there and have started a tradition in our family I hope lasts a really, really long time. So, what did 2010 bring for our family in Disneyland? Well, I'm glad you're wondering cause I've got a few things to show you!

Once again (for the fourth consecutive year) we stayed at the Paradise Pier. It really has it all, and, if I do say so myself, it is easily the best Disneyland hotel if you wanna stay good and close to the park. And way up on the 15th floor (the very top floor where our suite was this year) you can get a room with a view of California Adventure, including the new water and light show (can't remember what it was called Disney's World of Color, I think.). It has a couple of good eating options right inside the hotel and is within easy walking distance of Downtown Disney and both parks, not to mention it has a huge pool area on the third floor with an awesome waterslide (pics later).

And when we weren't at the park, we were having fun and eating Mickey waffles in our room. It really didn't matter where we were, we were always having fun.

We rode the train, Small World (of course), and took a picture with the coolest Mickey statue ever! My Dad and brothers hit Splash Mountain one day after I'd gone back to the room for lunch. Ethan said the ride rocked!

While waiting for their FastPass to mature, my Dad and older brothers took had an adventure on an island ruled by PIRATES! I was eating lunch but heard all about it and got a look at some of the pics they took to document the adventure. Looks like they had a wicked good time.

Oh, but the adventure didn't stop there. No, it kept right on going. There was tons to explore! I can't wait to go back and get some of that island action!

And then there was California Adventure. We could see the park from our room and it looked like a lot of fun, but we weren't real sure what, if anything, might appeal to me at my age. I'm not really into shows and the big rides are still a little intimidating for me (even though I met the height requirement for all but one or two of the rides). We did find one area of California Adventure that I really, really enjoyed. It was a place called Bug Land (at least that's what I called it).

I love this little water park inside Bug Land, but, to my great and everlasting surprise, I not only enjoyed the water park, but all of the rides in Bug Land as well.

And to wrap things up, a reminder of why we like staying at the Paradise Pier...

That's all for now, my peeps. Sorry this took so long to get posted, but as you can see, it could quite possibly be my longest post ever. Enjoy and stay tuned for more real soon (and by real soon, I mean sometime this year. It's been a busy one with Mom and Dad trying to get me a baby brother, but we're coming up on week 26 and everything is lookin' good!). Love to you all and peace out.

We Love Legos!

2010-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

If the picture doesn't say it, I don't know if there is anything I can say that could express what the LEGO means to the Roberts Boys (that would be me, Ethan, Caleb, and Daddy, in case you were wondering). And with a new Roberts Boy on the way (due out in October) and an ever expanding LEGO Universe, Mama's gonna have to create a special LEGO Budget for us.

Seriously, though, can you think of a toy that accomplishes so much with so little? I dare you to find a toy that can do all this:

"They're cool! They're fun to build! They make all my favorite characters! I love the Millenium Falcon because it's a big ship I can play with, has the coolest figures like Han Solo and Chewbacca, and I can see it in my LEGO Star Wars games. What isn't there to love about LEGOs?"

Ethan, my eldest brother by four minutes, often takes his favorite minifigs to bed with him. Among the many favorites are his Yoda minifig (the first LEGO minifig to have shortened legs), Han Solo (who can't admire a guy who takes an insult like "half-witted, scruffy lookin', nerf herder" and only question the scruffy-lookin' part of it?) and General Grevious (not the coolest recreation ever but the dude can still wield four lightsabers).

"You can make anything out of LEGOs! And there are minfigures you can't find anywhere else. The Republic Gunship is my favorite because it is one of my favorite vehicles from Star Wars Republic Commandos and now I can actually build it and play with it. How cool is that? LEGOs have got to be the sickest toys ever!"

Caleb, my older brother and Ethan's twin counterpart, is also very fond of LEGOs but perfers the challenge of building to playing, although he has been known to pilot a lego ship or two in the right situation. And while he says the Republic Gunship is his fave, I've seen him on many occasion playing with the Rogue Shadow and Galen Marek (otherwise known as Vader's Apprentice, from The Force Unleashed).

And then there's my Dad...

"I love LEGOs, have ever since I was a wee American lad living in a Germany divided by The Wall. Had I known then how close I was to where the whole LEGO thing got started, I might have tried to persuade my folks to take me to the factory. We traveled a lot when we were in Europe. It just might have happened.

"I was hooked on two sets back then, the original LEGO Castle and LEGO Space themed sets. I remember building the sets then tearing them down to their original pieces to then build my own creation (now referred to as MOCs in the LEGO builders community as if our world didn't have enough acronyms to sort out). Those creations were usually raced down the hallway of our home to smash into whatever creation my opponent had racing to meet mine. They were spectacular crashes.

"The LEGO Universe has grown in ways I could have only dreamed back then. Now we have Star Wars, Sponge Bob, Indiana Jones, Batman, Harry Potter, Toy Story and even Prince of Persia (Seriously Disney? Do you have to have your hand in every cookie jar? Disney recently acquired Marvel Entertainment for those of you who didn't know). And that's not even mentioning the awesome sets totally LEGO like the Power Miners, Agents, Pirates, Trains, Exo Force and, of course, the classics, City, Castle, and Space (and all of their awesome variations).

"But aside from the obvious creative play possibilities, this toy works fine motor skills, reasoning skills, and the ability to follow directions to reach a goal. This 'toy' does it all. The only unfortunate thing about LEGOs is the price. Getting some of the good stuff can be a real hit in the pocket change!"

Well, now that my Dad is done droning on and on (I think he likes the sound of his words.), I thought I'd share a thought or two about my experiences with LEGO. I really love the SpongeBob Squarepants LEGOs. Seeing Squidward, SpongeBob, Patrick, Gary, and Mr. Krabs as LEGO minifigs is pretty cool. I'm also a big fan of the Batman LEGOs, although trying to get your paws on some of those now almost requires a small signature loan. It's insane what the value of these sets do once they're off the shelf.

So what's it all mean? We love LEGOs, all LEGOs without exception to color, shape, or function. Peace and may you find as much joy building and playing as we do.

Hunter

Memorial Day Fun

2010-06-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

In true American Family tradition, we barbecued some dogs (hot dogs that is) and burgers, had awesome potato salad, chips, Rootbeer, this really good Snicker salad, and loads of fun on the new backyard waterpark. It was quite the housefull and backyardfull as well.

But before the fun could begin, Dad had some work to do on the backyard, a part of our home which often gets neglected for other activities, like Mom and Dad having breakfast together before Dad disappears for his daytime sleep. Here's a look at the backyard before Dad went to work on it:

After Dad finished his business with the backyard, there was nothin' holding us back from hours of fun in the sun. Summertime rocks!

Oh, but the fun didn't stop there, no sir. We just kept right on going all through the day and into the evening. It was AWESOME!

I love big family get-togethers. We always have so much fun and good, yummy food. Yes, I'm trying a little bit of everything now, without much hesitation. I'm actually starting to enjoy all kinds of neat foods, but perhaps more about that another day. Choa for now my peeps.

At the Little Gym

2010-05-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

I've just completed my first gymnastics class at the Little Gym and had loads of fun. I got to meet lots of cool new kids who love gymnastics just as much as me and work on lots of really neat equipment. Mom signed me up for classes through the rest of the year because I liked it so much. I'm really excited about continuing to learn more gymnastics stuff. May 24th was our group's final day of class and our Show. Thought you would like to see what we've been up to.

We started out showing our forward rolls, hand stands, and mixed in some beam and bar work. I did a crab walk on the bars for the first time during our show. Don't know why, everyone else was doing a bear crawl, guess I just needed to make my routine a little different than the rest. Here's some shots from my first routine.

You can see Miss Monique in the background when I'm doing my handstand against the wall. She and Miss Summer were always so very helpful and made class a lot of fun.

My second routine of the afternoon took place on the uneven bars with Miss Summer acting as my spotter. Only a couple of us braved the higher of the uneven bars. This area was a little tougher for me because of my Button, but I didn't let it keep me down. I liked the uneven bars.

My last routine of the day took place on the balance beam. This was the toughest area for me. I don't like jumping off a perfectly good, stable platform. Kinda of freaks me out a little, not to mention I was like three feet off the ground on this six inch wide beam. Are you kidding me? Really? But Miss Monique helped me get through it and next class I'm going to really work hard here, not that I'm not going to continue to work hard in my other areas as well. Anyway, this is me on the beam.

After the show, we got our awards and then had some free time to spend with family and friends on all the equipment. My cheering crowd consisted of Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Caleb. Here's a couple parting pics from after the show.

Gymnastics Rocks! Hasta la vista, amigos. Nos veremos mas aya.

Hunter

What's Up?

2010-05-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know. I haven't been writing nearly enough for all my wonderful fans. And, no, it's not for a lack of some truly fantastic adventures I'd love to share as it is for some most unfortunate events that have taken me to the Emergency Room twice in the last few months.

The first of my unfortunate events occurred while my feeding therapist was visiting. I've been very enthusiastic about trying new foods, so the plan was to expand my variety by branching out a bit in the lunch category where most of my foods are still in the puree form. Top of the list came from ingredients in this cabinet...

Well it had nothing to do with the Flax or Sunflower oils. And Pam didn't have anything to do with it either. No, it was the obvious culprit, Mr. Peanutbutter, mixed with honey.

That sunny, warm afternoon in late winter left my entire face swollen, my throat an itchy mess, and rather quickly choked my breathing. 911 was called and an ambulance carted me off to the ER where the doc gave me a little something we like to call "Liquid Energy" and things started to get back to normal after a seven hour stint in the ER, although my face was swollen with both eyes slightly blackened for the next three days.

Needless to say, I don't eat anything remotely related to peanutbutter or its by-products. Who could have guessed?

The next series of unfortunate happenings occurred just prior to leaving for Carmel. There was a fever, some vomit (That's such an awesome word. You can put such emphasis on it, really make it sound just spectacularly descriptive. Yum), and then the morning of the trip, some small red bumps. I've decided not to share any of the gory pictures, just the details, but as our week-long much needed vacation progressed, more and more of these tiny red pimple-like protuberances kept appearing around my mouth and mic-key button. Mom and Dad conversed at some length about what these little skin disturbances could be, and while the obvious seemed to be some mild form of the chicken pox, the reality was much more sinister. When we returned home from our little getaway, I went in to the doctor and learned the spots were actually the skin manifestations of a staph infection. Round One of antibiotics began.

During the treatment of the skin infection, Mom and Dad noticed some reddening around the mic-key button. By the end of the 10-day cycle of drug therapy, the redness and bumps were gone. Unfortunately, two days after the drugs ended, the redness returned at the mic-key button site and quickly got angry.

Another trip to the doctor's office and it appeared the skin infection around the mic-key button had progressed into cellulitis. Round Two of antibiotics. This time, before leaving the doctor's office, they swabbed the affected area and sent it to the lab for a culture, to see specifically what kind of bacteria they were dealing with, wanting of course to rule out MRSA.

No, penguins have nothing to do with MRSA (a rather nasty bacteria resistant to most common antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections), it's just one of my favorite pics from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Not twenty-four hours later, I woke Dad and threw up all over him. My fever was back, Mom came home early from work, and they were able to get me back to sleep. In the morning, my fever wasn't so high, but after a couple of phone calls to the doctor's office, we ended up in the ER. While sitting in the waiting room, my doctor called and said the culture had come back. Apparently the bacteria they were able to culture was not the Staph bacteria they'd expected (no MRSA, that's good) but rather a Strep A bacteria. Something that could not be treated with my current course of antibiotics. This ER visit ended about six hours later after a really helpful conversation with a pediatric surgeon who said they bacteria they were dealing with are fairly common bacteria that live on the skin, nothing Fringe or X-Files worthy. We got a new antibiotic prescription, some IV antibiotics before we left, and then we were back home.

Although the health crises seemed to have subsided for a bit, life is far from normal at home right now because of the most exciting news of the last four months.

I'm gonna have a new little brother or sister (Mom thinks it's a girl)!

Yes, I know it's 2010 and you've been wondering...

2010-03-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, wonder no more, here's what we've been up to since my last posts. Hold on to your seats, peeps, this is gonna get crazy!

Then came Halloween, only one of my favorite holidays of the year. Check this super cool costume. My cousins and I had a really good time out begging for candy at each lighted doorstep. Can you believe people just give candy away on this holiday? How cool is that?

We put up our Christmas Tree just after Thanksgiving (NOT one of my favorite days, the whole eating thing I'm just not ready for, not yet anyway). I did most of the work with my Dad helping out here and there. You know how dads are, always wanting to lend a hand with special projects.

I turned four. That's right the Big Four, four years old, Quatro Anos de Edad. It's a good feeling, being four and all that comes with it.

At school, the week before Christmas, we had our Christmas Program. I got to be the Little Drummer Boy. It was my first school program, and it was a load of fun with lots of songs to sing.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love how much time we get to spend with family and I love that my two older brothers come home for the holiday. I miss Ethan and Caleb when they're away. Lucky for me, I have lots of family around to keep me occupied; but, while they're here, we play hard.

Well, that just about catches you up to speed, but there's lots more exciting stuff coming, so keep checking back and I'll do my best to keep you wanting more from the Life of Hunter. Believe you me, you aren't going to want to miss some of the stuff I've still got in the works. It's gonna blow your mind.

My First School Field Trip!

2009-10-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

After record breaking wet weather and a small but devastating flood at my school that required the replacement of an entire wall of sheetrock, October 20th dawned with the promise to be a beautiful day, a day I'd been looking forward to. The day my class and I would get to go to the Pumpkin Patch.

Mom and Dad picked me up around 0930 and we caravaned to the pumpkin patch just outside the city of Clayton, California. I'd heard it was one of the best patches around, with lots of pumpkins, a walking trail, a hay maze, and lots of places to take pictures. So as we pulled into the parking lot, followed by all my classmates, their parents and my teachers, you can imagine how excited I was to get exploring.

Here's some of the pics we took while at the pumpkin patch:

Then there was the really cool, super big maze made out of hay bales! If Mom and Dad had ambushed me at one of the exits, I don't think I would have ever left this cool hiding place!

And of course, there were the pumpkins...

So that was my first school field trip. Pretty awesome, I think. We had a good time, oh, and after the pumpkin patch visit, we had lunch at a local park, which was a lot of fun as well. I'd just like to take a moment to thank my teachers, Michelle and Amanda, for making this trip possible; and Mom and Dad for coming along to help out. You all rock!

The Quest for 3000 Tickets!

2009-10-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

It started oh so simply, a chance meeting at a favorite locale with the ambassador of fun, children's icon...

I have been a huge fan of Chuck E Cheese for so long, I couldn't tell you how it started, but i'd venture a guess by saying I must have seen a commercial on TV and thought it might be a place I'd enjoy. I've been a regular visitor to our local Chuck E Cheese for a little over a year, but it was at the end of August that I began my quest for the Ultimate Prize.

I needed 3000 tickets to get the object of my desire, an oversized electronic version of DJ from the movie Cars. If you don't remember who DJ is, I've provided a video sample compliments of YouTube's video library and DKOFS5 (video's creator). Have a look.

Pretty cool. So, I needed to get serious, play some SkiBall, Hoops, mix in a few games of chance and hope at some point all my efforts would add up to that magical number, 3000. It was a lofty goal, especially for a guy like me who has the attention span of a honeybee, literally moving from game to game to ride after one or two tokens. But it all paid off in the end about a week ago when my Dad and I took on the task of cashing in a freezer Ziplock bag of tickets we'd been collecting.

That was a total of 2518 tickets on 10-17-09. A week later we scored the necessary remaining tickets to take home this...

So, with DJ now safely at home where he belongs, I have set a new goal for my Chuck E Cheese adventures, 5000 tickets. We'll see how that goes. It could take a while, but I'm willing to put in the time and with a quick swipe of Dad's CD Federal VISA, we'll get the money too.

See ya at the games. Hunter

Matt and Angie

2009-10-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Please Get Well Very Soon.

Biggest October Storm Since 1962

2009-10-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

It was everything a boy who loves water could want!

According to one of our local papers, The San Francisco Chronicle, it was an October storm unlike any the Bay Area (that's where we live) has seen in almost half a century, with record smashing rainfall totals, tens of thousands of people without power, and commutes lasting hours because of hundreds of auto collisions. October 13th will be a day not easily forgotten.

The torrential rainfall was fed by remnants of the typhoon originating off the coast of Japan last week (my Dad's very good friend Doctor Brad Brough lives in Japan right now with his family and was there when the typhoon got started). The experts say if a storm like this had hit us midwinter with the ground already saturated with the winter rain, we'd have seen a whole lot more chaos.

And that's saying something cause it was chaos anyway with trees down in the roadway, the lights flickering all morning, people spinning out of control on the freeway. It's was ugly, to say the least. But to see the storm from our front door, from my perspective, it was a pleasantly wet day for an adventure in my red rainboots, boots made, designed, and fashioned for just such a spectacular display of nature's wonderful power.

And when we got to school, things still hadn't gotten any better. In fact, the main hallway was shut down because so much water had come down by 9:00 AM, flooding the walkways and parking lot, that the entire entrance was flooded! Lucky me, I had my big red rainboots on.

So that's the storm of October 2009. After it was all said and done (that day at least) we'd accumulated nearly 3.5 inches of rain. Guess it was a Big One. I look forward to many more wet, rainy days this winter!

What I did today.

2009-10-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

Dad woke me early, told me he had a surprise. So we ate breakfast, (strawberries and cream Cream of Wheat, applesauce, and vanilla yogurt), got dressed in our best Star Wars shirts, and hit the road. All he would tell me was we were going to Walnut Creek and to a store called Pottery Barn Kids.

The ride didn't take long and before I knew it we pulled into a small, mostly hidden parking garage and parked. We elevatored down to the ground floor and strolled out onto the streets of downtown Walnut Creek, a good sized metropolis of mostly upper class, environmentally friendly peeps who were running to and from the Starbucks on the corner like ants to a dead insect. Have you ever noticed how ants do that? And not just to insects...

Any way, up the street a little ways and suddenly we were in line, waiting outside this furniture store squashed between a Barnes and Noble Bookstore and Apple. I wanted to go into the Apple store, but when Dad told me it wasn't the kind of toys I'd be interested in a my particular age, I decided to stick around and see what Pops knew that I didn't.

Within a pair of ten minutes, we were inside and I found myself totally surrounded by the coolest people ever. It was literally like something right out of Star Wars! But here, let me show you what I'm talking about:

I was literally in awe, not that I should have been with how much Dad has indoctrinated me with the mythos that is Star Wars. I still hope to meet Artooie (that's what Ahsoka calls R2) some day. And Yoda, I can't even begin to tell you how monumentally cool that would be.

After that, the day just seemed to fly by, everything going right for once in all the usual haunts, Chuck E Cheese, the local park, Target, and on the toilet (where I laid some pipe for the first time ever! NO pictures, that's just gross!). So, in the words of one of my Dad's favorite t-shirts, "Star Wars is the solution to everything."

C-Ya. Hunter.

Catchin' Up With the Roberts...

2009-09-30T04:08:00.001-07:00

Remember all those things I was telling you about in my last post, way back in July? Well, this is what I call a photo novelization of my Summer of 2009. Check it.

So, we kicked the summer off with our annual family vacation to DISNEYLAND!

And the fun just kept going and going and going.

And even MORE fun at DISNEYLAND! Coolest place on Earth. Well, maybe not the coolest, but certainly in my Top Five!

And our trip to Disneyland came to an end on the openning night of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Everyone had dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. Well, not everyone, I actually stayed back at our Suite with Grandma. I had fun, they had fun, we all had loads of FUN! Can't wait for next summer!

So, after the Disneyland phase of our vacation, we moved to the Beach Phase which always includes staying with my super cool Aunt Jami, Uncle Rob, Taylor, Spencer, and Gwen. We crash at their house and go to the mall, the park, eat out, play games, it's a riotous four nights of good family fun. And of course there's Malibu and Zuma Beach. I love the beach...

But, our time at Aunt Jami's house started with this:

It's a caterpillar cocoon me and my brothers found hanging from the brick wall outside my Aunt Jami's house. It didn't change much while we were there, although the shell seemed to get more rigid/firm each day. I later learned it can take up to two weeks for the caterpillar to emerge from the crystallis, either as a butterfly or a moth.

After that, we hit the beach.

We eventually went home, where we continued our summer of fun with a birthday party for Ethan and Caleb, who turned NINE YEARS OLD this year. How cool is that?

With everyone here for the summer, it seems there are always tons of dishes that need to get done...

Caleb and I got a short run in after the dishes.

Toward the end of the summer, we got a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Roberts. It's been a while since they were here last and we had a lot of fun with them. I thought I had pictures of our Nerf War at the park but I can't seem to find them, so maybe next time. But here's some pictures from their last day with us.

After the grandparents left, my brothers and Dad went over to The Lake for a little fishing. I heard they had a pretty good time. Didn't catch any fish, though, but it wasn't really my Dad's kind of water. He's more of a stream and small river kind of fisherman, or so he says. Maybe he just doesn't know how to catch a fish...Naw, I've seen the pictures. He's legit.

And while they were fishing they saw a huge Hawk! How radical is that? A real life bird of prey up close and personal! Talk about Close Encounters! My Dad always says, when you go fishing, you have to be prepared to meet the wildlife face to face in their own habitat. I'm not exactly sure what that means but it seems to have happened once again on a fishing trip involving my Dad.

And how did the Summer of 2009 come to an end? Well, how else? With a super cool, giant sleepover at our house with the Jacobs. Food, fun, movies, and games. It was the perfect end to an awesome summer.

That was the Summer of 2009. You can see, we stayed pretty busy. And it hasn't stopped, but that's for another day. Choa for now.

Hunter

I've been busy, but here's what's coming...

2009-07-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long while since my last post, but holy rusted metal, we've been busy. School's out, well not really for me, but for my brothers Ethan and Caleb and that means full house for the summer. Summer also means our big summer vacation to Disneyland and Aunt Jami's house (where we get to go to Malibu and Zuma Beach).

There have been loads of changes in my food menu, moving me closer to having my little feeding spicket removed. And things at school are off the hook, not to mention I just got my first non-family birthday party invitation (which I'm totally stoked about).

Grandma and Grandpa Roberts came for a visit. Pretty cool. Got some pics from our Nerf War to share.

But, since all this is going to take a little to get into an acceptable reading format for my peeps, I hope a few pics will tide you over until I can confirm and record the juicy details of Summer 2009.

First there was Free Comic Book Day, which the three of us (Mama, Dad, and me) braved for nearly and hour and a half in a line that was far too long. But, Flying Colors is the coolest comic book shop around (even if there aren't that many shops to begin with). Dad and I have been to Free Comic Book Day every year for the past three years now, and it's always an interesting experience with loads of great FREE comic books.

And lately, I've been putting on whatever clothes just happen to be lying around and then accessorizing as I see fit. You might pick up on a little bit of a theme in these photos, something to do with Star Wars. It's a family thing, can't be a Roberts and not know a little something about Star Wars. My Dad, he knows a bit more than the average bloke, that's for sure.

And finally, there's just me enjoying life in between my feeding times, since that's when we get to live life most.

Thanks for watching. Hunter out.

A little something for my Mama

2009-05-10T23:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day, Mama. Love you SO much.

Making Footprints - A Carmel Adventure

2009-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Carmel was all about the beach this time, well, the beach and my firetruck boots, but mostly the beach. So I thought, instead of using a thousand words to tell you about our trip, I'd show you a selection of photos I thought were worth more than a thousand words. So, here we go.

And then there was Dennis the Menace Park where we had loads of fun on the slides, in the tunnels, at the water fountain, and on the wriggly wooden bridge:

And more beach. I love the beach, in fact, as I was looking at these pictures, trying to figure out which ones to share with my peeps, I asked Mama if we could go back to the beach. She said we would, soon. Can't wait, but for now, here's some more of my favorite beach pics from the end of our trip:

There's nothing like leaving footprints in the sand. Hunter out.

I am Hunter. And I CAN Eat!

2009-05-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Three years.
Four months.
And three days.

For those of you not familiar with the many struggles I've had to overcome so early in my life, eating has been among the most distressing of them all. On the day I was born, I was assigned to a pediatrician who just didn't care enough to address my parents continued concerns about my eating, which ultimately cost me dearly in every aspect of my life. It took three years, four months, three days, a new pediatrician and three feeding therapists to get me to this:

Yes, on April 20, 2009, Clinic 4 Kids came into our home and showed me eating can be fun. They also suggested some helpful items to make transitions into different eating stages easier for Mama and Dad. Three of these things are:

My chair, a Graco Contempo folding highchair, is the stage for most everything feeding related, for now. I still have three tube feedings that take place in my usual chair, but the tube feedings are becoming smaller and smaller, hopefully to longer exist one day in the near future.

The Maroon Spoon, a plastic spoon used only for feeding times, was brought by Clinic 4 Kids and is assigned to highchair feedings only. That's right. It's not used for anything other than the food I eat when I'm in my highchair.

And then there's the Magic Bullet. No, not THE Magic Bullet, Emson's Magic Bullet, a blender that boasts, "Do virtually any job in the kitchen, all in 10 seconds or less." Does it work? You bet, not that we've tried anything too complicated yet.

So all this fancy stuff has but one purpose for now, to help get food into my body. Mind you, I haven't eaten any kind of solid food for probably two and a half years, so we're starting small, but we're starting and that's what we're so exicted about. And this is what's currently on the menu:

So that's the business end of feeding time. The fun stuff Mama keeps in a bucket, but I was able to snag a few pics of the booty. Here's some of the things I get to play with when I eat:

Yes, I know it's a lot of booty for one pirate, but Mama says it's all about keeping me motivated. More options, slower burnout. I do have my favorite items: the Penguin animal wheel, balls, balloons, and the miniature autos from Pixar's Cars. Things are good, getting better even, and hopefully this will all lead to normal eating habits and a belly with no spicket attached.

Back with more soon. FREE COMIC BOOK DAY was yesterday which was quite the undertaking and I still have our Carmel trip to chat about.

Hunter out.

Oh, These Boots Can Walk!!

2009-04-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a bit about my latest pair of shoes. Until this recent shoe purchase, I had one pair of shoes I would wear. Not for lack of trying of course. My Mama and Dad tried very hard to get me to wear a variety of shoes, but one pair, a single blue, tan, and orange tennis shoe from Target was the only thing I'd allow on my feet for any length of time. Comes with the territory, or so they say. But then came along my puddle-stomping firetruck boots.

It was a blustery, chilly Spring day in the Monterrey area-- Sorry, another reference to the trip I've yet to chronicle, but at least you'll have lots of background to go along with the pictures when I post them. That's gotta count for somethin', right? So, back to my musing, it was a blustery, chilly Spring day in the Monterrey area and after an exciting run along the beach in Sand City, Mama and Dad took me into a quaint shoe store along Cannery Row looking for something they could put on my feet to keep them toes of mine dry while I ran through the salty freshness that I had shown such fondness for. And what they found are now my ocean-tromping firetruck boots.

Man, these are the boots every kid dreams of having to put on and run wild through the wet wilderness. But me, oh, I get them out and on my feet whenever I can. I don't think you could find a place where I couldn't wear these awesome mudkickers. Dad had a different name for them that wasn't all that appropriate for my blogging community. He said it was just the less formal name giving to the type of boots that can get the dirty jobs done sometimes feet have to do. I think he just wants my boots.

Anyways, I'll check in again later. Hunter out.

The Sevenspotted Ladybug

2009-04-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

So, of all the bugs in the whole world I could take an interest in, this is the one. I think ladybugs are the coolest bugs in the world. They're friendly, fast, curious, and they can fly like nobody's business! Anybody know where I can get one of these things as a pet?

I guess, first, I should tell you why I love ladybugs so much. Let's start with a little history.

New Jersey, some time in the 1970's, the sevenspotted lady bug is "accidentally" introduced into the environment and quickly becomes a fantastic biological control for aphids. Since then, they have spread naturally across the country, in some places becoming a more efficient predator than the local bugs.

For a small bug, they're relatively big at 7 to 8 mm from head to tail. The body is oval, dome shaped, and there is a white spot on either side of the head. They're spot pattern usually consists of black dots on the orange or red forewings in a 1-4-2 arrangement. The larvae are dark and alligator-like with 3 pair of legs.

These eager hunters seek out aphid infested crops like potatoes, alfalfa, sweet corn, wheat, and pecans. The females can lay more than 1,000 eggs over a three month period and some species even hibernate. It's really quite interesting.

I've had lots of interesting encounters, even had one crawling around in my hand the other day at school until some blue-eyed, ponytailed little girl in boots decided stepping on it would be more fun. But, the coolest experience I've had with a ladybug was on our recent trip to Carmel (I know, I still haven't written about it, but I will, soon, I promise). Even got a picture of it.

So, they we were, just sitting in the Dennis the Menace Park when this ladybug landed on Mama. It was the coolest thing in the world! Dad tried to get a picture of me blowing on it, but he wasn't quite fast enough.

Well, I think that's enough about ladybugs. Now I'm totally going to try and get some more pictures to share. Chao for now, amigos mios.

Hunter

Where is Hunter?

2009-04-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

On our recent trip to Carmel (which I have yet to chronicle for you, sorry. I'll do that next.), my Dad made up a song that he woul sing while I would hide. It went kinda something like this:

Where is Hunter?
Where is Hunter?
I don't know.
I don't know.
He's hiding round the corner.
Hiding round the corner.
(And this is where I would suddenly come out of hiding)
I see you.
I see you.

I've been practicing a lot with questions like Where, What, and Who. It's pretty cool the amont of information you can gather if you know how to ask for it. I can now ask: Where is Mama? What's that? Who is it? and a few other variations of those. You wouldn't believe how much talking I'm doing right now. I even impress myself on occassion when I bust out with some crazy long word like Octagon as we're driving down the road and I see a stop sign.

Anyway, just wanted to get a quick note in before I get strapped down for my afternoon feeding. Oh, and I added a new link to bloggers of interest. Leeann Whiffen just wrote a book about her son and his recovery from Autism. Mama has read it and Dad's reading it now.

Check ya later, my peeps. Hunter out.

Saying Bye Bye to Mama is Hard.

2009-03-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's hard for every kid, but I have never been especially good at saying Bye Bye to my Mama. Truth of the matter, though, is she's a busy woman. I'm very proud of her. She never says quit (unless she's runnin a fever of 103, but that doesn't happen very often). And she always seems to be there when I need her most.

So, why is it so hard to say Bye Bye to Mama? Well, it's because I love her so much. And at the moment, the only way I can really show her how much is to make it difficult for her to leave by showing her how much I want her to stay. It works sometimes, but sometimes she has to go, no matter what I do. And when those times come, I'm grateful for the telephone.

Just the other day, I talked with Mama on the phone while she drove to work (it was the only way Dada could get me to stop crying). She sang songs to me for nearly twenty minutes. Isn't that awesome!

I thought so. Love ya, Mama.

Your Hunter.

Kiss me I'm Irish!

2009-03-24T10:28:00.001-07:00

So, it seems school is a place where we celebrate everything (although I think that's okay with my Dad. He's always lookin' for an excuse to do something thoughtful for Mama and me.). This month it was St. Patty's Day.

I like green. It's one of my favorite colors. It's in all my favorite books, all my favorite movies, it's in most of my clothes, and it's the color of my favorite train. That's about all I know about St. Patty's Day though. There's a lot of green involved.

And food, apparently. When Mama got to school to pick me up, I was the only kid sitting at a table with a plate full of green colored food that hadn't been touched. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying their green food, but there was something unnatural about it and I just couldn't bring myself to partake of the greeness.

Just for the record. Holiday's with school related parties:

Valentine's Day - check
St. Patrick's Day - check

What's next? I'm not sure. Guess I'll just have to wait and see, although I've noticed a lot of pastel colors in some of my favorite stores (Target, Toys R Us, Barnes and Noble) and a lot of very unedible looking eggs...

Hunter Out. Oh, just in case I don't get back to my fan mail within the next few days, it's because we're off to the Ranch again in Carmel. Fun. Fun!

Check ya later, Hunter bye bye.

My First Valentine's Party

2009-02-16T10:47:00.001-08:00

Don't really know quite how I feel about Valentine's Day yet, as a school activity anyway. The tables were laden with cupcakes, thick with frosting, and pizza. And, of course, there was candy. It was all fun and games, but not really my slice of pie, or cupcake, if you know what I mean.

It was fun getting stuff and giving stuff away. I gave out Valentines with stickers or tattoos, one of the two. I wasn't really down with the candy thing. There's so much more to this world than food, people, seriously. What's the preoccupation with putting stuff in your mouth to eat it? Have a tube put in and eat like the rest of us geniuses.

Now, with that said, I have a picture of my Valentine's Day haul. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. Although, I don't know what I'll do with all the candy. I bet Mama and Dada will help out.

Got stuff from my teachers, Miss Marie, Miss Madonna, and Miss Carmen, and from my tablemates, Jeramy, J.J., and Ava, as well as all the other kids in our room.

And of course, we had a Valentine's celebration at home. I especially liked the stuffed weiner dog we got for Mama that sings "Hot Stuff" when you press its paw. There was other stuff, too, like Sees Chocolates, a movie, and a letter from Dada to Mama that I wasn't allowed to read. Mama was totally blown away. Dada is good at that. Gonna have to keep some good notes on how he does it so I can capitalize later with the ladies. Don't know if I'll ever find one as good as my Mama, though.

Gotta, run. Choa for now, my peeps.

Hunter out.

My School

2009-02-16T10:41:00.001-08:00

Just thought I'd give you a look at my new school. I started going five days a week on December 29, 2008. It's not much to look at and probably won't get any better since Governor Terminator just cut 3% from the budget for the agencies responsible for helping Kids with Disabilities and is requiring those same agencies to cut an additional $100 million dollars by September or he'll take another 7.1% from the budget, which could mean the school I go to will no longer have the money it needs to help kids like me.

So, anyways, here's my school. It's called The Lynn Center (I don't know why, but I'm sure there's a reason).

It's a pretty neat place, old and it smells funny sometimes, but the teachers and assistants are nice. My classroom is all the way in the back, so you can't really see it in the picture. At lunch time I sit at my table and read books while the other kids eat lunch. Still not a big eater, not really even a smaller, occassional eater either. Eater either? Ha! That sounds kinda funny. Eater either. Eater Either. Eather Either. That is funny!

And, since I'm on the topic of school, here's some of the things they've had me do. It's all relatively simple stuff, but they won't teach me math yet (even though I can add and subtract just fine) and I'm kinda on my own with the reading thing, although my teacher has been helping me there since my Dad told her I'd started kinda experimenting with it on my own. I like books. Really like books.

So, top three projects so far:

They're really big into the glitter thing, glitter and glue. Glue kinda freaks me out. Well, really it's anything sticky and wet that I have to touch with my hands. But I'm adjusting well. Gonna have to cause sticky is like 95% of the stuff we do at school.

Anyway, gotta run for now my peeps. Be excellent to each other and we'll party again soon.

Hunter

Beware the Friendly Raccoon!

2009-02-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

It was an unusually quiet night, the rain falling slow but steady. I had just been released from my rocking chair after a warm meal of Kid's Essentials Boost and Cheetos and my Mama was getting the house squared away for nighttime. Dada was out at the store.

Ready to feed our cat, Sasha, I heard Mama open the door to the garage and ran for the back of the house where I knew I'd find her. But while hurrying to get there before the door closed behind her, I heard Mama start to yell. Something was in the garage that wasn't suppose to be there.

Hesitating at the corner going into the family room, waiting for Mama to sort out the situation, I heard the door to the garage slam shut. When Mama came back into the family room, she was on the phone and talking to Dada.

The only word I was sure about in her frantic pleas for Dada to return home to assist her was 'Raccoon'.

I thought to myself, 'No way! There's a raccoon in the garage! How cool is that?' I made a move for the garage but Mama intercepted me and prevented my involvement in the situation.

Apparently unable to wait for Dada's assistance, she took matters into her own hands and chased the intruder from the garage with a few shouts of 'Get out of here, raccoon.' Not a terribly threatening demand, but coming from my Mama, I'm sure the Raccoon picked up on the 'death-to-you-villain' undertones in her exit command. I would have run from the garage screaming, but the raccoon simply slipped out the cat door and back into the night, or so we thought.

After Mama cleared and secured the garage, she found the Raccoon sitting quietly on the back patio, watching the sliding glass door. When Mama opened the door to warn the stripped critter off a second time, it came right at her, not vicious or snarling as they are sometimes want to do, but like it was a long lost pet coming home for dinner!

Then Dada got home and this is all we have left of the Friendly Raccoon...

Legend of the Tooth Fairy

2009-01-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

While making the beds in Ethan and Caleb's room the other night, my Dada came across a Two Dollar bill, found under Ethan's pillow. He couldn't remember placing the money there and Ethan certainly wouldn't have forgotten it, so my Dada was left with something of a mystery. Later, while making his own bed, he came across the other item pictured below, which appears to be an official reprimand for failure to recover a lost tooth properly. So the mystery deepens! Who doesn't like a good mystery? And one about a tooth! How cool is that?! I hope Ethan loses another tooth soon. If Dada forgets again, it sounds like something really cool will happen. The whole thing is really quite fascinating, but I'll let my Dada tell you about it, since it's kinda his thing.

Evidence Item #1 - (Above) White paper on black approximately 7" x 8" with large black font printing and handwritten note.

Preliminary examination of the found document suggests the document is some kind of official warning or citation. Edges and middle have burn marks, perhaps in an attempt to disguise the origin of the paper or to remove physical evidence. Font is an unknown type-face, larger than average size, and printed in black ink. Paper appears to be a mass market product available at most office supply stores and is composed of 90% recycled material. The white page is glued to the black using, once again, a common 3M glue product available anywhere scrapbooking supplies are sold.

Evidence Item #1 (Cont'd) - Type-face identified as "BoogieWoogieHMKBold". Relatively new font style. Ink appears to be a HP product, less than six months old and most likely printed on a laser printer.

Evidence #1 (Cont'd) - Handwriting was done in black ball point ink from a medium tip pen. It appears to be the same type of ink used in most Bic products. Handwriting is also printed in all lowercase with some variation in the form suggesting this is not the suspect's normal method of writing. I also noticed what appears to be a typographical error with the word "IF". Unless it has some meaning I'm not aware of, I would think the word which should have been used was "OF".

Evidence Item #1 (Cont'd) - With the help of Super Glue, I was able to locate two fingerprints at the edges of the item and lift them. Unfortunately, running the prints through AFIS gave me no more of a lead than I had at the beginning of this thing.

Accompanying the "Official Notice" was the two dollar bill pictured below. It appears to be a genuine U.S. Two Dollar Federal Reserve Note.

Without any further evidence, I can only imagine the suspect to be none other than the Tooth Fairy or at the very least one of his minions. As hard as that is to swallow, the evidence does not prove otherwise.

How cool is that story?! Anyway, gotta run. Check ya later.

Hunter out.

The New Year

2009-01-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

We started the new year out pretty great with the 2nd Annual Sleepover at the Roberts' Home. With Grandma and the Jacobs over, we had a full, and I mean full house. But it was all so much fun.

Okay, so the pictures don't really do the day or night justice, but we really did have a lot of fun. There was tons of food and games, not that I participated in any of that nonsense, but everyone else sure had fun with it. We watched movies, played with new toys, ate some more, all just to bring in the new year.

But as I lay my head down to sleep that night, way before anyone else except my cousin Lauren, I wondered what the new year would bring, what I hoped the new year would bring. Oh, the usual things popped into my head: have g-tube removed, try every flavor of ice cream at Cold Stone, make my Mama smile at least once a day, but isn't that what everyone puts on their Resolution List? Honestly, though, there's really only one thing I hope happens this year and it's sort of a family thing, something I know my Mama and Dada have really struggled to make happen, and that's making our family bigger by ONE. A baby brother or sister, doesn't matter which, would be best thing to happen to us in 2009. That's really all we want.

Hope it's a grand 2009, for you as well.

Hunter.

Holiday Quick-Look 2: Merry Christmas

2009-01-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

Barely a week after turning three, we began our annual family Christmas traditions: three crazy days of eating, baking, singing, gifts, and more eating. Unfortunately, this year the family was plagued with a vomitous 24 hour flu bug as well. But we won't get into that. What made this holiday even more extra special was having my two older brothers, Ethan and Caleb, home for the holiday.

Christmas was a lot better for me this year. I kinda got into the whole opening of the presents thing, although I still had some apprehension about what might come out of the wrapping paper (post-penguin trauma I think is what my Dada called it). I think it also helped seeing my brothers get so excited about the whole ordeal. And then, once we'd unwrapped everything from under our tree, we went to grandma's house and did even more!!

I could go on and on, describing the three days of fun to you with pretty words, adjectives that bring tears to your eyes, and verbs that make your stomach drop like the Hollywood Tower of Terror, but then what would I need all these pictures for?

Christmas Eve is always fun cause we all get together for food, singing, and story-telling. Mama usually participates in the singing while Dada always has something creative he's written to read to us. Oh, and of course the older boys always find their way into Uncle Chris' room for some gaming time.

And there was the food. That big bowl of yummy pink stuff was made by my Mama. From what I gathered from the food-eating family members, it was the talk of the table.

After our Christmas Eve festivities, we all returned home for a nice winter nap with visions of sugarplums and candy canes, alright maybe not all that, but there was some sleeping that took place, at least on my part. I don't think my brothers slept a wink that night. Too excited for the Big Show!

We got things started with our stockings. They were stuffed full of all kinds of goodies.

And then we got to the good stuff!

Mama and Dada really pulled out all the stops, within reason of course, nothing super expensive or fancy, just the perfect gifts for each one of us. It was a whole lot of fun and then we got to go to Grandma's and do it all over again! Here's a look at the fun we had with Grandma.

And what was I up to while everyone else was out opening gifts from Grandma? Well, I was playing with one of mine, of course.

I hope everyone's Christmas was as smashing a good time as ours. I love my family, every one.

Holiday Quick-Look

2009-01-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

So, things got kinda busy during our holiday season with my IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting with the Antioch School District, my brothers getting into town, and Dada going to a new work schedule. But, nonetheless, we managed to get some holiday festiveness into our blood. Here's a look at some of our Holiday Season Highlights.

We'll start with Thanksgiving. Not particularly a favorite holiday of mine, but Dada and Mama sure seem to like it. Not to mention all my cousins, uncles and aunts, and my Afaw (that's short for Grandma).

The kitchen got pretty crazy at my Uncle Jer and Aunt April's house where we all gathered for the Thanksgiving feasting. Everybody had something to do. My Thanksgiving feast was much easier to prepare and consume, thanks to my Mama. Yes, that's me in the picture below being tube fed Kid's Essentials Boost 1.5 with a taste of Nestle's Benecalorie added in for protein and calories.

Next, would be Grandma, slaving over a hot pan full of sausage and bread crumbs. That stuffing mix is a coveted favorite at the dinner table and no body makes it like my Grandma.

And how did my family contribute to the feast? Well, my Dada spent the night before cooking up these babies. Pie. Two pumpkin and one cherry. The crust, he made from scratch, of course, just like his Dada taught him and like he'll teach me some day.

A couple weeks after Thanksgiving, it was time to celebrate my birthday, my third birthday. Yes, I am one, two, EEEE years old! Most of my birthday celebration involved penguins, my all time favorite animal, except for maybe when they're LIFE-SIZED and LIFE-LIKE!

This was a penguin book I got from the Jacob's family. It's a very cool book with soft, fuzzy penguins on the pages.

Then there was this giant surprise from my Uncle Chris. If you look closely, you can see Mama trying to show me what was in the wrapping paper, but I already knew and wanted it back in the wrapping paper! The life-sized, fluffy penguin scared the heebeegeebies out of me, prompting this comment from my Uncle Chris "That's not exactly the reaction I was expecting." I eventually warmed up to massive furball and we now are able to co-exist quite happily in the same home.

I also got some more, kid-friendly sized penguins from my Uncle Chris which took me no time at all to get comfortable with. Grandma and my folks also chipped in on some pretty cool stuff, but for some reason I couldn't find any pictures for those particular items before going to post. I'll have to keep lookin'.

Wow. My quick-look at our holiday season has turned into a bit of a project, so I think I'll break this thing up a bit and give it to you in more manageable sizes. But before I go, I thought I'd give you another look at that giant penguin and how we're getting along.

Of course, what you don't see is me puttin' the smackdown on my furry friend just after this picture was taken. Check back for more soon. Hunter 10-10.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium

2008-12-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

As a part of our Carmel Valley Getaway, we often go to Cannery Row in Monterey. It's quite the street with loads of shops like the Rip Squeak Showroom (one of our favorite), the Ghirradeli Ice Cream Parlor, and of course the Aquarium. My Dada loves the Aquarium and all its cool ocean wildlife.

Everyone that heard we were going to the Aquarium thought I would just have the most excellent time there. I love penguins and whales and dolphins and water, so who would've known I would want nothing to do with the inside of that building. So we spent fifty bucks and about thirty minutes out on the observation deck before leaving to go back down Cannery Row. Here's a look at us on the observation deck, which had a pretty amazing view of Monterey Bay.

This place really was pretty cool. The open-sea tidal pool had all kinds of underwater life you could look down on and they had this awesome raised tidal pool where actual seawater would come rushing in and you could watch what happened in the pool with each wave. I found this area soothing, but didn't enjoy it as much as I would have normally because I knew lurking somewhere inside the building close by, there were hoards of screaming, obnoxious children I wanted no contact with. Anyway, here's a look at some of the wildlife we got to see.

You'll have to look close at the pic above to find the wildlife (other than the sea birds), but scattered about this rock outcropping are five or six seals. You can see one, the white spec at far right side of the rock, and the smaller rock out-cropping even further to the right, see how it looks sort of rounded. That's a seal as well. The others are pretty hidden, at least inthe picture. Maybe Mama will got Dada a camera like my Uncle Chris someday when life doesn't cost so much. On with the wildlife pics!

That last picture is of the open-sea tidal pool. The water was crystal clear and you could see a lot more than you can in the picture, but I can tell you everywhere you see a spec of orange, that's a STARFISH! Seriously, dudes! Way cool!

Mama and Dada finally got the courage to force me indoors, thinking that maybe a look at my most favorite animal in the whole world might get me interested in some of the other super cool secrets I hadn't yet discovered. I gave the penguins about two seconds before yanking Mama and Dada into the nearby giftshop where I found comfort with all the books and lifeless animal replicas. I'm sorry flightless bird friends, maybe next time. Alright, so that does it for the animal wildlife. Time to wrap this visit up with some of my favorite pics of the day.

So that concluded our Carmel Valley/Monterey trip. This is by far my most favorite vacation spot. Hope we get to go back soon. Choa for now, my peeps.

Hunter. Oh, and Merry Christmas!!

Carmel Valley Ranch Getaway

2008-12-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Mama's birthday down south at Carmel Valley Ranch, one of our favorite places to go when we wanna just getaway for a few days. The condos are perched high up on the hillside overlooking the valley, and it's quite a view with wildlife always around (mostly deer and wild turkeys). Steelhead run the river that winds through the bottom of the valley and the beach isn't too far away. Oh, and of course there's room service (not that food is something I get all that excited about).

So here's a look at our weekend away from therapy and tutors and work and doctor's appointments. Here's us just having some fun. Okay, so I decided to start with a pic of some of the wildlife. There are lots of deer wandering the ranch but Mama wouldn't let me get out and chase them with Dada. She said something about him being crazy if he thought he would be able to ride one.

Other than some shopping and a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (which I'll cover in my next entry), this little organic growers market turned out to be the most fun of all.

And while I'd never seen so many wild, crazy-colored organic squashes in one place, the Secret Garden was the area that was hard for me to leave behind at the end of our chilly visit. Here are some of the pics my Dada got while we ran around in the garden.

There was a corn maze that had just been plowed back into the earth, but the giant TeePee was pretty cool. I really like being outside, outdoors, even when it's a bit on the cool side. It was an excellent trip. Hopefully, we'll get to go back soon.

Chat with you again soon, Hunter.

What my brothers did for Halloween.

2008-11-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

I recently got an email from my brothers, sharing some of the pictures from their Halloween adventures. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts (Check the most recent Disneyland stuff for more details) that my brothers, Ethan and Caleb, had recently graduated from the Jedi Training Academy as Padawans. Well, it seems as if they have continued with their stealth and swordplay training by going out into the Halloween World as Ninjas. How cool is that?!

Anyway, thought I'd share their pics with all my peeps. Enjoy!

This is Caleb, AKA The Gold Ninja, trying out his best "I'm Scared" look. It must be hard for a ninja to look scared.

And here's Ethan, AKA the Red Ninja, trying on his scared face for the camera. You can see both my Ninja brothers had a hard time showing true fear. Ninjas are so cool!

A picture just before they left for their Halloween expedition. You can see Ethan and Caleb are now fully dressed and ready for action. They are accompanied by Seth the Lion (their little brother) and Kaya the Pirate (their little sister). The two in the middle I am unfamiliar with, but they appear to be quite comfortable in the presence of my Ninja brothers.

And for your viewing pleasure, my brothers in Drew Carey glasses.

I must say, the thing that caught my attention the most in these photos are the surfer-like hair-dos my brothers are sporting. Wow! That is some huge amount of hair on their heads. But it's cool, bros, can't wait to see you at Christmas. Keep the pictures coming.

Love Ya. Your little brother, Hunter.

Halloween Fun! Sort of...

2008-11-01T08:20:00.001-07:00

Most recently in therapy, I've been learning about some of the fun holidays kids my age get all excited about. Days like Easter, Christmas, and Halloween. I've got the academics of the those particular holidays down (as usual, I was quick to learn the differences between each holiday and how to recognize someone celebrating it), but having just come of age to really start enjoying these days, I haven't had much experience with any of them. First up on my To-Do list was Halloween.

Experience. If that was the thing I lacked for understanding this strange and unusual day, then I'm not sure I want much of it. In fact, I think I've had quite enough of it, which began with a trip to the Spirit Halloween store.

I figured, like any other day, this would be another trip to another store where I could wander, trying to find something I wanted to take with me to a better home. Then the doors opened on Spirit Halloween. It was dark, the entryway sealed off on both sides by enormous stone walls. There were great firey creatures on the walls, goblins and spooks and the scariest things I think I've ever seen. Eerie uninviting music played in the background. And after only two steps into the store, I ripped my hand from my Mama's and bolted out the doors and into the street, running in no particular direction, as long as it got me away from the store. Mama was quick on my heels, catching me before I ran out into the parking lot, but it took me a minute to calm down enough to realize Mama had no intention of taking me back into that evil place. Dada went back (crazy man) but Mama and I got in the van and watched some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Dada wasn't in the store long and seemed rather disappointed.

So that was Thursday the 30th of October. Friday, the 31st and Halloween Night, would be the ultimate test. Mama and Dada had the night off, and this is how it went.

Therapy ended and mintues later, Mama and Dada were packing up the van. I knew we were off to someplace good, cause they packed food and my supplements. Then I saw my costume and I had a pretty good idea what was in store. I voiced my disapproval with a loud growl and then we were out the door and headed to the Jacob's homestead in Concord.

Within the hour, I was dressed and out the door in my Halloween costume. I was okay for the first house we visited, then the jig was up. Houses with lights and decorations were the worst. Mama did most of the work, to her credit, reciting the required 'Trick or Treat' for goodies at most of the doors we visited. I got out a couple 'trick or treats' and lots of 'bye byes', but for the most part, the only thing I liked about this holiday was the rain. It wasn't heavy rain, just enough to keep you aware of it. Halloween, so far, is not the holiday for me, but, of course, there are some pictures I thought you might enjoy...

We got things going pretty quick. No time to mess around when it's getting dark at 1830 hours. Rain wasn't much of a factor, present, but as you can see, I've got a covered spot on wheels near the front of the entourage. I'm followed closely by Grandma, Alice, Minnie, Wyatt Earp, a 50's version of my cousin Miranda, Aunt April, and a winged unicorn. Somewhere in the darkness beyond is my Dada and Uncle Jeremy.

So, at our first stop, a relatively undecorated spot with very friendly people, I got out of my chair for about 30 seconds, then tried climbing back in. The first few houses went pretty much the same, although I quickly decided I wanted to be walking rather than riding.

Here, Mama has me in arm and that was as close as I let her get to the house where we were. My cousins, as you can see, have no problems at all with this holiday. The one house I did let Mama take me up to the door was one I found particularly inviting, and went on inside to see their dog. Luckily, Mama and Uncle Jeremy knew the family very well.

Eventually, we made it to Great Grandma June's house where we stayed and played a bit. Grandma June read us a Halloween story and then I was ready to head out. Uncle Chris had asked us to stop by around 1930 hours, so he could snap some pictures of us in costume.

Well, that was Halloween. I was an astronaut, NASA endorsed, and I can only hope Christmas is a more tolerable holiday. But, one thing I can get excited about is it means a visit from my two older brothers, Ethan and Caleb. Christmas is already looking a whole lot better.

Hunter out.

A Visit from Grandpa Jacobs

2008-10-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Not long ago my Grandpa Jacobs came for a visit. I don't see him very often so it was fun to get together at my Uncle Jeremy's house for a big family visit. My Uncle Chris was there too. (I usually only see him on the weekends when I'm at Grandma's house.) And then, of course, my Aunt April, Miranda, Logan, Haylie, Hannah, and Lauren. It was a fun day. Everyone (everyone but me that is) ate pizza and talked (I didn't do much talking either. Eating and Talking, not my favorite things to do, although I am getting much more into that whole talking thing.)

I spent most of the time outside in the backyard with my Dada and cousins. I like to throw things over the fence into the pool next door, but don't tell the neighbor about it. She's kinda cranky.

Anyway, that was the visit. More later. Halloween is coming and I'm not sure how I feel about all the spookiness just yet.

Mama and Dada take a Night Off.

2008-10-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

So when Mama and Dada got invited to Matt and Angie's wedding, they decided it was a good opportunity to get away on a Saturday night. Matt and Angie are good friends from work. We went to their house once, ate dinner, and swam in the pool. They also watched my older brothers, Ethan and Caleb, for a night while I was in the hospital for my second ph probe.

While at their house for dinner, I tried a tortilla chip for the first time. And they have dogs! I like dogs, but I don't think Mama will ever allow us to get one. I bet if I actually asked for it, she might run out that moment and buy one.

Anyway, Matt and Angie have always been willing to help a fella (or his parents) out, so I thought I'd give them some space on my ramblings to the cyber-world.

Here's my Mama and Dada on their night out, celebrating with their friends. Don't they look good together? Bom chica wow wow!

Oh, and there was the cutting of the cake. That was an exciting moment. My Dada and a trio of other fine men were asked to move the cake while on it's table to an area suitable for an audience. Can you imagine the pressure? Well, it all worked out nicely in the end. It was a pretty cool cake, so I heard.

And there was dancing, of course. Singing as well, but we probably don't need to go there. Here's a pic of Matt and Angie Switzer's first dance. The wedding took place in a quiet municipal park in Danville with a big open field surrounded by the most amazing houses and a creek my Dada probably could have pulled some nice fish out of if he'd had his stick with him.

Anyway, after the celebrating was done, Mama and Dada were off to the movies. That's they're favorite thing to do. Me, well, I got to hang with Grandma Jacobs. I think I got the better end of that arrangement.

Me and My G-Tube.

2008-09-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

So the day my parents have been fighting to avoid finally came September 8, 2008. It was a Monday morning. We left home just after 0800 hours and drove to Kaiser Oakland Main Hospital. Dr. Kim and his surgery team met us in our little waiting room where Mama, Dada, and I waited for the frightening reality of today to sink in. It would, eventually, as my Mama dressed me in my little blue gown and yellow sticky-feet socks.

The hour finally came, 1230 hours, and I was wheeled off to the OR in a wagon full of pillows and carrying two of my rubber ducks. For my Mama, it must have been the longest hour of her life. I know I couldn't wait to be back in her arms.

The OR was all flashing lights and beeps and dull stainless steel and blue. And then suddenly I was drifting deep in a beautiful dream. I couldn't tell you much more about anything that happened after that, not until I woke up to a large white man in a light blue shirt covered in Winnie the Poo images. No, not my father you silly people, my Recovery Room RN. Nice fella, in his own way. Dry sense of humor, though.

It took a bit for me to wake after the surgery, but I did eventually, although I had some trouble getting oxygen into my blood just after waking and then again later that night. Mama called Dada (who'd had to go home to sleep) at about 0400 hours when they had to start me on some oxygen. I have the best parents in the world in case you were wondering.

Pain killer at first was 1mg of morphine. That kept me pretty doped up all day long. I didn't eat, didn't sleep, and pretty much just laid around all day in a tiny room with two other kids and their families. At least I had the middle space which turned out to be the biggest space of the three. The kid in the space to my right was Robert and his appendix had burst. He'd been in the hospital since Friday. The other Kid, the one in the window space, didn't get to know his name but apparently he was there after having a seizure. He'd been there since Saturday. There were a lot of kids in my hospital, but, like I said, I didn't do a whole lot that first day.

Day two went a lot better. They got me off the morphine and started me on Tylenol with codeine. It made a huge difference. I was alert, babbling again, and taking an interest in all the things around me. Dada ran errands, got Mama food, changed my videos, and did all the things Dadas are good for when Mamas need them. I started eating again through the new tube in my belly (my throat was still pretty sore from the breathing tube put in during the surgery). Did I mention the surgery was laproscopic? It was. They made a small incision in my belly where they placed the Mic-Key button and pushed the camera through my belly button so they could see what they were doing. Anyway, Day Two gave my Mama and Dada hope, hope that I was still gonna be the same little boy I'd been before going into the OR, only now with an easier way to get me nourished and healthy.

We met lots of nice people at the hospital and Kaiser hooked us up (the $200.00 a month Mama and Dada were spending on my food will now be bought and shipped to us by Kaiser. YA, baby, YA!). We checked out Wednesday afternoon and headed home. I took a five hour nap when I got home and still slept through the night.

Now that you've got the scoop, here's a few pictures documenting the day.

I swiped this Little Einsteins book from the Ambulatory Surgery Unit and kept it with me the whole time I was in the Hospital. When my nurse found it as we were walking out the door, she asked, "Where did this come from?" Ooops. He he.

My ride to the OR, pulled along by my anast, anestizi, the dude who gave me my drugs, and my OR Nurse. As you can see, my Mama wasn't far behind. In fact, the only time my Mama wasn't by my side was during the surgery.

Our room eventually had a view, when the family by the window moved to a different room. The view, you ask? Well, in the near distance we could see downtown Oakland. In the far distance is my favorite big city, San Francisco.

And finally, me at home, shirt off and feeling a little better about the whole experience (but very aware of the new addition to my little body). The "button" is kind of like one of those valves you use to blow up a floaty toy for the pool, only this one can spin around. It's kind of stomach churning at first, but we're all getting used to it and it has made feeding time a whole lot less stressful for everyone.

There's more coming. We've had some pretty crazy experiences already with the tube and getting food through it, but I'll save it for another day. Ta ta for now, my Peeps.

Hunter. 2 years 9 months.

A Day at the Zoo

2008-09-13T16:42:00.001-07:00

The Oakland Zoo. It's not San Diego, but there is something special about this particular animal preserve. Tucked into the rolling hills east of Oakland, the Oakland Zoo is home to some of my favorite animals. And although my last visit to this zoo didn't go so well (I didn't eat well and then threw up what I had eaten, and then there was the discipline issues with my older brothers), I was very excited about this trip.

My ABA skills trainers (and Mama and Dada, of course) have been teaching me all about animals. I can identify fifty or more by picture AND know their sounds (or just make up sounds for the animals I don't know). So, when Mama and Dada pushed my stroller and all into the zoo, I was totally stoked! I had no idea how cool giraffes, camels, elephants, zebras, and monkeys really were!

And the day just kept gettin' better and better with giant lizards, alligators, and turtles all just feet or even inches away, but always just out of reach. Where does a guy have to go to get some hands on experience with animals?

And then there were the Meerkats (What a weird name! I don't even know if I have that spelled right! But would it matter with a name like that?) and giant fruit bats! Bats are Cool.

And then I found the place where we got to get hands on, or somewhat hands on. Seems the workers aren't real fond of close interaction with the "wildlife". I mean, come on, if you're going to put balls out for the goats to play with and you're going to let kids in to play with the goats, then shouldn't you be alright with kids using the balls to play with the goats? Anyway, I think the goats and I got along just fine...

We made a couple more stops before it was time for Mama and Dada to grab some grub from the on-site eating facility (animal friendly, of course. Nothing a lion wouldn't eat.)

And that was all she wrote, folks. I was out. But my day at the zoo was perfect for everyone, which is hard to accomplish sometimes around here. Maybe next time we can bring Grandma.

It was fun. Hunter out.

Protecting Hunter.

2008-09-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

My Mama and Dada had to get a little extreme with my crib because I returned to banging my head, banging it hard.

It didn't start out like this. At first, it was just a few cushy pieces of foam covering the top of the crib. It wasn't long, though, before I figured out I could drop to my knees and bang my head on the walls of my crib and create just as much chaos. That was when Mama and Dada got crazy with the Water Noodles, slicing and splitting the soft foam into enough pieces to cover every inch of wood that could possibly be used for head-banging.

My efforts at head-banging for attention thwarted, I resorted to something new, something I hadn't yet tried but found I was very good at: climbing out of the crib. That only lasted a couple of days before Mama was on the Internet and searching for a way to keep me inside.

My aunt and uncle once used a tent to keep one of my cousins locked down during nap/quiet time. That inspired my Mama to search the World Wide Web for a "crib tent". Low and behold, we found one at Babies R Us (Of all the places to be turned on! I mean really, Babies R Us, I thought you were on my side of this arrangement!).

So, that night the crib tent was put in place and, Boo-yah, we have a miniature maximum security crib for head-banging babies prone to escape attempts. Guess that's what happens when you have two parents smarter than the average bear.

(For information regarding the building of your own maximum security crib, contact my Mama.)

Hunter Out.

Between Then and Now

2008-08-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

Disneyland..........miss you.

But, life goes on, even after Disneyland. And we got back in the swing of things with a summer get together with the Jacobs. And wouldn't you know, everyone wanted a shot at the Sidewinder!

But, as with all good things, the serious stuff was waiting for us as soon as we were doing having our fun. I got to spend a day and a night at Kaiser Walnut Creek having a second ph probe done. Why? Well, it seems inevitable that I will end up with a g-tube (for feeding purposes) and my GI is suggesting the Fundo as well, because of my previous issues with Reflux (aka GERD). Notice I said "previous"? After a horrible day and night in the arm restraints you'll see below and a very long night for my Mama (and Dada who couldn't stay in the hospital with us), we got the results of the probe.

The results: I no longer suffer from an abnormal amount of reflux, in fact, the test said I had better than average control over the acid flow between my stomach and esophagus. How cool is that!? Thanks Mama, for being patient and letting my body work out its issues.

So, now we get to tackle my eating aversions head-on, nothing else to worry about, nothing else to prevent us from making me the little eater everyone hopes some day I will be. I do too, and with my Mama and Dada, I don't see how I can possible fail!

Disneyland Vacation - The rest of our Trip

2008-08-22T14:55:00.001-07:00

What do you do after Disneyland? You spend time with family at the park and go to Zuma Beach. So, for our first day with Aunt Jami, Uncle Rob, Spencer and Gwen (Taylor was still at Girl's Camp when we got there), we went to one of the local parks where it was way too hot for my own personal enjoyment, but we did seem to have fun.

The next day we were off to Zuma Beach near Malibu, and, No, we did not see any celebrities, to my Mama's dismay. I could see why the stars and People Magazine hang out here though.

I cannot tell you how much I love the water, especially the beach. What a cool, fun place, not to mention how everyone puts on special clothes to run around in the waves and sand. (Nothing quite like when Jim Carrey put on his girlfriend's bathing suit, his girlfriend being none other than the mother of a child with Autism, Jenny McCarthy)But it was still quite the place. What'd we do while we were at the beach? Well, have a look...

Oh, and I can't forget these excellent moments! We did have a lot of fun at the beach, a whole lot of fun.

So, that pretty much brings our fun little family vacation to an end. It was a good time, a success in every way, and the most fun I've had in a long time. Well, with hours and hours of learning to do every day, it's hard for Mama and Dada to find time to get us away for a few days. But they do alright, I like them. Think I'll keep around for a while longer.

Choa for now, my Peeps.

Hunter

Disneyland Vacation - More of Day 2

2008-07-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

I thought my viewers might enjoy another look at Day 2 of our vacation, or at least a look at some of the pictures from Day 2, an experience which we shared with my cousins (Spencer and Gwen) and my Aunt Jami. And while the Jedi Academy was a big part of the excitement at the park, I found Downtown Disney a lot more interesting. So here we are in Downtown Disney, eating ice cream and having fun climbing giant Legos, posing with giant blow-up movie advertisements, and just hanging out. Can you find the Green Army Men?

I love pictures, and you may have noticed my "Dada" (that's my version of Dad, product of my many hours of home-schooling (aka ABA Therapy)) isn't in many of them because he's always behind the camera. I think he went to film school or wants to or something, thinks he's the next George Lucas or Steven Spielberg (not really, he's a writer, an undiscovered talent about to complete his first novel and change the way stories are told forever. Love you, Dada.) He loves taking pictures, probably why he's always behind the camera, capturing all those special moments we're having.

And then, there was ice cream. Whoever God inspired to create ice cream should go straight to heaven cause by the looks on the faces of those around me who eat the stuff on a regular basis, ice cream is pretty much like heaven on earth. (I have no idea why. There is absolutely nothing attractive about ice cream for me. Soft, wet, sticky, slimy, Yuck! The only thing remotely satisfying about it is how cold it is. But there's so many nasty things about it, I couldn't ever enjoy the perfect coldness that makes ice cream what it is.) Thank You Dreyer's in Downtown Disney!

And that's Day 2, at least a good look at some of the fun we had. There's more ahead from our vacation, but check this out, I'm white hot and seconds away from streakin' through Downtown Disney!

Chao for now, amigos.

Disneyland Vacation - Day 1

2008-07-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

The trek to the land of a million dreams was long, hot, well packed in our Thule cargo bag, and made much more enjoyable by the presence of my Grandma. I did, however, refuse to eat my afternoon bottle while enroute to our summer destination but got back on track once we reached the Paradise Pier Hotel. The sun was still blazing in the sky when we pulled into the semi-circular driveway at the front of the hotel.

High up on the thirteenth (No joke!) we were given two adjoining rooms we would make our home for the next three days. The view was amazing, California Adventure spreading out before us like a giant open blanket with the picnic already laid out for us. The night began with room service and ended with Mom, Dad, and my two brothers disappearing into Disneyland for the remainder of the evening while I cozied up with Grandma in the hotel rooms. I love my Grandma and knew our day would come tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

My return to Disneyland was punctuated by a desire to remain in my stroller while those around me made cheerful and wonderful discoveries throughout this vast, strange land of lines and peoples, most of which were unlike anything I had ever seen. I think most of the reason behind why I was so unwilling to be free of my stroller had to do with the surprising number of strangers running wildly through the park, and after being denied several attemtps at theft of other childrens' balloons, I was finally content to remain seated and watch the world around me. I had my Grandma with me and knew nothing serious would befall me because she was there. Did I mention how much I love my Grandma. I thought it was so cool that she wanted to go with us on our vacation. My brothers and parents seemed eager, on the other hand, to mingle amongst the ruffians and thrill-seekers surrounding us. It was a good, fascinating adventure for my whole family.

The first day at Disneyland ended for me, my brothers, and Grandma with a visit to the hotel pool. The pool was amazing, probably the thing my brothers and I enjoyed the most. In fact, we spent more time in and around the pool and its awesome waterslide, than we did in either of the two amusement parks we'd come to explore. These pictures really don't do it justice, but I think you get the idea.

Day One of our Disneyland Vacation came to a close with smiles on all faces. And with sore feet and tired eyes, we three brothers curled up into our respective sleeping areas and were sound asleep under Grandma's watchful eye before Mom and Dad snuck out to finish the night off with some much needed one on one time. My only disappointment...

...just not quite big enough for that waterslide. Maybe next year. But we'll have to get through tomorrow first.

Disneyland Vacation - Day 2

2008-07-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Early on the rise, we set out to the park and a morning full of excitement. Today, my two older brothers, Ethan and Caleb, were going to the Jedi Training Academy to learn the true ways of the Force. Both of my brothers, like their father before them, have lived and breathed the ways of the Jedi for as long as they have been alive. Star Wars, its lore, and its power is as much a part of our family heritage as is our name. This day, for Ethan and Caleb, would be their first steps down a new path, a path strong in the Force.

The whole experience was pretty amazing. Caleb was picked during the first training class of the day, much to his brother's dismay. But return we did for the next show, finding a place at the front of the crowd where Ethan was finally selected to prove his strength in the ways of the Force. You can see how much he wanted this when you look him in the eye. Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Stormtroopers, lightsaber battles, it was all more than we could have possibly imagined, an experience that will not soon be forgotten.

Some day, I will follow in the footsteps of my father and brothers, learning the ways of the Force so that I too may become a Jedi.

May the Force be with you all.

Hunter.

Summer has begun!!

2008-06-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of many entries I forsee in the future. It's funny how much having my two older brothers around can change things, for the better. We are having so much fun. Teeth are being lost, casts are coming off, and of course the newest edition to our backyard playplace (Jacobs you've got to come try this!!), Sidewinder Falls!! Not to mention in only three days we'll be off to sunny Southern California to stay at the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland!! Oh ya, uh huh, so cool, or as my brothers, Ethan and Caleb, might say, "This summer is gonna be tight!" And I get a week off from therapy!!

And yet another two months have passed...

2008-06-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, it's been a long time since my last post. My apologies to all who have remained loyal to me throughout the last two years and a half years. Yes, it has been that long. Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles, cousins, and my brothers, sit back, hold on to your seat, and enjoy the ride. (It could be another two months before you see anything from my ghostwriter again. I might have to fire him.)

So this is me right now. Yes I'm actually sitting on the floor as I write this wearing my mama's glasses (come on people, let's keep a little perspective here). ALright so maybe not right now, but its a fairly recent representation of me and my fun personality. I love to wear my mama's glasses.

Eating. This is usually the first thing Mama and Dada are asked about by those who know my particular quirks and inquetudes (that's a Spanish word. I have a Spanish video I watch that is very fascinating, lots of songs). So here you'll find a little picture of me munching on my favorite all-day treat. The Cheeto. (You'll also notice the marks from my recent head-banging tantrums.) I am finding food a little more tolerable and have now eaten Tortilla Chips, Ritz Crackers, and Cheetos (my favorite by far). See a pattern here? I've also tasted Cranberry Juice and an Apple Fritter (courtesey of my Dada).

As for my bottle, the second picture here is what my folks hope for every time we sit down to eat. Lately, it hasn't been that way and nothing short of a miracle will save me from a surgery to help me thrive. We only just met with my GI Doctor, so I can't give more details about this right now. I can tell you I will be having a ph Probe done here very shortly to determine whether my reflux is still an issue (I've been off all my meds for six weeks now!).

So, let me introduce you all to my brothers, Ethan and Caleb, who have only just arrived from the far off land of Arizona and plan to spend the whole summer with me. Ethan arrived in rare form with a cast on his left arm where he had a supracondylar fracture. He no longer has the cast as of this writing but rather forcely convinced the technician removing it that he wanted to keep it ("Dude, I want to keep it."). Both have rather unruly and long cabello (another Spanish word) and tell me its the in-style thing to do. They also use the word 'tight' as some sort of adjective meaning to be cool.

Before I go, I'll share two pictures of activities I find very enjoyable: Sleeping and Watching myself on the VideoCamera.

My love to all. Hunter out.

Just a Quick Little Note...

2008-04-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

So it's been a bit, I know, but hey, I'm kind of a big deal (to quote the Anchorman). For those of you not lucky enough to be privy to my many achievements, here's a quick list of just some of them:

1. My first word: More
2. Second word: Ball
3. I know ten colors (or more)
4. Know at least two dozen different animals
5. And know all major body parts
6. Can identify pictures of Mama, Dada, Grandma Jacobs, Uncle Chris, Uncle Jeremy and Aunt April (and I'm working on my skills trainers)
7. I can put in and close
8. Zip up
9. Go get and bring
10. I can sign Thank you, Please, Open, Help, and More
11. I can blow a kiss
12. Give a high five
13. And throw a ball
14. I pick out the jacket I want to wear
15. And can take off my pajamas

Well, like I said, just a quick little update on what we're up to. Talk to you again soon, and maybe I'll try and find a picture to post as well. Ta ta for now my peeps.

Hunter out. (We're watching American Idol right now and I have enjoyed the singing very much.)

Project: Fort Hunter

2008-02-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

So, after thirty hours of strenuous labor, using a variety of obscure, discontinued (cheap) tools and following a mind-boggling (less-than-accurate) set of directions, Hunter's Fort (legally named the Big Backyard Aspen Lodge) is complete. Purchased using a U.S. Bond acquired for Tamra back in 1989 by her Grandma Baird (Thanks Great Grandma!!), Hunter's Fort boasts a three swing monkey-bar attachment, climbing wall, lunch station with two stools, covered raised play platform, and a nine foot wave slide.

Sturdy (tested by a 220 pound angry white male) and good-smelling (constructed of mostly stained cedar), Hunter's Fort is open to all siblings and cousins who want to come play (at their own risk of course). Lunch will be served depending on the time of day.

See you all soon.

Look what I can do...

2008-02-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

Therapy started January 2, 2008 and has been a whirlwind of new stuff to learn. I'm doing better than anyone expected, accomplishing goals set for me months ahead of schedule, seems I'm something of a smarty pants (in a good way). Here's just a glimpse at the things I'm learning... (it's so much fun!)

Hunter Vs. Papa with Clippers...a tale of hair loss.

2008-01-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

It was a rainy Tuesday morning, just before bathtime, when a conspiracy to cut my hair with Papa's clippers came to fruition. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say to stop the madness before the vibrating hair-killing machine was at its nastiness.

It seems my Mom and Dad had been curious what I might look like with my hair cut close to the scalp. Now they know, and hopefully, knowing was half the battle.

The result of said attack on my golden locks, well, I think the pictures will give you an idea of how the ordeal went for me.

More...

2008-01-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

So, therapy continues and I'm learning to cope with change, figuring out how to interact with all the people around me, and finally learning to really communicate. That, I gather, has been the hardest thing for my Mom and Dad. I don't speak, haven't ever even mumbled anything that remotely sounded like a word, and no one knows why except me and I can't tell anyone. It seems that's fairly common with kids like me.

But I've made an exciting breakthrough and wanted to share it with my world (for all those who haven't been able to be around much lately, I love you all too!).

I could tell you all about it, in a bunch of fancy words and frivolous chatter as I am want to do at times, but I think the video says it all.

My Mom and Dad are so proud of me.

What's new for the new year?

2008-01-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

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So, what's new for the new year. From my last entry you probably guessed our life was about to change pretty drastically, and indeed it has. Shortly after my last post, I was diagnosed with Autism by professionals from the Oakland Children's Hospital and that diagnosis was confirmed a week later by the Kaiser Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic in San Jose. I am autistic, exactly where on the spectrum they can't say because of my age (I just turned 2!!), but the diagnosis is official. So, what doesn that mean? Without all the medical and pyscho jargon, it means a lot of people have taken an interest in me.

On January 2nd, I started ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy which is 5 hours a day, five days a week for the next year. All of that takes place in my own home, which is pretty cool. I have four skills trainers that will be working with me throughout the week. I've met three of the four and I'm confident I've got a good team to work with. I also have an hour of Speech Therapy on Tuesday's, as well as an hour of Occupational Therapy followed by Feeding Therapy on Thursday's. It's been a little rough getting to know so many new people, especially since I'm not so fond of new faces. The hardest thing is how friendly all these new people are. They want to get close to me, talk to me, and play with my toys. It's a little annoying at times, but Mom and Dad are there and they seem to want this kind of interaction for me so I do the best I can.

Probably the most exciting new thing to happen is I've learned the ASL sign for more. Now, when I'm playing with my bubble gun, or wanting water, or even being pushed in by Indoor stroller, I can just tap my hands together and I get more of that activity. Still haven't got any words, but this simple sign seems to really make my Mom and Dad happy. Guess I'll have to learn MORE.

Christmas was pretty decent. I really got into the gift opening thing and got some amazing stuff from all those with a little love in their heart for me. Not only that, but my two older brothers, Ethan and Caleb, were here for a week. It was fun having them here, but sometimes hard to share my Dad with them. We also had a really cool New Year's Party, with my Uncle Jeremy and Aunt April, Miranda, Logan, Haylie and Hannah, Lauren, and Grandma who all slept over. There was lots of food (not that I ate any of it. My dad sure did though!), and lots of kids running around. I hope we do it again next year.

There's a lot of love in my home right now. I know my Mama stresses and worries about me, but I've seen the way my Dad loves her and it gives me hope that everything is gonna be alright.

Hope. There's not enough of it in the world but there's sure a lot of it where I call home. And that makes me feel pretty good.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

2007-11-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

For most of my life, now, I've been struggling with eating. Complicated by GERD (that's gastroesophageal reflux disease), food has not been my most favorite thing in the world. My diet still consists of liquid supplements and high-calorie pediatric formulas, a milkshake of sorts like the one I described in an earlier post.

Every afternoon, I munch a Cheeto after my bottle. I like Cheetos. They hardly ever make me gag. But that is the closest I've gotten to eating food.

As some of you know, my life has been somewhat complicated of late as various doctors attempt to determine if I have Autism. It seems pretty clear to my pediatrician as well as Mom and Dad, but we must have a professional diagnosis before I can start any kind of treatment. Autism is a scary thing. It seems there is no clear-cut reason for its onset, nor any surefire cure, just a lot of different theories that seem to help a lot of different kids suffering from this same disease that disables a lot of normal kids like me. But I have hope.

My Mom spends hours every day researching and reading and finding the best ways to battle the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, and my Dad is always there with her supporting and reading as well. I know it has been hard on both of them. Life pretty much revolved around me before. Now, there is little time for anything else.

Autism in children is best treated if it is diagnosed early. The earlier the better. I'm almost two, and thanks to my parents being diligent and aware, I have a very good chance at overcoming this. My Mom is the miracle worker, always on the phone, getting me appointments, making sure I'm not forgotten by the medical professionals who seem to need sticky notes on the their foreheads to remember they have people they need to help who can't help themselves. Mom's the one that makes sure that sticky note is always front and center on their forehead.

So what are my symptoms:

1. (And this is the big one) I don't talk. Not one word, and although I used to do a little babbling, I stopped that some time ago. Most of my communication is done by leading. When there's something I want, I go to my Mom (or Dad but only if Mom's not available), grab her hand, and lead her to what I want. I don't point or communicate my desires, needs, likes or dislikes in any other way.

2. Tip-toe walking and hand-flapping are two things my parents noticed at a relatively young age; of course, then they thought these self-stimulatory acts were just me being cute. The truth was much harder to swallow as these two things are commonly seen in children with autism.

3. I'm a Grouper. While my parents have filled my home with all sorts of toys, I rarely play with them appropriately. I mostly find balls, Easter eggs, and cars and put them in large groups throughout the house or line them up along the windowledge.

4. The mundane fascinates me. The park near our home has a water fountain that leaks constantly. This is why I like to go to the park. I could care less about the other kids playing or even the toys, its the water that I want, and if Mom would let me, I would spend hours and hours there touching it, looking at it, watching it without any care for the things going on around me. Some of my other fixations include elevators, sprinklers, the flower pot outside the front door (also filled with water), well, those are probably the big ones.

Those are the things that have gotten me a lot of attention recently and I'm scheduled for several evaluations in the next couple of weeks to determine just how to get me back on track with other kids my age. It's been a rough few weeks for us all.

So, as I said before, there's not really any one thing that experts say is "the cause" of autism. What it looks like, is any number of things happening at the right (or wrong) time which seem to trigger autism in children mostly between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. What triggered my symptoms? Well, after much discussion and research, the following seem to be high on that list:

1. My reflux. It seems about 70% of children diagnosed with autism have a severly impaired gastrointestinal tract from disorders like GERD. Between the medications and my limited diet, it's very likely my body wasn't able to absorb and digest the nutrients I needed (Calicium, Protein, Iron, and Zinc to name a few).

2. My vacinations. In 2001 vaccine makers have been taking toxic levels of mercury out of childrens vaccines. I've had the same injections every kid is suppose to have with the addition of Hepatitis A and a Flu shot. The Flu shot was probably the worse of them all because manufacturers are still allowed to use mercury as a preservative in this vaccine. My Mom was also given Rohgam before getting pregnant with me because of a miscarriage, and instead of listening to my Dad and what his blood type was, they gave it to her anyway, saying "It can't hurt anything if she gets it." Mercury is also used in Rohgam as a preservative.

Those are two big red flags when looking at what might cause autism, but again, no one can say this causes autism or that causes autism, which kind of sucks for parents of children with autism. With all that, the last question is "What are we doing about it?"

1. A new diet. Mom and Dad are working to get me on a gluten free/casein free diet, which has been something of a headache since there is so little I will actually eat. I don't eat food. My entire diet consists of liquid and vitamin supplements, and getting me to eat something different that fits into this special diet is not only difficult but expensive, really expensive.

2. All new play. Mom has joined a Mother's playgroup that not only has playdates for me but mother gatherings for her. Don't know what Dad's gonna do. We also spend a lot of time at our local parks trying to get me to interact with or at least notice other little kids and what they do. And there's a lot more one on one face time with Mom and Dad.

3. Doctor's appointements. Oh yes, over the next six months we have appointments with the Regional Center of the East Bay which will help diagnose my condition and determine what therapies are needed to help me develop the areas that have been affected, as well as appointments with the Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic and a DAN Doctor, for pretty much the same reason, although the DAN Doctor will look a lot more closely at what's going on internally.

Once the doctor's appointments get going, I'll have a lot more to talk about. Looks like the next year or so is going to be pretty busy for me, Mom, and Dad. We appreciate all the love and support we've gotten and will try to post updates as often as we can. Enjoy the video.

Hunter out.

Family Slide Show

2007-10-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

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My Grandpa R asked to see more pictures of my amazing family, so I put this little flick together with some of the pictues I have from our time together as a family. It's been a lot of fun with some good adventures and a couple of tough spots, but we're a family and being a family is what we're all about.

Faces of Hunter

2007-10-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

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As I approach the age of two (only a couple short months away), I find I have much more to think about. Not thinking enough about a certain subject seems to bring on fits of rage which I unleash on my Big People, who then counter my rage with a knowing look.

I'm still not talking, don't know why everyone's making such a big fuss about it. Look at me, I love life!!

And, Yes, that is my house in our living room.

Getting Caught.

2007-10-04T19:46:00.001-07:00

So, as I approach that point in my life when fits of rage and moments of mischievousness abound, I once again found myself caught in the act by my parents. They actually caught me much earlier on in my destruction of the wipes' box; however, they seemed to think my antics were quite amusing.

Not only did they take the time to capture me in photograph at the scene of the crime, but there was also video of this vandalism in progress. The video, I'm sure, will find its way onto this web of information and my image will be ruined until I do something undeniably adorable, a feat I am very capable of, despite my current, virtually unstoppable urge to get myself into trouble.

Not much is said (mainly because I still refuse to speak), and there's not really any point of formal discipline (because I still tune most things out, not to mention I'm so dang cute), so Ma and Pa are left with the alternative, record my behavior and blackmail me with it at a later date and time.

Chao for Now.

Hunter

Things I didn't know about my Pa

2007-10-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

So, after Mom gave me a honest glimpse into her mind, my Pa thought it was only fair that he share the same insider information. I must say, I have two very interesting parents who provide me with the perfect balance of fun and education in this home of ours. With that said, here's my Pa.

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

1. Student at BYU
2. Writing my first screenplay
3. Driving an 88 Nissan Sentra
4. Dreaming of Winning an Oscar
5. Teaching Spanish at the MTC

5 Things on my to-do list today

1. Be a good husband
2. Mow the lawn, trash the weeds, cut the tree
3. Update my various Blogs
4. Read my comic books
5. Play with my son

5 Snacks I enjoy

1. Bread, fresh, buttered, toasted, bread
2. Cheese and Crackers
3. Yogurt
4. Cool, tall glass of Juice
5. Cookies and Milk

5 Songs I know the lyrics to

1. You’ve Lost that Loving Feelin
2. In the Still of the Night
3. Yesterday
4. Great Balls of Fire
5. My Girl

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire

1. Get rid of all my debt
2. Help family with their debt worries (Both Sides)
3. Buy a fishing boat
4. Put some money away, invested, for my three boys
5. Buy a big vacation home somewhere fun

5 Bad Habits

1. Fast Food
2. Not Exercising
3. Procrastinating
4. Doing fun things when I have yardwork to do
5. Getting frustrated with my wife when she gives in to my son every time he cries for something

5 Things I'd never wear again

1. Suspenders
2. A turtleneck sweater
3. My Chicago Bulls jacket
4. A pocket watch
5. Thin neckties

5 Favorite toys

1. My PSP
2. My McGwire, McFarlane, and Marvel Collections
3. My HD Entertainment System
4. My Fishing Gear
5. My Wife (not really a toy, but I love when we play together)

So that's my Pa in a nutshell. Don't I have just the most interesting parents? I think so.

Chao for now. Hunter

Things I Didn't Know About My Mom

2007-10-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

So, I know it's been a little bit, September was an unusual month with not a whole lot going on outside of the home. I've developed some new fun quirks, but this entry is not about me, it's about my most wonderful Mom. When my Aunt April sent my Mom this little survey, she gave it some thought and thought it would be good for me to get to know her ten years ago. She's very thoughtful. I love her. With my reading skills not quite as developed as my ability to throw things, I had to get some help with the list, but I've found there's more to my Mom than meets the eye, as my Dad would say.

Here's Mom!

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

1. Working at 1st Bank in Wheat Ridge, Colorado
2. Driving a Subaru
3. Wasting my time in an unhappy relationship
4. Missing my Family in California
5. Living on Macaroni and Cheese due to low income

5 Things on my to-do list today

1. Try to get my son to eat
2. Clean as much of the house as I can before I go to work
3. Email my Dad so he knows I’m still alive
4. Not allow my son to have even one wet, cold, washcloth (So maybe he’ll actually drink his bottle!)
5. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner

5 Snacks I enjoy

1. Ice Cream
2. Chips and Salsa
3. Fruit!!
4. Veggies in Dip
5. Yogurt/Pudding

5 Songs I know the lyrics to

1. Angel (Sarah McLaughlin)
2. I Walk by Faith (LDS Young Women Song)
3. Not That Different (Colin Ray)
4. Power of Love (Laura Branigan)
5. Come What May (from the Moulin Rouge movie)

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire

1. Pay off my house so if something happens to me my hubby can afford to live in it
2. Buy a vacation home in Hawaii (Right on the beach!!)
3. Pay off my Mom’s house so she can retire
4. Buy my Brother a bigger house so he can have plenty of room for his expanding brood and live mortgage free
5. Pay off my Sister’s house so she can stress less

5 Bad Habits

1. Eating whenever I want, whatever I want
2. Watching TV
3. Procrastinating
4. Doing fun things when I have housework to do
5. Giving in to my son every time he cries for something

5 Things I'd never wear again

1. My High School basketball uniform (way short shorts)
2. My first wedding dress (it would be too small anyway, but it was itchy and gave me a rash!)
3. The size 1 jeans I wore in Junior High (for obvious reasons)
4. Maybe my maternity clothes since we can’t get pregnant!
5. Clothes with fluorescent colors (and there was a year that’s all I owned)

5 Favorite toys

1. TV & DVD Player
2. Laptop
3. X-Box (for Tetris World)
4. Did I mention TV?
5. CD Player

Isn't my Mom a fascinating woman? I sure think so. Thanks Mom, for being so fantastic.

Love Ya, Hunter

Fancy Feet!

2007-08-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

For all my fans who can't be there when it happens. Enjoy.

Hunter

This Land is My Land!!

2007-08-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

This land is my land. It is my kingdom and I reign over it with authority that no one questions. From the hallway of the guest bathroom to the pocket door in the far away kitchen I am the law maker, he who oversees and maintains the quality of life in the Land of Home. There are baskets of toys for all children to enjoy and I dispense then evenly throughout the territory. There is no toy too small, no plaything too daunting, no creation I have not mastered, and I fill my home with their excellence.

Of late, I have discovered the most peculiar item with which to play. I am told by my Big People that they are called Face Cards. They are the most extraordinary things, whatever they are called. Their fascinating construction of thin, glossy paper, rich color, and intricate detailings are like nothing my experienced hands have ever touched. I find them absolutely fascinating and fling them all across the land for everyone to enjoy.

Come all ye toy-makers and makers of things for playing, whether ye be from the Lands of Playskool, Little Tikes, FisherPrice, or Leap Frog, from Parents or Disney, from Infantino, Embryonics, or Lamaze. Bring me your creations and I will put them to good use in the Land of Home.

Fair ye all well until we meet again.

I am Hunter. Hear me ROAR!!

I Love to Smile

2007-08-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

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There is always time for a smile. Smile a lot. Smile often.