Cali Bound!

It is going to be a tight squeeze!

The Hoppers, unable to reach my parents on my father's cell phone, contacted the local police for help finding my parents.  Once Mrs. Hopper explained to them how I physically had been flattened, the police immediately dismissed the call as a prank.  As a result, after two weeks of dead end searches, the Hopper's contacted an agency called Missing Abroad, which ultimately led them to information about my disappearance and contact information for my parents.  It turns out that my parents were still in Costa Rica, looking for me all of this time.



This beats the cost of an airline flight any day!

When the Hopper's initially contacted my parents, they didn't believe my ocean survival story but after a long and tearful Skype session with my parents, they were startled but relieved to see me alive and well.  They are now headed on the first flight back to The United States and I will be shipped out via express mail first thing in the morning. 
While I am happy to be headed home, I have really enjoyed the South!  The southern food, southern hospitality, and the southern way of life, I have grown very fond of.  Mrs. Hopper, through tearful eyes, promised me a place to stay any time I would like to come back to visit the south.  I am going to miss my southern family very much!

- Flat Annie  

The Crayfish Challenge

The Hopper's have a few funny summer traditions, one of which they call the Crayfish Challenge.  With the weather staying relatively warm, they have carried on this particular tradition into the Fall season.  As interested as I have been in nature and survival in the outdoors, Mr. Hopper decided to help put my survival skills to the test and we made our way out to a little creek, their "hidden gem" as they call it, that is tucked away in a little neighborhood in Vestavia, AL.



CLICK HERE to catch the start of the Crayfish Challenge!

 

The Crayfish Challenge consists of a 60 minute exploration up the creek as we overturn rocks looking for as many crayfish that we can find.  The person that finds the most crayfish for the day is the winner for the day, however, the crayfish must be alive when you catch it.  Kase informed me that he holds the record for the most crayfish caught in a single trip and the largest crayfish found this summer.  The prize for the winner is that he or she gets to choose between Brusters Ice-Cream or Dairy Queen.

Bobcat tracks on the bank of the creek.

Unfortunately, there was no ice-cream celebration as we were unable to find a single crayfish.  IT turned out that the trip was not a total lose because as we explored the bank of the creek we found several animal tracks.  One set was believed to be a raccoon and the other, a bobcat.  While we searched, Mr. Hopper, who had grown up in South Georgia, taught me much about the wildlife around riverbanks.  What really caught my attention was when he referred to water moccasins as an aggressive and extremely poisonous snake that live in creeks and lakes like the one we were exploring.  Tonight before I lay my head down to go to sleep, I will make sure to record that in my survival guide journal that I am making for myself to prepare for future, expected, and or unexpected encounters with nature.

- Flat Annie

Summer Fun in the Fall

To kick off the first official day of the

Watching the water fun with Kameron and Lily Ray

Fall, the Hopper's decided to celebrate with a water balloon fight with their next door neighbors, The Belters.  The water balloons did not last long as countless were popped before they had gotten launched.  Mrs. Hopper tripped on the walk over to the Belters causing all but 5 balloons to fall out of the bucket and pop.  After watching Kase pelt his buddy, Will in the face with a balloon from close range, I thought it was probably a good thing that the water balloon supply was small.



A bath finally!!!

After the injuries were assessed and friendships were mended, we moved onto a much safer activity, the sprinkler!  I started off hanging out with the "girls" as they watched their brother's run back and forth through the sprinkler, giggling with as if each pass was their first time.  Finally, Kase, realizing that the girls were starting to think of me as a chew toy versus a real boy, grabbed me and decided to take me for a rinse through the sprinkler.  I call it a rinse because I have not had a bath since I arrived in Alabama.  As much as I have avoided water since my journey through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, I was happy to wash away Kameron's baby slobber that was starting to crust up on my swim shirt.



Water wars between Kase and Will.

 

- Flat Annie

Home School

 

Sound asleep on the dresser.

Today was a home school day.  I sense that Mrs. Hopper has been feeling guilty that I have been missing the first few weeks of school so she started reading Hatchet by Gary Paulson, to me last night.  We stopped at Chapter 3 and she headed to bed.  When everyone had fallen asleep, I very quietly climbed Kase's dresser and picked up reading where we had left off.  I read late into the night under the light of Kase's space ship clock light.  I fell asleep reading and awoke to the giggles of Mr. and Mrs. Hopper as they found me  laying inside the book using the pages as a blanket.

 

Today Mrs. Hopper had several errands to run and as tired as I was I asked if I could stay and nap a little longer to catch up on my sleep.  Mrs. Hopper agreed to my request but she and I both knew that sleep was not in my future until I found out if Brian, the main character, a teenage boy close to my age, could survive the wild and be rescued.  Needless to say I  got my answer and finished the book in record time.  Hatchet has become my favorite book, replacing my former favorite book, The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau.

I spent 30 minutes exploring Mount Everest.

When Mrs. Hopper got home, I told her all about the ending and she recommended that I research true stories of survival.  I got to work right away looking online and researching books.  Right away I came across the book, Into thin air: A personal account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by John Krakauer.  Mrs. Hopper actually has a copy of her own that she agreed to read with me but she recommended that with what little information I have about Mt. Everest that I take a virtual tour of the Earth's highest mountain.  She said it would help me with visualizing where on the mountain the author will be talking about and taking us through.

Click here for Mount Everest Virtual Tour: 
The virtual tour of Mount Everest allows you to explore not only Mt. Everest itself but the trails leading up to the peek.  The graphics are of high resolution and the tour is at the touch of your fingers as you control what route you explore throughout the mountain ranges.  The site provides a 360 degree birds eye view of the mountain of actual photography taken at the actual site. 

-Flat Annie
 

Weekend at the Farm

 

ROAD TRIP!!!  On Friday night, Mrs. Hopper loaded us up into her Honda CRV and we set out on a 2 hour trip to visit Mr. Hopper's family  for the weekend at the Hopper Farm near Rome, Georgia.  Mr. Hopper's brother, Nicholas, owns a house on 40 acres.  

Muscadine vines at the Hopper Farm

Within the 40 acres are, carved out 4-wheeler paths, a small creek that has been damned and stocked with fish, and Nicholas uses some to most of the land for deer hunting and for dove shoots.  At a corner of the barn has been carved out for a future worm farm and just outside the barn are rows of muscadine vines.  The Hopper's harvest the fruit and make it into wine.


The Hopper's held a BBQ at the farm on Saturday.  Nicholas smoked parts of a wild boar that he shot in the spring and delicious smells and the feeling of excitement started to fill the air as game time approached for the Alabama vs. Texas A&M football game.

My first ride ever on a tree swing!

As much fun as the adults were having cheering on their teams, I was happy to go outside with Mrs. Hopper, as she gathered the kids, all under the age of 6 and going stir crazy, and took them outside to explore the farm.  The kids and I loaded up in their 4-wheelers and we ventured out past the barn for a treasure hunt.  We parked our 4-wheelers and started on foot, occasionally stopping to investigate a plant or a tree.  Along the way Mrs. Hopper taught us some survival skills, teaching us how to open a hickory nut with a rock, identify animal tracks, and explained that, if lost in the woods without food, to chew on some pine needles to obtain some nutrients we would need for survival.  I was fascinated to learn more and Mrs. Hopper admitted that some of the survival skills that she learned about she read in the novel, Hatchet by Gary Paulson.  She has a copy of the book back in Birmingham that she said that she would read with me.

Touring the farm on wheels.

In the meantime I have been researching survival skills online and I came across an online quiz designed to Test your survival skills.  

How confident are you about survival in the wild?  Find out more about wilderness survival by clicking here or download the Wilderness Survivor Pro App to have the information at your finger tips during an upcoming excursion.     


Wilderness Survival App  
This app serves as an active guide and aide for survival in the wilderness.  If you find yourself lost in the wilderness, the app is designed to take you through the necessary steps for survival providing detailed "How to..." information.

-Flat Annie

Library in the Forest

The Vestavia Hills Library is a popular place on the days that they have story time during the weekdays.  After picking up Kase from school, we headed straight to the Vestavia Hills Library, also known as, the "Library in the Forest."  When we walked in it felt like we were walking into an adult sized tree house with wall to wall windows throughout the building.   

Mrs. Hopper had stacks of children's books ready to be returned, some of which she read to us the night before, my favorite being A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen.  I liked it so much that Mrs. Hopper found another Mr. Magee book, Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee, written by the same author, and she checked it out just for me. 

While Kase participated in story time, I watched through the glass window, deciding not to participate out of fear that I might get stepped on by the large group of kids gathered for story time. Story time was not at all what I expected.  The kids danced around the room playing instruments guided by the librarian.  Shortly after the librarian modeled for the kids how to make a harmonica out of tongue compressors, rubber bands, and strips of paper.  The kids then made their own harmonica and shortly after squeaks echoed throughout the children's library.

After we selected books from the shelves, Kase showed me how to use the computer to check out the books while Kameron made a meal from one of her books.   One of the book that Mrs. Hopper was hoping to read to Kase, Enemy Pie by Derek Munson, was not available so Kase, with Mrs. Hopper's help, reserved a copy.  The librarian recommended that we try the Hoover Public Library App which would enable us reserve book from an iPhone. 

 

Mrs. Hopper has been pretty camera happy lately. 

On our way out she had me take a picture with a metal sculpture made of a father frog reading to his baby frog.  Mrs. Hopper said that she is going to make me a scrapbook for me of my adventures in the south.  She wants my parents to see that I was well taken care and that even though I was missing the first few weeks of school that I was participating in educational activities.


                                  - Flat Annie






Hoover Public Library App - Access your library account from your hand held device and search the catalogs and reserve books and other primary and media resources from virtually anywhere.

Monkey Fun Run

Not only does the Hopper Family enjoy going to sporting events, they love participating in them  too!  Early Saturday morning we hurried out of the house to watch Mrs. Hopper and Kase, the Hopper's 5 year old son, run in the local Camp Smile-A-Mile Monkey C Monkey 5k Run and Fun Run. 

High "Fives" for Mrs. Hopper as she crossed the finish line.

I don't see how anyone can run in such heat and humidity here in the south, but both Mrs. Hopper and Kase finished their run race in record time as we cheered them on from the side line. 

Listening in on a few of the adult conversations, I found out that several of the children that participated in the 1 mile Fun Run are cancer survivors.  I immediately felt inspired to incorporate kids surfing competition as a way to raise money for kids.  I looked online all night and found several inspiring stories of children that started foundations or annual fundraisers solely for raising money for kids with cancer.

Hanging with the Monkey!

• Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation - At the age of 4 years old, Alex, suffering from cancer wanted to find a way to raise money for doctors so that they could help other sick children, so she started a yearly lemonade stand.  By the time she turned 8 and before she had passed away, Alex had raised over 1 million dollars for children with cancer.

• Art for Donation and Expression of Love - With a classmate battling cancer, 8 year old Patty Alfonso got her school on board in having all of the students participate in creating artwork for a fundraiser held at an art gallery in Austin, Texas. 

• Kids Caring 4 Kids - 11 year old Kendall Ciesmier, a victim of chronic liver disease, found that giving to other sick children all over the world is the best kind of medicine.  Her website provides inspiration and ideas of how to get started. 

The Monkey greeted the runners as they crossed the finish line!

 

 

                                                                                      - Flat Annie

 

Go BLAZERS!!!

 

My first weekend here in Birmingham has been an exciting one.  We spent Friday night cheering on the UAB Blazer Men's Soccer Team as they beat #8 ranked University of Indiana in a sudden death overtime match, 2-1.  Mr. Hopper works for the UAB athletic

department as the assistant baseball coach, as a result, he was able to get us into front row seats in the Goal Club section of the stadium, on the opposite side of the field from the student section.  When UAB scored their final goal, the student section rushed the field to celebrate and I was thankful to be away from the action, as I am careful to avoid any situation that could cause my body to continue flattening. 

  

Standing room only in the student section!

Stay tuned for more posts of me cheering on the Blazers at UAB athletic events as the Hopper family are faithful supporters of the green and gold.  Better yet join us for a UAB Men's or Women's soccer home game. 

UAB Men's Soccer
UAB Women's Soccer

                        - Flat Annie