Myshels Blog

Last night we watched “In Search of the King Cobra” hosted by herpetologist Austin Stevens and Max loved it.

During the program, while in India in search of the Cobra, Austin caught a Russell’s Viper and showed the audience how the fangs worked by having it bite through plastic on a cup and “milking” it for venom.

Max thought that was so incredibly cool, I told him today we would study the Viper and then have a fun project.

Russell’s Viper

What We Learned:

-A scientist who studies snakes is called a herpetologist.

-Russell’s Viper is one of the most dangerous snakes in all of Asia because of it’s lethal venom.

-Also called a “rat snake” (it’s favorite snack)

-It preys mainly on rodents and other small animals

-Is a member of the Viperidae family of snakes

-Aggressive and threatened easily

-Coils up, hisses and strikes out very quickly

-Normally two to five and a half feet in length, with triangular shaped heads and large fangs. The markings on their heads include three triangular shaped spots along with dark lines that stretch from the eyes to the corners of the mouth

-Can be found in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Asia and Taiwan. It prefers to live in grassy areas and fields, as well as savannahs, scrubby areas and sometimes rainforests. It also lives in hedges, bushes and along fences near human settlements, where they are hard to see.

Project: “Milking A Snake”

We took a glass and put a little bit of orange juice inside (it looks just like the venom we saw on the TV show) and put rubber banded plastic wrap on the top. Then Max stuck two pieces of toothpicks in the plastic for the “fangs”. For the scene to be complete, Max played herpetologist and held his rubber snake to the toothpicks.

After I got my picture, he proceeded to drink the venom.

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good thing it was just in time for max’s “crazy hair day” at this week’s vacation bible school! 

i couldn’t believe there weren’t any other kids with temporary color in their hair – that was mark’s idea – but there were lots of spiked and multi-ponytailed dos!  i let max pick out the color at walgreens tuesday night and asked mark to apply it outside while i was getting ready this morning.  i thought i had suggested “streaks” but apparently that wasn’t heard…he did max’s whole sweet head!  it came out really cool.  i kept thinking he looked like a mini kurt cobain or that he stepped out of that trippy movie “eternal sunshine of the spotless mind”.  he was pointed at and got lots of laughs from the kids when he was dropped off at vbs this morning, so i hung back for a a minute to see how max would react.  but he took it in stride – he just laughed too and got right down to the important business of  having fun.

i love to see his face light up with joy over simple things and see that he has the confidence to experience that joy no matter what color his hair is or who’s watching.

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when max was about one and a half, mark set up his camera on a tripod over max’s crib and attached it to his laptop to take time lapse photos of how much he wiggled around in his sleep during the night.  this is definitely a favorite of ours – i’m so glad we have it.

to watch the video, please click on the link entitled “oldie but goodie – time lapse max”, which is underneath the photo.  i tried several different things, but ultimately couldn’t figure out how to have it just play within this blog.  so you have to click the link, which will open another page, and click the link again, where you’ll be  prompted to save/download the .exe file.  finally, find the .exe file on your computer and click it to play.  it just takes a minute and  it’s worth it!

oldie but goodie – time lapse max

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max lost his first tooth today!  it’s been very wiggly for about two weeks and yesterday he showed me that the one next to it is loose too.  at lunch today he took a bite of sandwich and we heard a crunch.  max quickly spit out the bite and sure enough there was his precious little tooth.  i really didn’t think he’d start losing them ’til he was closer to six (he just turned five in early december).  feels like such a big deal – my baby’s growing up so fast.  it seems like just yesterday his first tooth broke through!

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max’s uncle dwight has done it again…he sent max another stringed instrument!  this time it’s a half size guitar, which is what he ordered in the first place, but the company mistakenly sent the ukulele.  when the second guitar arrived, max had already been playing with it for a few days and was pretty attached.  so, sweet dwight told us he should just keep that one too.  now he has a collection started!  the boys jammed together the other night and at one point max asked mark if they could be in a band together some day.  how adorable is that?  i love that they’ll have this to share for years to come.

thanks, dwight for giving these musical memories to max – and to mark and i.

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max had such a great  time at his playdate on monday with his school friends isaac and joshua.

the boys played together so well and nancy’s yard is gorgeous – what a great place to photograph adorable boys having fun!  although isaac’s little sister isabella is such a doll, the close-up of her staring straight into the camera just may be my favorite of the day.

thanks nancy and summer, i had a great time too – you’re wonderful gals and it was nice getting to know you.  i’m looking forward to us all getting together again soon.

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max’s awesome uncle dwight sent him the coolest gift…his very own ukulele!  he was beyond excited when he opened up the box and screamed “now i have a real guitar like daddy!”  he’s already asked mark if they can play together soon -  he told him he’d teach him his “hotwheels song”.

it’s exciting to see max graduate from mimi’s big spoon to this adorable instrument and he seems to be taking it very seriously.

thanks so much, uncle dwight – you’ve made this little boy so very happy!

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on the way to church this morning, mark and I were talking about what the family plans were for the afternoon.  max piped up and said, “can we take my race car to the park?”  brilliant idea.  adjacent to the satellite beach library are a  couple of sports fields, a playground and an adorable little road course complete with road striping (the lines and arrows), road signs and even a “car wash”!  max had a blast  – i couldn’t believe how great he has gotten at driving that adorable car.

mark and i took max to see the movie “cars” when he was about 18 months old – it was his first movie theater experience.  of course, he  loved  it!!!  on our way home, we stopped by mimi and papa’s and they had a surprise waiting for max – they got lightning mcqueen for him!  his feet couldn’t even reach the pedals yet, but he was smitten.  he could turn the steering wheel back and forth and there are buttons to push to hear a few of mcqueen’s finest lines from the film.  (speed?  i AM speed!)  the car lived in max’s room across from his crib.  every morning for several months the only thing max wanted for do for the first 10 minutes of the day was to sit in his car and play.

mark and i had so much fun watching max today – he’s such a joy and so adorable.  and the boy has driving skills.

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one of the photography excursions we took while visiting california was to the lovely san juan bautista mission which was established in 1797.  of course i took lots of photos of the boy, who was established in 2004.

Also of interest:  Max’s great-great-grandmother, Mary Camacho, was raised in this mission and her name appears in a registry from that time.  Mark recalls actually seeing the book about 30 years ago on a visit to the mission.  It was in a glass case, but his Mom was able to persuade the powers that be to open it up so they could take a look.  Tres cool.

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we were given the best christmas present this year – mark’s wonderful family surprised us by getting the three of us airline tickets to california for the holidays.  it was the first time in several years the entire morgan clan were together.  some family members we hadn’t seen in 2 1/2 years or more – they were really (we say mostly ) looking forward to seeing max!

it’s been incredible spending this time with family and friends, we feel so blessed for all the love and support they’ve given us.

thank you all so much – we’re so grateful.

we love you!

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