Bug Watching August 30, 2007

You’ve got summer. You’ve got kids. You’ll find bugs.
They’re everywhere so you might as well find the ones you can enjoy. That’s what we did and as luck would have it we found a cecada too!
A little lesson for both me and the kids but these fascinating bugs that we usually refer to as “electricity bugs” buzz in the heat of the hottest summer days reaching up to 100db just in order to find a girlfriend.

Yes, that’s my thumb. I was the brave one to pick up the giant, gentle and amazing insect. How amazing to think that this thing on my thumb is older than my toddler. With a little investigation, we realised that some cicadas live underground for years, only emerging in 13 or 17 YEAR cycles.
I kept the bug as long as it took to find a tree and for it to get comfortable to start moving. By then we were right beside our neighbours beautiful garden.

Spot the Monarch Butterfly, Baz did.
There have been a ton of monarchs this summer. The kids have loved watching them, occasionally up to six at a time fluttering over the same plant.

Onward and up, the sunflower’s at Ben’s house. I don’t think this bee moved from this perfect one the whole time we were there.

Did I mention I was very happy they discovered the flying variety of insects? Perhaps they inherited my dislike for the creepy crawly variety. All in all it was so fun and they really enjoy being outside.

Sleepover August 20, 2007

Awah.

Believe It! August 14, 2007

Yes folks, for those who know my boy, that IS cauliflower he is shoveling inward.
Hard to comprehend, I know.

Summer’s Almost Gone August 6, 2007

It’s half over and what a whirlwind this summer has been. A lot of time’s been spent keeping busy and keeping cool. All of that has made me realise how it’s zipped by it almost a blink of an eye.
Madeleine will be off to school again in a few weeks. It’ll be her last year of half days, Boy she’s grown up so fast! Contrary to past summers, I’m starting to get clingy. I don’t want her to go back, I really do miss her already! There are so many things to do this summer and I want to be sure to cram them all in – without hogging her all to myself.

We went camping last weekend. Crazy as it seems, it was our first trip in a tent as a family. The kids absolutely loved it and we’ve already planned on another adventure before the season turns too chilly. Sure we had help. Loaners of good gear and friends who really know how to rough it, was almost as good of an aid as their kids. I’ve never seen the five and under crowd so vibrant. These kids were on the go, running laps around the tents until the sun went down only to sit by lantern light to draw up a craft on firewood.

Just as they sucked every minute of the day that weekend, I’m planning on doing the same this summer. My kids are FUN! They want to do great things and they see it with such excitement I can’t help but enjoy and thank them for transporting me a bit of my long lost childhood again.

August here we come!