Fly! Be Free!

Today marked the official release date of our two praying mantis and the grasshopper. The mantis were happy to be released on a large patch of Black-eyed Susans. Later, we went back to check on them and counted three...so it must have been a popular location. The grasshopper was released into a patch of Lamb's Ear. Below is a picture of Grace freeing the grasshopper.


The release date did include a bit of drama. I originally had placed the first mantis on the daylily leaves seen in the picture. He just had this look...like he wanted to jump. (Note to self: listen to your intuition). I told Grace to watch the first mantis, while I went back into the house for the second. As I was catching the second in the house, I was interrupted by blood curdling screams, sobs, and feet pounding up on the deck. The mantis had decided to jump on her leg while I was away, and the feeling was a bit too unfamiliar for her. Ken had been brought out to the deck as well by the screams, and the looks exchanged between the two of us were almost too much to hide the laughter. (BTW, the mantis was located and found unharmed).

The Season Must Be Ripe For Skippers

Today was a day to just sit by the verbena and watch what came passing by for a drink. We grabbed our butterfly identification book and thumbed through, as this and that butterfly stopped by. Everything we saw was a skipper...but we saw such a large variety. Everything from the large Silver Streaked Skipper to the little Fiery Skipper.

The Skippers are interesting in that they seem pretty fast in flight, but at the same time they'll let you practically touch them when they are on a flower.

Identify This Seashell

The children kicked off their aquatic studies this term with a shell identification tray. The goal being that they find a shell and then try to locate a shell similar in the Peterson guide. Below is Grace deep in thought (not really).

We marked pages in the guide with a small sticky that we felt best represented the shell. Later, as the kids become more familiar with the names of shell families will move on to more difficult games. But for at least the first month, they really seem to be enjoying the individualities of the shells themselves.

Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

After a morning bike ride, we tried to beat the heat under the porch with bubbles. It's been a long time since we've had bubbles in the house (usually accidentally dumped in one sitting). So the mention of bubbles brought squeals of delight, and hard questions: Why do bubbles have rainbows?

Jack shows pride in his refined ability to blow a mean bubble.


Meet our future professional glass blower.