Going Buggy

I was perusing my photos the other day (okay, unearthing them from where a certain 4yo had inadvertently hidden them within a folder within a folder within a folder--it was the Inception of photo files) and came across some that I had intended to blog, but never did.  And because I have the time and desire right now but can't seem to come up with something worth saying, I'll share this!

A year & a half ago we were living in my mother-in-law's basement, as you may recall.  Having been raised in good 'ol Wetstern WA, there are a good number of things that I have seen photos of, but never seen in real life.  So one balmy August evening as I took out the garbage, I noticed something rather large and dark on the sidewalk.  It was the biggest beetle that I've seen in my life!

See?  That thing was crazy big!

So of course, I did what is normal and instinctual for most normal people: I got a clear container and cardboard out of the recycling bin, caught the thing and took it inside to show my tucked-in kiddos!

(You must pinky swear that you will never EVER tell my mother-in-law.  I may just be disowned.)

After I took it outside, I was returning the Goliath Car-Eating Beetle to its natural habitat--the driveway, when I saw something ELSE in almost the exact same spot that I'd found that first insect!

Now I know that this isn't a huge deal, but let me remind you--I'd never seen one in real life before, and this one was also way bigger than I expected.  So what do you think I did?  (Please don't tell.)

See the circles on the Albacore Tuna cardboard?  Yeah, it was almost as long as a tuna can.  So Dang Cool!!!!

But the funniest bug story that I've experienced in a while was at my parents' house.  They have lots of these guys in their yard in August, and the kiddos like to try to catch them.



So one visit--and don't forget--this was when these kids

looked like this:

They were pretty small 1 1/2 years ago.  So anyway, Lee came up with this funny look on his face & said, "Mom, I think I should eat this."  I was taken aback, but recalling the amount of cable we watched in that bachelor pad, including where that guy travels all over & eats some crazy junk, I thought about it for a moment and responded that if he really wanted to, he could.

I never thought he actually would.  Less than 3 minutes later, he came in announcing that grasshoppers are gross.  !?!?!?!?!

This one just loved to make friends with the ladybugs on MIL's hops.  What funny kids I have.