Creepy, Crawly Creatures

There is no denying these kids are ALL BOY!  Everywhere we go we are on lizard lookout.  We've chased lizards from the doctors office to the park.  We have a few living around our house that stick around.  I don't know WHY they stick around.  They've all had tail casualties.  Oops.  They grow back.  The boys are professional lizard catchers big and small.  They bring in the tiniest lizards I didn't even know they came that small!  They always bring their catch inside to see me.  I always send them right back out!  That's the last thing I need is a dead lizard carcass to be found in November under the couch!  I try to make them realize to respect them.  I use the "let them go back to their family" idea so that we can catch them again sometime.  Secretly wishing they would realize that they WILL be caught again thus vacating our yard in favor of a less boy friendly one.  But here they stay.  

Jason taught them about lizard earrings a long time ago.  It makes me cringe but they think it's funny to put lizards on their earlobes and parade it around for others to see.  

No lizard is safe with Lincoln around.  He will catch them large and small and as many as his hands will hold!  Their tails are always as risk too.  It doesn't help that he knows they will grow back so around him, tails are optional!  He can be IN the kitchen and spot a lizard walking along our back fence outside.

It doesn't just stop with lizards either. This tangle between a dragonfly and june bug was also caught by Lincoln.  He actually asked us to put a string on it so he could fly it around on the string.  That's a Nana thing to do!  

Just before school started back we went to the Natural Science Museum for a last hoorah.  The butterfly exhibit is really cool for the bug loving boys!  They have beetles and bugs and wasps along with the butterflies.

Jackson held this one because it was "special".  Such a testament to his sweet heart.  He wanted to hold this one because one of it's wings were broken and "it probably doesn't get held much".  That's so Jackson. He told me the first day of school he was going to be friends with someone who didn't have any friends that day!  We can all use to learn to be a little more like him.  To see the beauty in the imperfections.

Lincoln was being still as a statue to let this one land on him.  He was desperate to have a butterfly light on him and one did just before we were leaving!

Jackson caught this little one below the waterfall.  It just so happened to land on his finger.   You didn't think anything other than that, did you??

I took Jackson and Lincoln to the local park with a walking trail.  It was hot and we didn't stay long but we did go for a walk to wear them out a little.  As Lillian and I walked along in the stroller, the boys were only a few steps ahead.  I said stop, STOP SSSSTTTTOOOPPP!!!  and when they finally listened to me I told them they had all just walked by a tiny snake on the sidewalk.  I am usually pretty creeped out by snakes but this one wasn't much bigger than a straw or pencil.  They wanted to catch it but the only thing I had to catch it in was my water bottle. So...

They  caught the snake and put it in my water bottle.  That's love, bc I use that bottle EVERY day!  I even helped them catch it in there.  We brought it home to show their dad and then planned to let it go in the lake near our house.  That same night, I asked Lincoln where the snake was.  He looked at me with big eyes and said, "I let it go."  Where? I asked.  He said "In our yard!?!"  

Oh, Lincoln.

Frogs are also never safe with Lincoln around.  It's not unusual to see him double fisitng frogs around here.  He will be out catching frogs before breakfast even.  He's pretty good about letting them go back to their homes.  He looks for them under our grill.  He got a surprise the other day when looking for frogs.  He thought it was a salamander.  Nope, It wasn't.  It was a snake.  So he'll have to be more careful when frog hunting from now on.

He claims this frog was "tryin to tell him something!"  

 He deems them a mom or a dad or a big brother or little sister based on their size!  Doesn't this just sum up a little boy, dirty nails, frog in hand and dirt on their shoulder?

 They don't miss a single thing.  While walking in the woods last saturday we came upon THIS tree.  It may look ordinary but Jackson noticed that it's an Oak and a Pine growing up together.  It's a LARGE pine tree and a medium oak and both are living and thriving.  They even have the same root system.  I marveled because not many adults would have looked at this tree base and noticed that that was unnatural and almost no other 8 year old I know would even know the difference between oak and pine trees just by looking at the bark/trunks.

They are ALL boys, all the time but I adore the way they take it all in.  They can be entertained by nature like children should be.  And I hope by learning this love of nature, they will pass it along to their own children someday!