Butterflies, Ladybugs, & Ants

This past Saturday I took the girls out to the park. Britta brought her bug catching kit which she had been waiting to try out and Eden brought the butterfly net. We had seen some butterflies earlier in the day zooming around the grass. By the time we got back, the birds had chased off the butterflies. Fortunately, we had noticed a particular stretch of grass on a hillside that usually had a few ladybugs crawling around on the blades of grass. We found three ladybugs, but everytime we opened the lid to add one, the previous one got away. The girls wanted to keep the ladybug, of course, but I explained that they ate aphids, not grass. So, we ended up letting the one ladybug go on our patio strawberry plants. (At least I know where to go to get more.)

Saturday afternoon I noticed that we had ant problems in the house. The ants had formed a line from the front door to the kitchen and were attempting to carry off the cat food. I got some ant traps at Lowe's that night which kept the girls fascinated for most of Sunday morning. These traps are clear plastic with a liquid bait inside, so the girls watched the ants crawl in and carry the bait back to their home. It's fun to see the world through your kids eyes and remember what it was like to see everything for the first time.