It is so great having the woods in our back yard. We have a great view from our deck and no neighbors behind us. The woods and trees are great....except when they are COVERED in cicadas. The 13-year cicadas have been in full effect in our area for more than 3 weeks now. They love our big tree in our front yard which has made it difficult to take Louie out or get the mail without being attacked by cicadas. I am happy to report that they seem to be mostly dead and hopefully all gone soon (fingers crossed). My fear of most all bugs (including cicadas) has been passed down to Addison and Lucas. We haven't been playing outside pretty much at all in the past 3 weeks except for some trips to the pool (where they have taken over as well but it was still manageable).
Yesterday we finally ventured back outside so the kids could ride bikes. The cicadas have been dropping from the trees in the past few days and seem to die in a matter of minutes. The kids were braving the cicadas and even putting some of them out of their misery by running them over on their bikes (ha ha). They would see one on the ground, head towards it and say "this is for making my summer a bummer" and then ride on over it. Believe me, I told them that it is not normally ok to go around killing bugs but with the quantity and how annoying they have been....I gave the kids my blessing!!!
Here they are all ready on their bikes to take out the cicadas. Yes, Lucas is wearing a jacket and gloves (what he calls his motorcycle outfit) but at least it wasn't too hot. And Addison is wearing a swimsuit top and gloves as well (the best she could come up with for her motorcycle outfit) oh, and don't forget the leg warmers.
On another note....this is the year of our first garden (Bob's big project). We ran into some tough times getting it started but we are so happy with how far it has come in the last few months! No luck on the peppers or green beans yet but we have had other success....
Strawberry plants. We have gotten a few strawberries so far. One really good sized one (we split it 4 ways...ha ha).
Lots of lettuce/mixed greens. No more store bought salad for us!
Some yummy herbs...basil, cilantro and dill. Some broccoli will hopefully appear soon.
Lots of tomato plants!
Now that the cicada season is almost over...the kids made big steps with them tonight. Our neighbor Randy was talking to the kids outside about the cicadas and was able to convince the kids to touch one and then Addison even picked a few up. Lucas wouldn't pick one up but Addison was very proud that she did it and here is proof.
They tried to get me to hold one. Are they nuts!!!!
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