I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. We had a quite Thanksgiving here and Grandma and Papa came up for a visit this weekend. Great fun!
We have been doing lots of indoor activities but I am trying my best to get these little ones out as much as possible. For Dylan getting out is not usually a problem. Fionna on the other hand has decided to wait out until spring, when the bugs come back... needless to say that is not going to work. Surprisingly, the other day I had some help getting her out the door from a little friend...
A few days after our big snow storm last week Fionna was looking out the window at breakfast and spotted a little flyer on the porch. I have never seen her get her jacket and snow boots on so fast. She was out the door for buggy exploration before I knew it.
We have only seen this little insect one other time (earlier this fall) and have not identified it yet. It's wings look a lot like a maple tree seed.
Once this little fellow flew away Fionna found a moth and then came upon "Big Mama"... a spider we had been watching all summer. Fionna even saw her catch a June Bug one night while watching insects fly around by the porch light. I guess Location. Location. Location. works in the spider world too. The porch light is a great location for catching a spidy meal.
But no matter how big one gets the cold wins out in the end...
Fionna gathered her up and continued the observations under the microscope. Dylan was more than happy to join in... considering the specimen was dead.
We took a close look at her spinnerets and the amazing hairs on her body. There is a great drawing and information about spider anatomy over at this Wikipedia page. Fionna is not ready for any dissection just yet and I must admit that I am thankful for that. It was enough for me just to help her get it on the the microscope for a closer look.
I have been looking at winter books and writing projects down in my planner to help promote getting out this winter. I am afraid that the novelty and wonder of the snow has never grabbed Fionna enough to make up for the fact that it is cold out there... very cold out there. I am happy when nature helps out in it's own way to get her out in the cold.
Have you been doing any snowy winter projects yet? Any plans? I would love to hear about them.
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2 comments:
That's a HUGE spider!
My kids are the other way around this winter. Lily wants to be outside all the time and Leify wants to stay nake inside. Once he's out he's happy to be there but something happens every morning to make him forget that even cold weather is fun!
Good crawling critter finds for this late in the year although with all the mild temps. here I saw a moth fly by the livingroom window yesterday! So weird.
I never have too much trouble getting Owen outside if there is snow, but for us it is big time mud right now.
Enjoy the buggy goodness!!
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