We've got lots of bugs and critters

We found a little snake. It was remarkably small.

The girl was eager to hold it, but it was too fast and got away from her. I love that she's not afraid of crawlies.

A few weeks ago, the kids found a couple of hornworms in the garden. They decided that they wanted to see what type of moth they would turn into, so they went into the bug aquarium with a piece of a tomato plant. The tomato plant didn't last long, and before we knew it we were having to add ever larger pieces daily. Eventually, one of the hornworms (which was absolutely enormous), started acting weird. That's when we learned that hornworms want to burrow underground to pupate. We added a few inches of soil to the bug aquarium, and it dug right in. The other one followed a day or two later, but never got to the impressive size of the first one.

Today we decided to see what was going on in there. It has been a few weeks since they went underground, and we weren't sure if they were still alive. This is what we found.

They are pretty funny creatures, and caused lots of giggles. When disturbed, they thrash and wiggle, much like they do in their larval stage, but much weirder since they look like an alien movie prop. The smaller one was especially active and made the kids a little nervous. Didn't stop the girl from wanting to hold them.

The boy spent a lot of time in his butterfly and moth guide this afternoon, and learned that these most likely aren't tomato hornworms like we originally thought, but tobacco hornworms. They look nearly identical in their larval stage, but we'll know for sure once they emerge.

 

Sometimes we even eat butterflies :)

This is our snack rendition of monarchs stopping to eat and rest on some butterfly bush blossoms.

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Exploring Gantz Park

 It was a perfect day for an adventure, so we headed out to Gantz to do some exploring. First thing out of the car, we searched for and found a letterbox. After adding our stamp and replacing it safely, we headed down the path toward the gardens. The kids said hi to the reading girl statue, visited with a cat that was lounging closeby, then ran off to walk the labyrinth.

Don't forget to stand in the center to hear the echos!

 

Callicarpa japonica

 We found this shrub, which caught our attention with it's striking lustrous purple berry. It's not one we were familiar with, so we made sure to look for the sign. It's called Japanese Beautyberry (Callicarpa japonica), and seems to be related to Verbena. 

 While we were there, a bride and bridesmaids arrived to take photos. The kids were quite curious about them.
After a walk around the park and some squirrel watching, we explored the creek a bit. There were quite a few fish, and H and I surprised a small water snake while walking across some partially submerged rocks.
To finish off our adventure, we hopped back into the car and drove a few miles away to find our first geocashe!

Oh, this old thing?

 The kids were excited to find a freshly shed snake skin on a bush yesterday. J wanted to hold it, and feel the texture, H was more interested in looking at it without touching. They were both very intrigued by the area where the eyes had been. The top of the jaw was a bit curled, but luckily it was fresh enough that we could uncurl it and see the whole head.