Wow, Mom! Look what we found....

So the day started off with cool temperatures but beautiful skies. Turned into a great day to get some outside chores done...

Well okay, some of us were working while others were playing, but in the end it got (mostly) done.
Until....
Hey, Mom! Look what I found...

Hmmmm. Don't see it yet...Lets move in a little closer...

Yeah, That's good. Originally the girls thought it was a big grasshopper. I told them nope, it's a praying mantis. Pretty cool, huh?!?! The girls were absolutely fascinated with it and are now wanting to read all about them. This cool one has been named "Gloria" by Arianna. They wanted to keep it, however we don't currently have a tank to keep it in. They are pretty cool insects though. I'll have to get a small/medium tank for the "classroom" for things like this. It would be pretty cool to keep one for a short time while the girls can study it's habits, movements, lifecycles etc before releasing it back outside. I'll have to put that on our "wishlist".  We often find small frogs, etc. so it could really be something to think about. Kaitlyn finally picked up the leaf it was sitting on to get a little closer view.

Then Arianna decided she wanted to hold it as well...Arianna meet praying mantis. 

What an interesting day for the girls! After Gloria got put back into the leaves, the girls went on their first out of the cul-de-sac bike ride with mom on her bike in the lead, followed closely by Arianna and then Kaitlyn in the rear. We went around the corner and down a couple of blocks before turning around and heading back to the house to ride in front of the house some more. Then it was off to the park with daddy walking while the girls rode their bikes next to him. I'm betting they sleep in tomorrow morning!