lady bug hunting

Down past the last finished town home complex in our neighborhood, there is

undeveloped land waiting for more town homes to be built.

Down in this area, there is a lot of dirt, and this is also where the big ants live.

Not the little tiny annoying ants that live around where I do, and that swarm my home periodically,

but the big kind. The kind that bite.

And that is why this area of the neighborhood is called "the bite ants".

As spring time rolled around, the kids were seeing and catching the occasional lady bug out there,

so Aiden came and got the old fish tank, and took it down to "the bite ants" to catch as many

lady bugs as he could. He spent whole days down there finding and catching lady bugs,

 and still does on occasion.

There were even some days there was no one else around, and he still spent

hours down there alone, finding and catching lady bugs.

I love his dedication. It made me sad at first, to see him out there all alone,

but when I went out there to see him, he was so happy. He was having so much fun.

He wanted me to help him find some, so I asked him how to find them.

He said "well, you just find some weeds, and look until you see a lady bug. Then, you grab it and put it in the cage." And that, my friends, is really all it takes. I know, cause I tried it.

Don't you worry about those lady bugs, by the way.

They were released later in the evening, back to the wild.

To be caught again the next day.