Publix and the Park

Today we went on a field trip to Publix and then to the park to play and have lunch with friends. The field trip was a lot of fun. It brought back a lot of memories of spending much of my childhood at Albertson's when my dad was the deli manager. I really enjoyed sharing those memories with Caleb.

Some of the highlights of the field trip included looking silly in hair nets, watching a cake being decorated with clowns, seeing a pineapple cored and sliced, and putting a lobster to sleep.

The kids had a great time at the park with their friends afterward and did not want to eat their lunches. The time at the park was especially memorable as Eli climbed up the playground and slid down the big slides all by himself. He is getting to be such a big boy!

Orlando Science Center

The Orlando Science Center is one of Caleb's favorite places to go. We were so busy this summer with swim lessons and life that we didn't get to go as often as we would have liked. We went today and had a great time. Eli is finally big enough to enjoy the science center, too. I really like seeing both boys having fun while also learning new things.

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

Today, we discovered a huge eastern lubber grasshopper outside our front door. He was hanging out on one of our lawn chairs and was not bothered by us watching him closely. Apparently, they are pretty common here in Florida, but I had never seen one before. We had found a molted exoskeleton a while back which must have come from this guy. You can learn more about eastern lubber grasshoppers here.

Butterfly Encounter

Since we have a few Monarch caterpillar eggs, I decided we ought to get some more milkweed plants for them to eat once they hatch. I took the boys to the Butterfly Encounter at Lukas Nursery today. Caleb and I have been visiting there since it first opened and he was really little. We took Eli with us last year, but he was too small to enjoy or appreciate it. What a difference a year makes! Eli loved the encounter today. It is basically a greenhouse sort of set up with lots of butterfly and caterpillar friendly plants. They have expanded it a great deal since they first opened and have very knowledgable staff.

There was no one else there today, so the boys had free reign to walk any where they wanted to within the encounter. I showed them some different caterpillars and chrysalises I saw. Eli absolutely loved seeing the butterflies flying around and kept pointing to every one he saw. He found one that was under a bench and proceeded to lay down on his belly to watch it. It was neat seeing how interested he was in them. Caleb, our map man, looked for butterflies that matched the laminated identification sheet.

I love butterflies myself, so it warms my heart that the boys love them, too.

Welcome to Bugville!

Today was a bug-filled day for us. This morning we went to a co-op on butterflies. Miss Wendy brought some milkweed plants with Monarch caterpillar eggs and caterpillars on them. She also brought some chrysalises. We were lucky enough to bring a plant with some eggs on it and two chrysalises home. The boys and I are excited about watching the eggs hatch and watching the butterflies emerge from their chyrsalises.

Once home, we discovered strange looking white bugs on our hibiscus plants. At first, I thought there was mold growing on the plants but soon saw that the mold moved. I looked the bugs up online and discovered that they were mealy bugs. What I thought was mold is a powdery wax they secrete to protect themselves as they suck on the plant's juices. You can learn more about mealy bugs here.

Near the front door, we also discovered an exoskeleton that a grasshopper had molted. Edited to add: It was several weeks before we saw the grasshopper himself. Check him out here.

This evening, I went out to water our tomato plants and noticed that one of the unripe, green tomatoes was missing its top. I quickly saw the culprit was a brown striped caterpillar who had been eating it. I looked that up as well and found out it was a tomato fruitworm moth caterpillar after much searching online. They are also known as corn earworms as they also like to eat corn. I am pretty sure that this caterpillar's relatives are the ones behind the demise of our corn plants. You can learn more about tomato fruitworms here.

It is amazing how many cool things you can learn while you are living your life.

Alternative Energy Co-Op

Today, our Roots and Shoots group had a co-op class on alternative energy. We took Uncle Tom with us to class. The kids learned about solar, water, and wind power. They made crafts of each with the neatest one being a solar powered oven made out of a pizza box. Uncle Tom helped Caleb build his oven while I helped watch the younger kids.

Solar Oven

Caleb With His Oven

Eating His Pizza

During the class, Eli got to play.

Crazy Man

Snuggling a Baby

Crawling Through a Hole