Fireflies!

I grew up as a very deprived child... I don't think I'd ever seen a firefly until I was 14. Florida just doesn't ever see those fun little bugs whose back sides light up. I never got to catch them in jars and watch them glow. Sigh. When I was fourteen we drove to Tennessee to see my Uncle and Aunt who live on a mountain and there I saw thousands of fireflies! I still remember wanting to stay out all night just to watch them. When we moved to Virginia I was like a little kid all over again. Shaun and I would go out at dusk and watch all the fireflies. I still think they are fascinating.

Alex has been begging me for days to go out at night and catch a jar full of fireflies. I still think they are the neatest bug ever so today we waited until 8:30 when the bugs all come out of hiding and let the kids catch as many as they could. You could tell which bugs Annie caught and which ones where Alex's by looking at which ones ended up in the jar squished and which ones where still crawling. Annie just hasn't mastered gentle yet.
Have you ever noticed that on many kid's cartoons, kids will collect a jar full of fireflies and they all glow nice a bright to create a lantern of sorts. That's not how it happens! You're lucky to get two bugs glowing at the same time. The jar ends up just being a jar full of bugs. No romance to it at all!