Wednesday, June 27, 2007

More Lake Geneva pics.....


Typical tourist pic at the fountain in front of Riviera Pier


Checking out all the coins in the fountain


At the beach watching the mail boat docking


The Riviera Pier


Enjoying some superman ice cream :)

Monday, June 25, 2007

The Cicada Rescuer






We were all a bit disappointed in early June when we started getting reports from our friends and family in Illinois that the Cicadas were emerging by them as they were not any sign of them here in Wisconsin. An unexpected trip the next week took us to Park Ridge, Illinois where C and E were overjoyed to see Cicada exoskeletons; which they just had to collect and take home, as well as some of the holes in the soil from where the Cicadas emerged. We were also able to hear the male's mating call from high up in the trees but had no luck actually seeing any live cicadas. Still excited about Cicadas once we were home all three of the boys spent a lot of time examining the exoskeletons and learning more about the insects. Cicadia Mania! and UMMZ Cicada Page are the boys favorite sites and have an amazing amount of information on the insect.

After two weeks their Cicada interst waned a bit and I figured it was time to move on to other interesting adventures. H had planned a week long trip to Springfield Illinois with grandpa D. They visited many historical Abraham Lincoln sites....I'll have him write a post soon about their adventures. E spent that same week with grammie B at her home having some fun adventures. C and I recieved an invitation to spend a few days in Lake Geneva with my mom and sister...it was there that his interest in Cicadas was renewed as he took on the role of Cicada rescuer.

Apparently, Cicadas are not the best flyers. They seem to be able to only fly in short spurts and then land on whatever is below them. This can be problematic for them when they are directly above a swimming pool or the lake. Fortunately for many of them, C decided to spend most of his three days in Lake Geneva rescuing cicadas from certain death in the water. In the pool he'd gently cup them in one hand and then paddle to the edge of the pool with his free hand while trying to keep his hand with the cicada out of the water. He'd then place them on the pool deck and wait to be sure that they didn't fly right back into the water. At the beach he never even took off his shirt or went into the water. Instead most of his time was spent scooping cicadas from the edge of the water and running them up to the grass. In a span of three short days the boy single handedly saved at least 50 cicadas from a watery grave, what a wonderful boy :)