Chirp Chirp *SMASH*

On the scale of bothersome bugs that give me the heebie jeebies and demand instant death, crickets do not rank very high. Comparatively. If I see a cricket and there is a handy weapon nearby, I may make use of it, but if there isn’t then I won’t go out of my way to find one. So sometimes the cricket escapes to live another day.

One exception to this is if a cricket jumps on me. Yuck. Luckily that hasn’t happened in recent memory. Another more common exception is if a cricket wakes me up in the middle of the night. In either case I will hunt that chirping fiend down until it has been flattened by the underside of a shoe.

And who decided that “chirp” is the right word for the noise a cricket makes when it is happily sawing its legs together in my bedroom in the middle of the night? “Chirp” does not begin to describe the piercing quality of the noise that for some reason sounds like it’s being produced right next to my ear.

Anyway, this happened the other night. Since I am entering that uncomfortable stage of pregnancy where it is impossible to fall asleep, I had tossed and turned for a bit and didn’t even realize I had finally fallen asleep until I was violently woken up by a “chirping” serenade. Needless to say, I was annoyed. So I went on a mission: search and destroy.

I wasn’t sure I would be able to find the cricket, given their habit of “chirping” madly only until they sense they are in danger from a flip-flop. But I did eventually manage to rustle the cricket out of it’s hiding place and one good whack did the job. Sweet silence. Of course, I was very awake at that point, and while trying to fall back asleep my muddled brain decided I needed to write about crickets on my blog at the next opportunity. So that’s what I’m doing. Somehow, it seemed more amusing in the wee hours of the morning. You can thank my sleep deprivation.

On a side note, a large percentage of the crickets we spot around the house are missing one back leg. I like to think it’s because they are being relentlessly hunted by our house lizards. It does look awfully funny when they try to jump.

So, crickets. Major pest or minor annoyance? What say you?

Painting with Daddy

Last Saturday, for some Daddy time, Paul and the girls painted a picture.

 

Well, Paul and Veronica painted a picture. Jacinta got a little confused about the purpose of the activity.

 

She thought her job was to ingest the (blessedly non-toxic) paint.

 

Daddy tried to instruct her on the finer points of painting.

 

And some of it seemed to sink in.

 

But I suspect she didn’t quite get it in the end.

 

Veronica, on the other hand, was very good at the whole paint to paintbrush to paper concept. She ended up with minimal amounts on her person.

 

And certainly none in her mouth.

 

But, in the end, the picture got painted anyway.

 

Everybody had fun, and would definitely be happy to do this activity again.

 

Though maybe for different reasons.

How does this happen?

I never get tired of posting these.

A Fishy Situation

The big project on Saturday was…digging a hole. But not just any hole.

 

It was the mother of all beach sand holes. Complete with a ramp for easy access and an archway for decoration.

 

The kids loved climbing down into the hole, despite my aunt insisting that holes and tunnels weren’t safe and she had read about them collapsing and trapping kids inside. Everyone thought she was being a worrywart, until the archway did collapse – right on top of one of the kids who was, for some unknown reason, lying under it. I wasn’t there to capture the exciting moment, but I’m pretty sure they pulled him to safety.

 

 

Aside from those involved in the hole-digging, it was a day for relaxing in the sun. The weather was perfect.

 

And there was plenty to snack on. Ew.

 

Once the sea-side antics were finished, some of the group went for another shell-collecting walk.

 

The rest of us stayed behind to collect diaper sand.

 

There was plenty of that to go around. But it was worth the fun playtime.

 

 

I mean, it’s not every day you get to drive a lounge chair around the beach, right?

 

The walkers came back with some interesting finds. This was some kind of stationary sea creature…but if you look closely it kind of looks like a very small hippo. Weird.

 

And of course there was Fernando the Fish. Irresistible to three year olds everywhere.

 

Oh, Fernando. What fond memories.

And Veronica did wash her hand thoroughly when play time was over.

 

Which is good, because we had a tasty dinner waiting to close out the night.

 

Sunday slowed down a bit, at least for me and Jacinta. We took an afternoon nap in my parents’ tent trailer while everyone went back down to the water. But while she was waiting for me to finish my lunch, Michael kept her entertained by reading the ingredient list off of various items on the table, including this bag of flour. Fascinating.

 

And Sunday was a special day – Tyler’s birthday! So there had to be a tasty treat at end of it.

It was also really our last day, since Monday was spent packing everything up and then driving back into the Arizona heat.

We had a fabulous time, especially the girls. I don’t know if I mentioned it yet, but Paul couldn’t make it on the trip, so it was just us girls who got to go. I’m so thankful to my parents for taking such good care of us, and to my aunt Kathy for letting us use her house. It made a huge difference, and let me get the rest I needed to make something like this possible.

And now I’m ready for the next adventure! Or at least I will be…after a few weeks of sleep.

In which Jacinta attempts to crawl to China

Friday was filled with more beach fun. Veronica really wanted to use the boogie board…but I vetoed that idea. It’s a little big for her to handle.

 

She made the best of it anyway.

 

Some chose more relaxing beach activities.

 

But not Jacinta.

 

Catch me if you can, Mom!

 

While some of the other kids played happily in the (mostly) dry sand…

 

Jacinta repeated yesterday’s attempt to crawl all the way to Hawaii.

 

Hawaii? Fuggetaboutit. I’m going for China!

 

Nothing could stop her. Except getting hit in the face by a wave.

 

That encouraged her to try the other direction, too.

I’m going this way!

I was fine with that.

 

Jacinta was pretty tired after her many escape attempts, and finally fell asleep on me. This was a big deal, as she almost never falls asleep anywhere besides her crib. She must have really been exhausted. Trying to crawl the Pacific will do that to you.

 

There was more sand play.

 

And water play.

 

And wave play.

 

Good times were had all around. Except maybe by the parents who had to clean it all up after.

 

Then it was time for dinner. This was the kitchen.

 

More than adequate, I’d say.

 

While dinner was prepared, some snuck away for a little quiet time by the water.

 

But there was playing to do as well.

 

There was no shortage of toys.

 

Or games.

 

I know I’ll get it this time!

 

And, of course, somebody had to organize the collection of shells and rocks.

 

Veronica was happy to oblige.

I’m falling a little behind, but there’s still more to come.