they're here...

Remember the praying mantis egg case that helped us choose our xmas tree? Well, it hatched Friday morning. Hopefully we'll get some better pictures this weekend. We escorted the first batch of hatched mantis' out to the front garden bed, and released them under a hostal, so hopefully we'll find another adult again this year.

prospectin' fer diamonds

For Father's Day, the kids wanted to take Luke camping at the Herkimer Diamond Mines in New York. We'd planned a trip here last year, but it ended up pouring for those 2 days we'd planned to go so we never made it.

Basically, they use huge machinery to slice off pieces of the hill, and dump it here for us to scuttle through, looking for the diamonds. These crystals are unique in that they form without "growing" out of something else, so they have 2 points at either end. We found some perfect tiny ones lying on the ground, but you could also chisel or split rocks to expose some bigger ones.

the many stages of the pea

poking around lake pocotopaug

more from jersey

Pat sent us these pics she took:

Joseph is watching one of the squirrels they caught on Dante's havahart trap while Dante arms himself.

Double landscaping foul: standing simultaneously on the rock wall AND on the bushes.

a visit to emerald woods

Luke's brother Mark and his family came up to New Jersey this past weekend, so we went down for a visit. The kids were delighted to find that this duck had laid a batch of eggs (7 at last count) right beneath the kitchen window. She was usually gone for most of the day, but came back enough for Dante to grab some close up pictures.



The girls built a tent in the basement with Nonno. I think Porter was the primary motivator for construction, but Lucia was happy to tag along.

Getting ready for bed in the tent Sis brought for them. Dante jumped in here with the snake for reasons beyond me.

Inspired by Porter's example, Dante and Luke built a big boat in the basement. More pics to come when it's finished.

soccer

Lucia snapped this would-be-great photo of Dante with the ball. Bummer the focus didn't kick in.