"Tree Crickets"!

With the older boys in school, I've had some more time with Lincoln and Thea Belle on their own. Actually, not as much time as I envisioned, but still, some time. One day the first week of school, we took a stroller walk and found a cicada who had just emerged from his skin. We were excited because we find their skins everywhere and sometimes we find a live one on the ground or on a tree. But to find one just emerged is rare for us. Brad just loves the sound of their whirring -- such a summer-ish, familiar, childhood sound. He grins everytime our house is quiet enough to hear their tree chorus. (Of course, it might be relief from our kids' cacophony! (-:)

I think most people know this, but did you know cicadas in our area of the world have a 17-year life cycle? Something neat I learned from wikipedia is that they are unusual in the insect world in that they have a temperature-regulating biological mechanism that is similar to sweating. I had no idea!

 My boys have been obsessed with watching this gif from the wikipedia article on cicadas. It's mesmerizing.