After The Rain

Today we spent the day at grandmas with my sister and her kids. It was a hot, muggy day with hot and bothered children and adults all suffering from the heat. The kids were in the pool most of the day and when they weren't they were consuming ice blocks or milkshakes. Its amazing the way an ice block can change ones mood. So when the rain thankfully came down this afternoon and cooled everything and everyone down, including withered moods, we headed outside as soon as it stopped, the kids in just their undies to cool down in the puddles (oh how I wish I could of been jumping in the puddles in just my undies) and to see what other creatures were enjoying the cool air, remaining rain drops and puddles.

With great delight and squeals of excitement we discovered that there were lots of other critters out enjoying the aftermath of the downpour, including a family of grasshoppers (mummy, daddy, baby and grandma) who were clearly having a family meeting on a leaf or as suggested by Myles, they could of just been sun baking, a shy snail that wouldn't come out of its shell (particularly once it was picked up by the kids), and a beautiful yellow ladybug on her way to eat the aphids on grandmas roses.

One of the kids asked where all the grasshoppers came from and another replied "from another world". How right they are, these little alien looking creatures, with huge eyes and long legs get such a bad wrap. We watched and observed them for a while, checked out how many legs they had, how many different coloured ones we could find, and held them in our hands feeling their little hairy legs tickling the palm of our hands.