Bug Hunting | Our 4th of July Activity

Gary and I tossed around a lot of ideas as to what we were going to do on the 4th of July – watch fireworks, go to the swimming pool, eat barbecue, and all other sorts of typical 4th of July activities.  As soon as the kids woke up, though, they wanted to do one thing and one thing only – go hiking so that they could hunt for bugs.  Nana and Papa gave everyone some bug hunting “jars” for the big kids’ birthday, and they were very anxious to use them.  We grabbed some fried chicken on the way to Tannehill State Park for our day of fun (it really is remarkable how well fried chicken keeps for a bit in a hot car).

Before we left, we explained that if you brought your bug jar that you carried your bug jar.  Initially, everyone seemed to understand that concept.

At some point, however, Piper got too tired to carry her bug jar.  She asked me to carry it first, and I said no.  She turned up the pitifulness and asked Gary – he also said no and reminded them that if they bring it they carry it.  Then Piper turned to Rosemary and asked her to carry her bug jar . . . and Rosemary said, “Sure!”  I don’t think Rosemary was expecting to be carrying EVERYONE’s bug jars, but she did. . . .

We didn’t find any bugs.  However, Rosemary informed us that “rocks are a type of bug” and they found a few rocks for their bug jars.

Piper eventually got so tired from carrying her bug jar and hunting for bugs that she just sat down and said that she couldn’t make it.

Luckily, she recovered and was able to make it back to the picnic tables by holding my hand for the rest of the hike.  Piper wasn’t the only one that was exhausted by the time we made it to the picnic tables.

After we ate, we fed the rest of our biscuits to the ducks.  Penelope was a little fearless in feeding the ducks.  This is what I did during the duck-feeding:

It was a fun day!  Maybe bug-hunting isn’t a traditional way to spend the 4th of July, but it may be our new tradition.