I love that my kids enjoy nature.  My two sons, in particular, are really enthusiastic about insects and spiders at the moment.  So enthusiastic, in fact, that every spider in our house gets picked up and presented to me.

“Dad!  Look at this cool spider!  Take a picture of it!!”

These are the two they found in our basement last week.

This is John’s contribution.  I have no idea what kind it is, but it was very pretty.

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Daniel’s contribution.  A wolf spider, I believe?  …with only seven legs.  Not sure if it had 7 legs before Daniel saw it or not…

Here’s the thing.  I’m thrilled that my kids are excited about invertebrates and nature, and I want to encourage that as much as I can, but it actually takes quite a bit of time to get a decent photo of a spider or insect.  …Especially when it’s been trapped for a while in a cup or between two hands and is antsy to find cover.  Fortunately, it’s still cold outside, and the number of critters crawling around inside and outside our house is still pretty small.  But summer is coming…

If you don’t hear from me for a while, it’ll be because I’m too busy taking pictures of every insect and spider within a block of our house!