Flashlight Walks

One of the treats I've introduced my boys to some evenings are what I call "flashlight walks." In essence, we take a walk, after dark, using a flash light. We've only done this a handful of times as I use it kind of as a reward for good behavior... it also goes hand in hand with how early we've eaten, how much work is yet to do but I have also discovered that it's an awesome way to bring some calm to my life and just get outside and breathe the night air. So... last night... away we went. I took my headlamp (flashlight on an elastic strap worn on the head). Josh had his super bright spotlight and Drew had my LED flashlight. We get a little further down the street and I realize that I'd never taught Josh the fun about watching for spider eyes.

Spider eyes?

Yes, spider eyes.

So I look into my neighbor's yard (2 doors down) and shine my headlamp over it -- it has something to do with the type of light in this headlamp but you can literally see HUNDREDS of little shiny spots in the grass reflecting back at you. They look like little Alexandrites just glittering in your light. I pointed a few out to Josh and he couldn't see them. So I took the headlamp off and handed it to Josh to wear... and he was immediately TRANSFIXED on the idea that in any yard ... there are literally HUNDREDS of spiders out.. we walked... adjusted the lamp and just tried to count how many there were... it's AMAZING.

So, instead of looking for all kinds of creatures, listening for sounds, watching for worms and bugs... we went on a spider walk last night and boy let me tell you... those were two excited boys. Especially when you zero in on one whose eyes appeared to be as big and bright but when you get there it's this TINY little thing.... maybe 1/4" in diameter... or when you get to find the ones that (inclusive of legs) are as big as a quarter... it was quite fun. The only ones taht really oogied me out were the ones that had all the little babies on their backs... I remember stepping on one a long time ago and I didn't know that's what they were and little baby spiders crawled EVERYWHERE... I FLIPPED out... and generally bugs don't bother me but that just creeped me out ... (like now, writing that... got covered with goosebumps! EWWW)))

So...spiderwalks -- try one today! :) Use an LED headlamp for the best visuals.... you can get them for $15 at Wal-Mart. Mine has a red light and then 3 settings to choose from for the LED lamps. It's worth every penny!