BACKYARD BUG HUNTING

I went out to the backyard to do some bug hunting! We have lots of leaves and stones to uncover, so we knew it would be a promising place.

Almost immediately, I found a centipede!

Then look, it was a pill bug!

It rolled up in my hand when I picked it up.

Rolling over rocks is a good way to find some bugs.

Millipede! You might not want to pick them up if you don’t want to experience pain. They can release a toxin that irritates skin. I learned that the hard way.

Snail finding!

We uncovered paving stones that had tons of worms and snails.

And this green stink bug!

We’ve seen lots of brown ones, but this was our first green one.

Why was I so excited here?

Because I found newts! NEWTS! These were under a rock in the park across the street.

I mean, how cool are these?

I found out later that they release a toxin, as well. It’s not painful, but wash your hands after you hold them! And definitely don’t eat them.

Then I found the baby! Wow, what a super successful bug hunting expedition!

SEARCHING FOR CENTIPEDES

I’ve been looking for centipedes at school for weeks, with no luck. Finally, I went to Midhill Park with my friend, Aliah, who knows a lot about finding bugs. We found an old fallen tree and looked there.

First we found this really cool pattern that was made, mostly likely, by some kind of bark beetle.

Then we found this interesting bug, which we first thought might be a wasp. But we Googled it and discovered it’s a Banded Ash Borer.

Then, finally, finally! We found a centipede! I caught it in this jar and brought it home to look at more closely. I’ll return it to the park tomorrow!

GREAT WOLF LODGE

Kenji and I went to the Great Wolf Lodge, a water park and all-around fun kid place in Washington!

For a while, we couldn’t stop pretending we were wolves.

We went to the arcade and Kenji won tons of tickets on one of the games.

I found the beds to be really comfy.

And while we waited for our pizza dinner, Kenji and I discovered this ancient relic called a telephone.

Here’s a video of even more stuff we did! It was super fun!

SCHOOL PLAYGROUND ON A SUNNY DAY

Between winter break and all of the rain we’ve had, it’s been forever since I’ve been able to go down my favorite thing at recess – the green slide.

So once I saw it was sunny on a Saturday, we all had to go to my school playground. And while I was at it, I played on everything else, too.

MY 9TH BIRTHDAY

I’m 9 years old! Here’s my birthday morning stash.

I love the Roblox game, Build a Boat for Treasure. Nana and Papa got me a gift card to buy Robux, the game platform’s virtual currency. Here is me trying to calculate how many Robux I can buy…

…and how much gold that Robux will get me…

…and me realizing, that’s a lotta gold!

And then I immediately went to my computer to buy new pieces for my boat. Happy birthday to me!