lightning bugs

they only come out in june.
they only come out for about 30 minutes each night...when the sun is just about set.
and they are so easy to catch.

i hadn't even seen one this year but i told annie at lunch time "i think tonight we'll catch lightening bugs"
because it just felt like it was time.

and sure enough there they were.
and annie heard cicadas and said to talby "what is that noise that is so loud?!"
it is definitely summer.



this activity was on the summer list.....check!

annie was so excited and yelling "i got one!" every other minute.
talby got as many as she could at once before coming back to the jar.
sean was so into it last year but this year he just kept swimming....
growing up i guess.
 



 
it was time for bed.
i think they caught every one in our yard.

and then it was time to let them go.  

 
so we could catch them all again tomorrow night.      

Comments

[Gemma]

I so wish we had them here in the UK..they look magical!! Very unusual!

Gemma X

http://musings-of-a-gem.blogspot.com/

[Nikki]

I love this post... we don't have these bugs in Australia. Our kids have a three week winter break... I need to write a list of fun things to do.
xx

[Elisa]

love fireflies!! I was watching them on my bedroom porch door last night :)

[Vanessa {Bloom Right Here!}]

Isn't God amazing? Every time I see a lightning bug I am just in awe. What a creative God we have....He created a bug whose rearend actually lights up! Love 'em!

[candace]

i love being out in the country where it looks like it is raining little lights out in the fields! and amen to that comment just above. :)

[kristine]

awesome. great pics of them lighting up!!

[Lisa K]

We don't have lightning bugs where I live, but I have some really warm memories of a summer vacation over the fourth of July one year - I was elementary school age and we stayed with friends in a big homey house in some rolling hills in TN. We caught lightning bugs and watched a parade and fireworks. It was like a dream. :) Thanks, Megan, for reminding me.

[Sarah]

There is a field near our house in Manhattan that was loaded with lightening bugs, like someone laid a net of Christmas lights over the field, only better. My husband drove through it one night coming home late from work and insisted on taking the kids to see it. He was right. My two year old kept saying "it's amazing". They are magical little bugs.

[Jen CD]

thank you for this post. We miss cicadas and fireflies so much.

[Nancy]

When we visit arkansas every summer, the girls look forward to that. We just don't have those here in our concrete jungle known as Southern California. :(

[melissa*320 sycamore]

meg~this is our first summer we have ever had lightning bugs! I didn't know they were so short lived~we'll have to plan a catching party pronto. such great pics.

[Lora]

Awesome pics! you guys are so fun!

[`Kelly]

We had those fun little creatures where I grew up in the midwest. Now living on the West Coast with my own family, I miss them. I wish my boys could grow up with those same childhood memories I had.

[Tam]

I want to do this with the boys, I was hoping to do it Saturday night! :) Photos are great, thanks for sharing!

[Dina]

We did the SAME thing the other night. I kept trying to get pics of their "light bulb tushies"... that's what my kids call them;-)... but I just wasn't fast enough.... and I think my son left them in the jar a little too long. They were pretty slow moving when we finally released -- but no casualties:-)

[www.Kellyloves.wordpress.com]

I grew up with lightning bugs and it breaks my heart that it's too hot in Florida for them. But we do have love bugs and my son and I catch those each spring.

www.kellyloves.wordpress.com

[Sophie]

This is going to sound so dumb, but I didn't know they even existed! I'm from London, so we don't have any bugs like that here. Just the boring ones. :P

[Melissa]

Ooooh how fun I remember doing this as a child!

[Megan]

You can never be too old for lightning bugs!

[Jessica Hoffman]

I miss lightning bugs...i use to catch them when i was little living in Texas... they are magical.

[Natasha Burns]

Wow, these are amazing! Are they the same thing as fireflies? We don't have these in Autralia, wish we did!

[Dana@Bungalow'56]

I've often read about lightning bugs or seen cartoon versions of them on some Disney cartoons (I can't remember which ones right now), but I had no idea they lit up like that? That was very cool to see. I'm going to show my kids.
Thanks

[Amanda]

Great photos!!! Looks fun!

[Liz]

Love your pictures! Looks like they had a great time. We too are busy crossing fun activities off our list!

[Art Cant Hurt]

my birthday is june 20th and growing up i knew it was almost time for my birthday when the first lightning bugs came out....now my kids see them and say "momma, it's almost your day!" and it makes my heart smile!
thanks for sharing megan!

[Sixty Fifth Aveune]

You got some really awesome pictures Meg! This is on our list too, how fun!

[Nicole Q.]

I didn't grow up with lightening bugs so i think this is so cool. last year we let the kids keep their jar in their room while falling asleep, it's like a night light. So cool.

[Liz]

Meg! Catch them again tonight, take the jar inside and let the girls fall asleep with them as nightlights in their dark rooms! It's so much fun. After a while you can take them back outside and let them go.

[Tracy]

I miss these days both for me and my children. My kids (like your Lauren) are all too grown up (so they think) to do these kinds of things anymore. However, even though I am a grown-up - I wish I could be carefree all summer long catching lightning bugs instead of making the commute to NYC for work every day! LOL Glad you got something else checked off your summer list. Have a great day hun! xoxoxo :o)

[Julie]

Man do I miss catching lightening bugs. Kinda hate that my kids don't get to do this. Really nice to see your kids enjoying their summer ~ looks like fun!

[Heidi]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I miss seeing lightening bugs and was just thinking about it last week. I immigrated to Holland many years ago and they are not here. You gave me a little piece of my childhood again reading this and seeing the photos. Thanks so much for that!

Hugs from Holland ~
Heidi

[Julie]

Seeing a lightning bug is on my list of things to do before I die. I'm almost 30 and I have yet to see one! They know better than to come to LA...

[Kat]

I love your photos, Meg...these are GREAT! :) We've been catching lightning bugs around here too...but seeing these photos are magical :). Thanks!

[Sara @ It's Good to be Queen]

i love summer. great photos!

[Jaime]

Oh my goodness... I so miss living anywhere but Arizona. I miss the lightning bugs and cicadas (kinda). Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you and Annie!

[Heather]

so cool! i wish we had those in az. love the photo of annie holding one while lit up.

[Sandy]

I've always lived in Ohio so I've grown up and grown "old" with them. After reading the comments I realize I've taken them for granted! I didn't realize so many areas don't have them. Great memories of catching them in the jars...now I watch my dog jump through the yard catching them. They are awesome!

[Katie]

I am from your area, too, and these little glowing guys are everywhere. I bet if you go to the edge of town at dusk, you would seen many. My little friend, Rylee, and I caught lots the other night in Elbing :)

[jaz]

Look at their cute little bums!

[Naomi]

DEF miss lightnin' bugs!

[Becky @ Farmgirl Paints]

One of my favorite memories of summer. Thanks for that:)

[Kate @ Songs Kate Sang]

Oh, I love those bugs!!

[Kimberlee J.]

I looked out my kitchen window last night and my entire front yard was full of them. Yep, it's totally summer. And I'm loving it.

[Ellen]

We did the same thing last night! And it was also on our summer list (stolen from you, of course) :) Is it weird that it makes my day that you and I thought alike? Ha!

[Christy]

I have been in Phx for over 20 years & we don't have them hear. :( I so miss that about summer. Catching the bugs & "wearing" them were one of my all time favorite childhood memories, the best spot to collect them was my granparents farm.

[Lora]

One of my favorite childhood memories! I like how you captured their lit up be-hinds :O)

[Robyn]

that is AMAZING!
the photo of her holding the bug all lit up is perfect!

[Kirsten]

Oh the memories...we visited my great-grandma when I was little in Garden City, Kansas, and they were so magical. I wish I had pictures. I barely remember...and the noisy cicadas.

[Sharon]

So much fun!

[Ruth]

i just saw my very first fireflies in uganda last month! a leeeeetle bit overexcited...

[jennifer]

Lightning bugs remind of when I was little and we lived in Chicago. We left when I was seven and I always missed the lightning bugs!

[Krista]

Love the one with the bug lighting up as Annie is holding it, your pics are awesome!

[tara pollard pakosta]

My girls have been wanting to do this the past few nights, but then forgot as night came around....I need to get a few jars, the last one we had outside broke in a storm!
awesome pix!
tara

[DreamGirlLisa]

What a marvel Mother Nature is, those are so cool! I wish we had them here in CA.

[the road less traveled]

it's officially summer to me the first night i see the fireflies.

love your romper :)

[Anya]

Wow, we don't get anything like around my place! Love them, so amazing. So cool.

[Jenny]

Nothing says summer to me like fireflies! These pics are great!

[Jeanne]

Everytime I read your posts I just want to move next door to you and we are BFF:-)

[Bluebell]

Thank you for this post! It was a wonderful trip down memory lane...from my childhood in Indiana. I know live in Idaho and there aren't any lightning bugs in my area...so this was a wonderful way to relive a great time in my life!

[Mica]

never ever have I seen a real one... My husband saw his first ones last year when he was in Philadelphia.... Someday maybe...Looks like your kiddos had an awesome time out with them...Mica/The Child's Paper

[jimaiemarie]

This is SO fun, I've never seen one in real life and I just know my kids would get such a kick out of them!! I so wish we had them here in California, very cool!!

[Sarah]

This is the first year my kids were old enough to enjoy catching lightning bugs, but enjoy it we have! The other night we ran around the yard shreaking and laughing while we caught them. Such fun!

[Kendra]

We're in Wichita and our lightning bugs stay for hours!

[Melanie]

I love those bugs. When we lived in Georgia, we had a lot of them. Now that we are in Cincy, I don't see them so much.

[Carol]

I remember catching fireflies when I was a kid. It was such sweet, innocent fun. And those lions, they would have freaked me out! Glad you had fun!!

[Diana]

wow, come to our neighborhood, we have always had the lightning bugs since mid-may and they're with us all evening and all night (maybe 'cause we're near the creek?)... when the grandkids come over in the summer, there have been times we camped in the backyard and watched them in the wee hours of the night... when i can't sleep, i sit in the backyard and watch them, so cool to see them all over the yard and in the sky in the dark of the night :)

[Meredith]

Oh Meg, If you don't have Faith Hill's song "Fireflies"stop what you're doing and download it right now!! :)

[Aimee @ In THIS Life]

Oh, wow! I'm jealous. We moved back to the West Coast last year, and fireflies are one of the things I miss!

[Stephanie]

I enjoy your blog and amazing photos! My sons were having fun last night when they noticed the lightning bugs, so I grabbed my camera...but my pics do not even come close to yours!! You are so creative! Please share with me how you got such great photos of the bugs lighting up, I am trying to learn new things with my camera...maybe I need to put it on the correct setting?!?!

[Rach]

Oh how I miss lightening bugs and long summer walks. I wish we had them out here. :(

[crystal b]

I've never seen a lighting bug. I'm so glad you posted pictures of one up close so I could see how it lights up. I read about a really fun lightening bug party just yesterday -- I think it was in Family Fun, the July issue. You should check it out -- it looks like something you would love. They also had a fun robot craft made of tin cans.

P.S. Loved that dragon craft.

[MommyTopics.com]

I'm a Southern California Girl and I've never, NEVER, seen lightning bugs. NEVER! I have a dream.

You just brought me a little closer today.

Thank you.
I knew they were really out there and that little kids really do collect them in jars. I just knew it!

I'm linking to this post on Monday in my gratitude post. You'll be able to find it at MommyTopics.com, Monday morning, June 28, 2010.

Blessings
Rachymommy - MommyTopics.com

[Heather Warren]

I loved reading about this. I have two boys. Clayton who is 14 and B aka Bryce who is 9. We are in Heltersberg, Germany and just spent our first time outside looking for fireflies. I was told by one of my German friends that she has never seen them here before but saw them for the first time a few days ago. We saw them tonight and caught one. It was an amazing feeling to share this moment with my boys. :-)

[Rockwall Christmas Lights]

Really enjoyed this. I can remember watching them in amazement with my little girl as what seemed to be thousamds of them would light up the entire campsite. She's all grown up now, but we still enjoy our lightning bug hunts.

[Supra Skytop]

EO EO EO EO .....DON'T WANNA IT THAT WAY.....YEAH-EN-YEAH.....

[Juicy Couture Bags]

“I love San Juan Capistrano, our lifestyle, the people, the city’s small town atmosphere. Both my wife Chris and I are active in our community every day.”

[Supra Shoes For Girl]

The authors concluded that "although BCT produced slightly higher response rates and longer median progression-free survival than CVD alone, this was not associated with either improved overall survival or durable responses. Considering the extra toxicity and complexity, this concurrent BCT regimen cannot be recommended for patients with metastatic melanoma."
. While he hasn't been able tasdfo develop phonetic reading skills yet, he is becoming quite adept at what is known as "sight" reading where he memorizes and recalls whole words, and he sure knows his planets!