Cicadamania

It is the year for the 17 year cicadas in Illinois this year. For your reference, there are different types of cicadas, each with different 17 year cycles, plus the annual cicada... so I didn't really think it was any big whoop, where people around here were going nuts talking about, when will the cicadas be here? Dressing their dogs like cicadas, doing commercials featuring cicadas and so on.

I recall being a kid and hearing them kind of like loud crickets and seeing their shells here and there... not really all that big of a deal... then I drove through an area of town where I had to slow down and see what was wrong with my car. It was vibrating. I rolled down my windows and realized this noise was from all the bugs. Turns out cicadas en mass are two times louder than a chainsaw. There were maybe 30-40 seagulls swarming this very inland town, having a feast. It was really pretty awesome and that's when I caught the cicadamania bug.

I figured, since the next time these bugs are around, the babies will be driving... we had to go on a nature hike. Of course, as you recall, I work Monday-Friday, and Chuck works on weekends... so this nature hike meant I would take the babies out by myself. This is a little daunting at times, as it's hard work to prep them to go, set up the stroller, make sure they're fed and changed, and deal with the curious strangers, who while meaning well put a significant crimp in your ability to get about your business... sometimes I want to just attach a sign to the stroller...

• Yes, they are triplets.
• They are almost 1 year old.
• No, they are not identical.
• There are two boys and one girl.
• No, they don't run in my family, it was fertility treatments.
• No, it wasn't IVF - it was artificial insemination.
• Yes, it's unusual to get triplets from artificial insemination.
• Yes, we do have our hands full.

Anyway, one Saturday I loaded the babies into the broken down van (the power steering is out), drove it 45 minutes to where I'd heard they were still swarming, set up the triplet stroller, loaded the babies up and took the dog along and we walked through a park where a week ago it was said to be at chainsaw level. By the time we got there it was really pretty unimpressive, but the babies really didn't care, and won't remember it - deafening or not... and as for me, I saw my impressive cicada display already, and was just plain proud of myself for the attempt and the opportunity to take pictures of the babies with bug shells that they won't see for 17 more years.

Look closely at the babies' pictures here, they all have a bug shell on them.


Here's what the babies' friend Finn saw in the same park a week or so earlier.

Check out his baby blog for a super cute kid and some fun pics at...
Danger is my Middle Name