Saturday, December 29, 2007

Christmas with Grandpa



Little boys and their Grandpas - a special relationship! Especially when you have made a tree house and need some help to get it fixed in the tree branches!

Little Caleb (the one who "hasn't got a grandpa") gave Eric the benefit of his advice and a helping hand with the cutting of the planks.

Finally a rough and ready little platform of sorts was finished, a few branches of the big old pine tree cut back to make steps, and then it was up in the tree for three excited little boys!




With a couple of old blankets and a cushion or two they were as happy as could be!!








And of course, it is a great place to compare biceps!
















Or play at being a ferocious monster!


What better way to spend the morning of Christmas Eve!!
Then Grandpa found - this!!!! WOW!!!!



A gigantic stick insect!!! That purpley-green part is her WINGS!! And on her back is her husband!!!! The boys thought because he was small it must be her baby - squeals when told no, it was her mate!!

See the curve of her wing?

I never knew they had such beautiful wings before.











She is certainly big - here you see here with her back facing to the right of the picture - that is her mate on her back. He is less than half her size!




Look at the span of her legs!












Totally awesome ! Look at that camouflage - she was lying lengthwise along a pine branch - if I hadn't been an inch or so away from her, we would never have seen her!

Tom and Jake kept a respectable distance away - they weren't coming out of that tree house for any old stick insect!




Look at those happy little faces!!
















And little Caleb, who is three years younger than the other two, managed to climb up and down with only a little bit of trepidation!!







The smile tells all!!!!

3 comments:

roseygirl said...

OMG! I remember stick insect in the tree's some of them get really HUGE!

Anonymous said...

Never is there a more beautifull photo than little boys growing up and having the time of their life.
I bet Grandpa has the time of his life with them.
Isnt it strange, all over Christmas, I had borrowed 10 DVDs from the library, and they were all on Insects, Mammals, and WildLife.
Love Marlene.

Summerysmile said...

Wow! I've never seen a walking stick that big before? I had to show your pictures to my kids...they were amazed! My son got sprayed in the eye by one of those one time when he was little. It was awful!