The one that ends with a spider

It all started the first part of June when I found out that Alex's cub scouts were going to ride bikes the next week. Alex had not ridden his bike yet this summer. He really didn't ride much last summer and was still uncomfortable without training wheels. So we decided that on top of all the craziness of the end of year stuff, Alex needed to ride his bike every day to be comfortable enough for cub scouts the next week. He rode around our neighborhood but that gets boring. So I took the little boys to our favorite bike riding park. It is really a soccer park but there are miles of sidewalk with no traffic around- so perfect for biking!

Chase is on the verge of no training wheels but since I was too tired to run next to him I took his training wheels for this day.

That was so fun that we decided to do it with every one a couple of days later. Alex is now a pro at riding. He just needed a refresher course- and he is a year older and braver- so he is good.

Andre was there and we took Chase's regular bike with no training wheels. He got it! I don't have a picture- but I do have video. Chase needs to get more steady though. He keeps leaning or steering to the side.


Chase decided to rest for a while. and we sat down on a little wall at the park. It was a cinder block type wall that surrounds a planter. We were sitting and talking when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a HUGE spider darting for Chase's back from under the cinder block thing. I start to tell him to get up and move but I couldn't get it out fast enough. Andre was standing right there and he later told me that I screamed. I don't remember screaming- but I probably did. Chase reacted like I screamed. He looked back- saw something and jumped up crying. I ran to Chase to make sure nothing was on him and to reassure him. He was still crying. I went back to look at the spider again. It was trying to get back in his hole. Yep it was a black widow. The biggest black widow I have ever seen and I have seen a lot of them. I tried to get my camera out but it takes a while to get my code in, find the right app, let it load...

By the time I got the camera mode on my phone, it was down it's hole. Chase must have been sitting on one of it's feeler webs feeling for insects because that spider came out in attack mode. I am still freaked out about it. Well, I decided that spider was dangerous and we should kill it if we could. If it wasn't poisonous I would have left it alone. But this was a park- right next to a playground! By then the older boys were back and wanted to see the spider. We tried to lure it out or scare it out but nothing worked. I decided to grab the top cap stone of the wall and flip it over. That way we could see down the cinder block hole.


Andre could not believe that I was chasing a spider. He knows I get freaked out by them.


I grabbed the stone and flipped it over.



This is what I saw...

I know it does not look like much. I should have put a quarter next to it but I didn't have a quarter. The spider with it's legs out like that would have been bigger than a quarter. And what is it hugging? A huge- huge- huge egg sack- ewwhhegsh! At this point I am creeped out thinking how many babies are in that sack.

We decided that we needed to squish both things. Tanner got a huge rock and we dropped it on top of them. They will not  be bothering any unsuspecting bike riders again. And I will think twice before sitting on a wall again.

So Alex did great on his bike riding day and has become a bike riding freak. He wants to ride all the time. But he does not really want to ride his bike alone. He wants a friend to ride with him. Friends are not always available so then he gets bugged.

Yea for bikes and boo for spiders.