While visiting the insect petting zoo yesterday, they offered for each of the kids to take home a ladybug in a small container with a wet cotton ball. My children love ladybugs, so they jumped at the idea of keeping one as a pet. They each chose one out and spent the rest of the day carrying it around.

C named hers Spots, because, you know ladybugs have spots.

Big E called his Wild, because when he first picked up the little container, it was running around ‘wild’ inside.

Baby E didn’t name his, but was just as enthusiastic.

The big kids labeled theirs as soon as they could so they wouldn’t mix them up.

Fast forward to today when it was time to head home from the new house. I was afraid the kids were going to push the idea of keeping their ladybugs as pets, but thankfully they seemed happy with the plan to take them outside and let them go on a nearby plant. Both Spots and Wild had been sitting in their containers on the counter, but Baby E had left his in the van. So I went out to get the poor ladybug and bring it inside ahead of its eventual release.

Except when I got to the van and found the container of our little unnamed friend, it was opened and empty. Uh oh, his ladybug had made a prison break. I didn’t see it anywhere, so I’m not sure if it’s still hanging out in the van, waiting for a stealth attack while I’m driving or not, but I’m just really grateful the insect petting zoo hadn’t been passing out spiders or beetles!! I like ladybugs, so I won’t mind a commuting buddy tomorrow, and thankfully Baby E didn’t even notice it was missing.

C let Spots off on a plant at the new house, and Big E opened his container and Wild flew away, which is totally like him to be all daring like that. It was a neat experience for the kids and I took pictures of them with their little friends as a memento, except for Baby E, of course. 🙂