The cicadas were out in full force this summer. The buzz was constant. I was not in Nashville the last time they invaded and we certainly never got these in Manhattan so I was clueless.

Outside my office window, at the height of the “storm” I could hear them all day. I actually did not mind it as much as many others. I guess I liked the white noise.

As the mother of little ones, I also got to experience all stages of cicada lifespans. From the easily spotted and much sought after cicada shells to the early white cicadas (which Madeleine called the Mama cicadas) to the singing cicadas the kids would grab by their wings and let float away.

Thane was fearless, with no small thanks to Madeleine and her love of any insect. He grabbed a cicada once and proudly announced that said cicada liked him.

I used Thane’s power of cicadas to help me on more than one occasion, asking him to grab a cicada off of me…quickly…like now..is it gone yet.

We did have two rules…no cicadas in the house and ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY no cicadas in the car.

Jay broke that rule tonight.

As he was getting ready for a late rollerblade around the circle, I heard what sounded like a dentist’s drill outside. A few moments later he appeared inside carrying an empty tennis ball bottle and an unhappy cicada. He announced, “Look up ‘Vanderbilt Blue-Eyed Cicada.’”

Me: “Um, Vanderbilt like my school?”

Jay: “Yes”

Me: “And cicada, like cicada? Do you have a cicada in there?”

It was not just a cicada but a HUGE cicada that either did not get the memo that they had all died out or was some Super-Cicada with blue eyes and blue wings that had been here since dinosaurs and would slowly overtake Earth with its other mutant friends.

Oh, and Jay heard that Vanderbilt paid money for these.

Apparently that was a hoax. Vanderbilt was not paying $5, $50 or…would you believe $3000 for Blue-Eyed Cicadas. But hey, I have one in my house so I will gladly pay Vandy $50 to get it out.

The cicada is safely outside once more. We could not even get a decent pic of it. It was huge and it was blue, for sure. Madeleine, you would have loved it.

I am on a new project at work. A very exciting project that may bring me to places like Sweden and Poland…and Columbus, Ohio.

Ah, the mysterious city of Columbus, that is where I am headed at 6 am tomorrow morning.

It has been awhile since I have traveled for work. Probably since before Mara was born. There are several really enticing pieces of this:

*Staying at a hotel, by myself, no kids, no bedtimes.
*Maybe a chance to get a mani/pedi without paying a babysitter or squeezing it in during nap
*Time to go to the gym or the pool
*Dinner out

Conversely, wow…three days away from the kids. Three days where Jay has to be the sole provider for the kids. Take Mara to school, Thane to tennis camp and back to school. Dinners, bedtimes, bathtimes, all on his own. Yes, he is super involved dad, but that is taxing on anyone. I need a Calgon moment for him just thinking about it.

So, I have gotten as much ready as possible. Did a load of laundry so the kids had clean clothes, wrote the cleaning woman a check and left it out, ran the dishwasher, made Thane’s lunch.

And do you know what the most important thing I did this evening was? Left out 3 outfits for Mara.

Why, you ask?

Jay knows where her closet is. Where her shorts and skirts and tops are kept. Why would you leave out outfits for him for Mara to wear?

Last week Mara was home with a cough/cold. Jay stayed home with her. When I met them later that afternoon, this is what she was wearing.

The above photo is especially for all those that used to mock me for laying out Jay’s clothes every morning.

We celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd of July.

We headed over to our friend’s house for a kid-approved Fourth of July celebration. Thane and Mara arrived already in their swimsuits and ready to go. When we arrived, the chairs were already out front for prime viewing of the fireworks display.

In the pool, Thane showed us his adventurous side, jumping in off of the slide.

We were hoping that would continue into the fireworks display. Not so much.

I took him to where the boys were, pretty close to the display. Probably not the brightest idea mommy had. He was brave at first and then done. Jay took him inside for most of the rest of the display.

Teen Queen was fine. She loved the fireworks and I had to keep her closer to me and not on top of the action. She also loved the sparklers and asked for one after another. She watched all of the displays with great interest and loved every minute of it.

This morning, we headed out bright and early for our first race, the Firecracker 5k and Kids Fun Run.

In late July, both kids are going to do a duathlon (bike and run) and when we heard of the fun run, we thought it was a good chance for Thane to see what it was like. After getting home after 11 pm, we had a little of a late start but Thane was excited for his race. I was able to go with him and so Jay decided to walk with Mara, too.

The race was a mile. The start line was right next to the singer/emcee so we had a very loud wait for the start. Once we started to line up though, Thane was loving it and big smile went across his face.

And we were off.

Thane and I ran, hand in hand. We paced ourselves but were going fast. About 1/4 mile down, Thane looked at me and said, “Run faster, mommy!” Really? We kept going. Shortly after, I was nearing my peak. So was Thane. We walked a little, ran a little. Then we saw the racers at the lead coming back towards us. Thane was confused and then got a cramp in his leg. We walked the rest of the way and eventually Jay and Mara caught up with us. Mara walked the entire mile on her own. We were so proud of her.

After the race and picking up the t-shirts, we headed to Cracker Barrel for a celebratory lunch. Thane, upon exiting the car, threw up all the water he had taken in after the race. The heat and the distance had gotten to him. He smiled immediately after though and told us he was ok and ready for pancakes.

That night, we headed to Brentwood to watch the fireworks from Shab’s front lawn and spend some time with the new baby. Thane even held the sparklers this time, so it was a success.