Hi, my name is Lacey and I am nine years old. My family and I are currently on a camping trip in the Adirondacks, I am super excited because tomorrow we are going on a hike. I am extra excited about the hike because my parents and I are going to try and collect bugs. We are collecting the bugs in my jar while we go on our hike. I cant wait to see the bugs I find, see you tomorrow to go on the hike!

Good morning, my dad helped me get my jar ready for the bugs. He said we need to find plants so that they can eat while they are in my jar. We put dirt in the bottom of my jar so that the bugs can have a nice place to live. We are going to collect plants along the way. Let's go on our hike!

On my hike, I first saw this tiny red bug flying. It’s a ladybug. It is read and has a lot of black spots on it. Once it landed I decided that the ladybug would be the perfect first insect to add to my jar so I gently picked it up and put it in. I closed the lid and made sure I held on to my jar tight so I didn't drop it, I didn't want to hurt it. Now we have to start walking again, I hope I find more bugs!

We kept walking for a few minutes we went by a lot of different trees and some very cool rocks! Some of the rocks were even stacked like a tower! My ladybug was looking hungry though so I wanted to get her some food.

Next, I found a maple tree, my dad said that a lot of bugs eat maple leaves so I decided to pick one off from the branch and add it to my jar. The leaf was so pretty, it had a bunch of different shades of red, orange, and even some yellow. Its leaves were pointy. I decided to also grab a stick off from the ground because my ladybug looked like she was stuck at the bottom. I tilted it in the jar so that she could climb up it. The stick was like a playground for her and she started climbing it.

All of this walking was making me hungry too. I decided to sit down on a log and have a snack. 

While I was eating my snack I saw a little green bug inching toward me. My parents said it is a caterpillar and that they turn into butterflies. I decided to add him to my jar too! He was so cute and reminded me of Kermit the frog because he was green.

Before I could even move I saw a spider running along on the log too. The spider had really long legs and a lot of them… eight to be exact. Just like an octopus. My dad said I should not put the spider in my jar though because spiders sometimes eat other insects. I didn't want him to eat my ladybug and caterpillar so I just waved goodbye to Mr. Spider and kept walking. 

There were so many pretty trees and flowers while we kept walking. A lot of the trees were very tall and looked like Christmas trees. My mom said they are called fur trees. I thought that was a good name for them because they look furry. I also saw tiny little flowers all on one stem and they were my favorite color purple! My dad said they are called lupines. When I went to look closer at the flowers I saw an ant.

Ants are tiny little insects with brown coloring. My Mom said that they make a lot of tunnels under the ground where they live. She said they live with their colony which is basically just like their family. A lot of the ants were carrying pieces of bark, dirt, and leaves. I decided to add an ant to my jar, I hope he makes tunnels in there!

My dad said we were about halfway to the top of the mountain so I decided we needed to keep walking. There was a little stream with a bridge that covered it so we could walk over. While we were walking over I saw another flower. This one was different than the other flowers I have seen because it was pink and the center of it looked like it was growing out of the flower. It was so pretty, I told my mom that I really wanted to add it to my jar. She told me that it was a type of rose but although they are pretty we should not pick the wildflowers. So I decided that I would leave it there for someone else to be able to see how pretty it is.

Before I could even walk away I saw a bee on the flower, this scared me because bees can sting you. My mom told me that most honey bees do not sting you. She said they just want to collect nectar from the flowers. They only sting if they are scared similar to how we yell or cry when we get scared. I decided that I would leave the bee and the flowers alone so that we both didn't scare each other. 

As we kept walking I saw a worm. The worm looked lonely so I decided to add him to my jar so he could have some friends. He was long brown and slimy and kept moving around in my hand.  

I quickly realized that with all the insects in my jar I may need more food. As were almost to the top I saw a field full of grass, My mom said that it is actually called alfalfa and that insects love to eat it so I decided to add both the grass and alfalfa to the jar as well!