"Big Spidey"

Shields and Kate are fascinated by animals ~ especially spiders (or "big spideys", as they like to call them)...which, I guess is not technically not an animal, but is actually classified as a predaceous arachnid of the order Araneae. I am sure you can only imagine how thrilled I am that my children love these creepy crawly predatory arachnids, which spin webs that serve as nests and as traps for their helpless prey who meet their dreadful demise once trapped. Some might say, "isn't that neat that at such young ages your children are daring to be radically distinctive by choosing not to like boring ol' horses, doggies, or even tigers". I will have you know - this huge obsession with "big spideys" was not dreamed up by their capricious and fantastical young minds. Rather, it was 'implanted' into their brains by a certain grandfather (a.k.a. Papa) who upon every visit to his house, takes them on journeys far and wide (across the yard), through the dense jungle (around a few crepe myrtles) searching for the most elusive and terrifying spider. The thing that baffles me is that their 'Papa' is deathly afraid of big spideys, and I often wonder what he would actually do if they stumbled upon one. Still - after so many expeditions and after finding a few cobweb remnants, they disappointingly have yet to track down one of these "big spideys" that Steve Erwin (and Steve Hill) talk constantly about.......I am hopeful that one day (yeah right) they will finally discover a large arachnid that they can catch and scare their Papa with...especially since it's his fault that they are obsessed with those nasty eight-legged creatures!! ;-)