Bugs

I'm so glad the boys enjoy playing outside. I do wish there were less mosquitoes, tho. I'm trying to find a nice natural remedy. I've tried one of my essential oils (Aura Cacia's Medieval Mix) plain, some of my oils blended with lotion to go on more evenly, cloves soaked in water then added to the Medieval Mix and a touch of milk (to emulsify) which seemed to work for about 15 minutes at a time. Last year I tried pure vanilla extract, which smelled nice, but was a bit sticky, and didn't seem to work all that well. Yesterday I was on the phone with someone who said I should spray on some Listerine, which reminded me that I had already used that remedy a year or two ago, and as I recall, that didn't work all that great, either. Maybe I should try again today. Anyone know of some really good natural mosquito repellents?

The issue seems to be mainly in our yard. The weather was nice and cool last evening, so Biju and I took the boys out for a "sidewalk" (as Ajay puts it). Ajay rode his bike, Alex rode in his stroller. I don't think any of us got one single bite during our walk! I've heard catnip is a good herb to have planted to keep the skeeters away. I'll have to keep my eye's peeled and try to find some. I think I'll plant them around our whole perimeter.....

Here are some shots of the boys last week playing outside. If you look closely, I wouldn't be surprised if you found a mosquito flying somewhere near their exposed skin!!