Spring Fest and Bug Bowl

Ever year at Purdue there is a big celebration that is held called Spring Fest, and the main part of Spring Fest is the Bug Bowl! Calling all entomologists! This is the place for you!

(If you get queasy at the sight of bugs, I suggest you skip this post because there are some disgusting things below.)

I must say that they do interesting things here in Indiana! First and foremost, is a sport I had never heard of before...

Yes, you read their jackets right... cricket spitting! And you are thinking, "You mean they actually get people to put crickets in their mouth!" Yes, they do. And where they find these brave (I mean, deranged) souls, I don't know! We only watched one of these contests, and it involved only kids. As we stood by, I heard one observer explain that the crickets are frozen and they are supposed to spit them before they completely thaw in their mouths. (Gross! Gross! Gross! This is making me cringe even as I type this.) And what sort of prize do they get for winning? A T-shirt that says "Purdue Cricket Spitting" and bragging rights. I'm sure you're wondering how far someone can spit a cricket. Well, the longest spit we witnessed was 17'. Okay, I'm done discussing this. YUCK!

Fortunately, most of the rest of the afternoon was spent doing my kind of bug observing. (And I say most of the afternoon because there was one other delightful event - speaking with complete sarcasm - that deserves it's own post entirely.)

I like the bugs that I can look at on the other side of a glass case.

I have decided that I don't want to live in Africa or South America because they have some incredibly large insects there. Creepy!

Oh, I almost forgot...

We did witness one other disgusting event at Roachill Downs. Roach racing! Yes, they placed a bunch of roaches on the roach track and watched to see which ones ran the fastest. Of course, they don't quite get the point of the track and they run both ways. We also watched races with Madagascar hissing cockroaches hooked up to tiny toy tractors.

Now I want you to look closely at the race track, and realize that all the little spectators are dead cockroaches!

Yes, some professor at Purdue spent hours and hours positioning each and every one of these roaches. Disgusting! And now you know why we skipped the Insect Petting Zoo.

I now ask myself, what makes someone want to become an entomologist?

On to the more pleasant parts of Spring Fest...

It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the kids enjoyed the time outdoors.

And Jenna got her first ride on a horse!