No-see-ums??

I just spent two weeks in Florida - Orlando and Vero Beach. Aaaahhh... Disneyworld! The sunshine! The beach! The ocean! The no-see-ums..huh??

I live in Omaha, Nebraska. We have mosquitos. We have ants. We have bug repellant. We move on, fairly unscathed.

My first afternoon in Vero, I skipped merrily to the pool, slathered on the sunscreen and leaned back in the lawn chair. Just to be out in the sunshine was heavenly - Nebraska has left a lot to be desired this summer with all the storms, tornadoes and grey clouds. My mother-in-law sat down beside me and said, "Now down here you'll want to make sure to wear plenty of sunscreen (check) and get some bug spray for the no-see-ums." If you knew my mother-in-law, you'd know that half the time she is pulling your leg so you let things go in one ear and out the other without giving it much more response than a chuckle. Unfortunately this time, wasn't one of those times.

What I learned as I woke up itching at 4:30 the next morning, is that there are these nasty little critters in Florida called, "no-see-ums." No-fooling. I got over 200 bites on my right foot, and about half as many on my left. I could see the patterns they walked in - some marched along the edges of the bands of my flip-flops. Step-munch-step-munch. Some danced around in circles. Sidestep-munch-sidestep-munch. Some just hopped around deliriously happy to have found fresh Nebraska meat. Joy!-munch-Joy!-munch.

My feet swelled up like Italian sausages. My arms looked like I had the chicken pocks. I was going stir crazy, itching and scratching. All because of these mean, little, invisible people-eaters.
All the hydrocortisone, calamine lotion and eucalyptus oil could not bring relief to the aftermath of the war raged upon my little piggies.

Doctor said, "Benadryl." I found some relief and enjoyed the rest of my trip.

Sunshiney afternoons, trips to the park, time with family. Boo and his cousins had a sleepover at Grandma's and I had a midnight get-away to the beach with my hubby. And in my knee-high socks, tennis shoes, long-sleeved shirt and sweat pants, we listened to the ocean waves, felt the cool breezes and watched shooting stars write our names across the sky.