Good bye Thomas and Lily--the mantises

Well, the time has come to let our mantises go into the wild blue yonder. We have had 5 deaths just this week and I don't think Grace can handle watching any more die. We had lots of tears today over the death of the latest one. I'm not sure why they are dying. We have plenty of food for them and water. We have had them for four weeks though so maybe they just can't continue to live in captivity. Right now Grace and Joe have the last two outside and they are using Lincoln Logs to build houses for them. They have named them Thomas and Lily and they are introducing them to the world outside. They have slid down the slide, climbed monkey bars, and are now having their homes built. I imagine it will be sad when they have to come in and leave them outside. Maybe we will see them again though. Praying mantises tend to stay in the same spot. Ollie's sister has one that lives in her flower pot and his aunt has one that lives on her patio. They see them all the time when they go to water their plants.