Our Spider Friend

Tonight we were out playing in the front yard riding bikes and watering the roses. Tyson noticed this friendly addition to our rosemary hedges. Sarah and I became intrigued by this spider. Sarah and I kept a close eye on it for about an hour. In that time, it caught two bees in it's web. You can see both of the bees in the first picture. It was fascinating to watch the spider spin silk around the bees while they were still alive. You could still see them squirming in the silk cocoon. Sarah really wanted to see the spider eat one of them, but it didn't in the time we were outside. Tyson thinks that this is a Golden Orb Web Spider. There was another one in the same bush, but it was much smaller than this one. Check out the quarter Sarah is holding up for scale!!
MOM: Can you believe that YOUR daughter got THIS close to a spider THIS BIG????? Never thought you would see the day!!!!!!!!!