WHAT'S WITH ALL THE MOSQUITOES???

Okay, so it's January and it's relativelly cold here in Egypt. We don't have snow here but we get a huge amount of rain here in the winter. Alexandria is known for it's high humidity year round. But generally the mosquito population goes DOWN in the winter.....or at least it used to.
This summer we had only a few mosquitoes. I thought maybe the kids were just getting really good at closing the screen doors on the balcony behind them. Silly me. I now know that the mosquitoes just decided to take a summer vacation elsewhere and make Alexandria their new winter home. I'm telling you, I've killed about 5 just sitting here in front of the computer for the last 30 minutes. Ismail and Samiya got yelled at today for their "mosquito hunting expedition" where they killed 16 blood-suckers in the boys' bedroom earlier this afternoon. No, I don't have a problem with them killing insects. My problem is their choice of weaponry. They each had a size 9 men's flip-flop in hand and were climbing around on the furniture swatting at bugs, real or imagined, and leaving gigantic shoe-prints all over the walls.
For the really high ones, they were holding the flip-flops parallel to the floor and flinging them upward with hopes of squishing their targets. Kids, while I appreciate your ingenuity, WHO IN THE HELL WANTS TO STAND ON A LADDER AND SCRUB FOOTPRINTS AND BUG GUTS OFF OF THE CEILINGS??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus it gives guests the wrong idea about your true level of activity when they see evidence that you really CAN walk on the ceiling.

I don't know what the deal is but I've researched the mosquito. Apparently, they aren't "feeding" on us. Mosquitoes actually thrive on juice or nectar from fruits or other foods, which is why they tend to be around trash cans and picnic areas. It is actually only the female of the species that "bites" people. From what I've read on various entomology websites, the female needs blood in order to procreate. No, this does not solve my problem but it does explain why I feel no remorse from yelling, "Blood-sucking bitch" at the little critters sucking my fingers and earlobes dry all night long. No, really. I am suffering from fatigue due to my inability to sleep at night....between the 5 kids, vampire-like scheduled husband, and insomniac autistic 12-yr old, I could honestly do without the addition of miniature wings buzzing past my head in the middle of the night.

Oh, and those bug-zapper things? These damn mosquitoes use it like a sun-bathing lamp. They fly just close enough to enjoy it's warmth and fall asleep on the wall next to it. I think only about 5 have been zapped by it in the last 3 days. Total waste of money and electricity. Maybe I should just hand each kid a flip-flop and turn them loose. Anyone who gets into trouble after we're finished the mosquito massacre will of course be put on sponge duty scrubbing footprints off the walls. Hmmmmmmmmm. Win-win-win situation afterall.