Butterflies

For Ainsley's birthday she got a butterfly kit and it was awesome!  We mailed off for caterpillars and they after a few days of anxiously checking the mail, they came!  Five caterpillars in a plastic jar with a bunch of goopy food on the bottom.  Ainsley was so excited and both her and Bailey had such a fun time watching them move and wiggle around.

For her birthday, she also got a Dr. Suess butterfly book that goes over the metamorphosis process in a good amount of detail.  It was so exciting for her to watch the process happen just as the book said it would.  I'll admit that I thought it was pretty neat too.  And George kept saying, "we should do this once a year."  It was kinda gross to have this little jar on our entry way table for several weeks but it was totally worth it!  Then once the caterpillars ate their fill of the goop then they crawled up to the top of the jar and hung upside down in Js.

After a few days of hanging in Js, they turned into chrysalises.  This was an exciting part for Ainsley and I loved hearing her say the word chrysalis.  She sounded so smart!

 

After a few days of being in a chrysalis, they were strong enough to be moved into the butterfly garden.  Ainsley helped with this process and at one point while moving them, one of the chrysalis started to wiggle violently.  It totally freaked me out and I had to give myself the 'be a brave cool mom' pep talk in my head so that I wouldn't scare Ainsley.  Lets just say, that was my least favorite part and I felt much better when they were all safe and secure in the butterfly garden.

We counted down each day on our chart and between the 6th and 8th day all the butterflies emerged.  It was so neat and exciting to see more and more butterflies emerge but I was a little bummed that neither Ainsley or I got to actually watch them come out.

Then before we knew it all the butterflies were out and flying around in the garden cage!  We fed them fresh flowers with a little sugar water dribbled on top and all enjoyed watching them for a few days while their wings hardened.

 

Then before we knew it, the day came when it was time to release them outside!  Ainsley was so excited!!

 

A few last looks at them...

...and then it was time to open up the garden cage and let them go. 

The first four flew away pretty fast and it was difficult to capture them and the kids expressions.  You can see one making its getaway in front of Ainsley's shirt in the picture below, but that was the only one I managed to get a picture of in flight.

 

Below is Bailey explaining that the butterflies were flying away and then were all gone.  He looks kind of upset in this picture but he is really just being dramatic.  He enjoyed being part of the process but this time it was definitely led by Ainsley.  It will be fun to do this again in a few years and have it be more driven by him.

 



The last butterfly lagged behind and hung out in the garden cage longer than the others.  I was thankful for this because if it weren't for this little guy the whole process would have been done in less than two minutes which would have felt like a kind of swift conclusion to this journey.  The kids, and even George, enjoyed cheering on this last butterfly friend.

 

I was geared up and primed to at least get a good shot of this one's take off but before I knew it, he was gone.  And this was the only pic I got.  Oh well.  Still an awesome experience with lots of good memories.  I definitely recommend it!