We had such a busy, and rainy, spring that we hadn't been up to visit Aunt Katie in a long time. She let us know about a new butterfly exhibit at a nearby conservatory and we just HAD to go. We remembered how much fun we'd had in Georgia at the
Calloway Gardens Butterfly Garden. Maura is even more interested in butterflies now than she was then, so we left early on Wednesday to spy some butterflies.
We went first to a park with a scenic overlook over
Cincinnati. It was a wonderful place for a picnic and would have been even more wonderful if I hadn't left the picnic behind in the
refrigerator! We made due and nobody starved, and then headed to see butterflies. At the conservatory, we were
greeted by this gigantic woman/butterfly. Maura started getting really excited.
We entered through a room full of cacti. My kids begged me to take a photo with the cactus. It's so seldom that I get that kind of photographic cooperation that I had to comply. We soon came to the butterfly nursery, where there was aquarium after aquarium full of butterfly cocoons. They were gorgeous, some having gold detailing, almost like jewels holding a treasure within. We couldn't wait to see what had hatched out of such beautiful cocoons.
We stopped to do a craft just before we entered the butterfly garden and to make some music too. Bennett was so cute--he shook his shaker and bobbed his head to the music. This baby loves music!
We FINALLY entered the butterfly garden. Maura was convinced that if she just held her hands like a flower that one of the butterflies would come and magically land in it...because it doesn't look as if she's trying to catch them or anything. Not threatening AT ALL! She ran all around the room, getting more and more frantic about the fact that she couldn't catch a butterfly. I tried to convince her that the fun was in LOOKING at the butterflies, but she was having none of it! We saw lots of butterflies landing on flowers, greenery, the floor, but not on Maura's hands.
One of the workers finally gave Maura this spot of foam and we were able to coax a butterfly to cross from his flower to her spot of black foam. Not sure what was in it for the poor butterfly, but he made Maura gloriously happy! One of our party was most
definitely NOT happy. Can you see Alex in the photo below?? Oh yes, that's her with her back to us. She spent the majority of her time in the butterfly exhibit cringing into a corner of the bench and trying to avoid having butterflies land on her. Not a fan, apparently!! Bennett loved the butterflies. He kept tracking them with his eyes and pointing at them. I think he would have loved to get his hands on them!
I just love my little butterfly
lovin' man! He especially loved watching this beautiful one that hung about on our diaper bag for awhile.
We went first to a park with a scenic overlook over Cincinnati. It was a wonderful place for a picnic and would have been even more wonderful if I hadn't left the picnic behind in the refrigerator! We made due and nobody starved, and then headed to see butterflies. At the conservatory, we were greeted by this gigantic woman/butterfly. Maura started getting really excited.
We entered through a room full of cacti. My kids begged me to take a photo with the cactus. It's so seldom that I get that kind of photographic cooperation that I had to comply. We soon came to the butterfly nursery, where there was aquarium after aquarium full of butterfly cocoons. They were gorgeous, some having gold detailing, almost like jewels holding a treasure within. We couldn't wait to see what had hatched out of such beautiful cocoons.
We FINALLY entered the butterfly garden. Maura was convinced that if she just held her hands like a flower that one of the butterflies would come and magically land in it...because it doesn't look as if she's trying to catch them or anything. Not threatening AT ALL! She ran all around the room, getting more and more frantic about the fact that she couldn't catch a butterfly. I tried to convince her that the fun was in LOOKING at the butterflies, but she was having none of it! We saw lots of butterflies landing on flowers, greenery, the floor, but not on Maura's hands.
One of the workers finally gave Maura this spot of foam and we were able to coax a butterfly to cross from his flower to her spot of black foam. Not sure what was in it for the poor butterfly, but he made Maura gloriously happy! One of our party was most definitely NOT happy. Can you see Alex in the photo below?? Oh yes, that's her with her back to us. She spent the majority of her time in the butterfly exhibit cringing into a corner of the bench and trying to avoid having butterflies land on her. Not a fan, apparently!! Bennett loved the butterflies. He kept tracking them with his eyes and pointing at them. I think he would have loved to get his hands on them!
I just love my little butterfly lovin' man! He especially loved watching this beautiful one that hung about on our diaper bag for awhile.
What does this mean? Oh, it means that Tristan is DONE. It was over ninety degrees in the conservatory and he wasn't QUITE as interested in the butterflies as Maura. He was more interested in running around and stomping on some lights on the floor. I was concerned that he was going to stomp on some butterflies, so I kept a pretty tight reign on him and he did NOT appreciate it! We left soon afterward and toured the local rain forest. I love that my sisters are always up for an adventure with me!
I found these two crazy animals hiding in the rain forest and just had to bring them home with me. Every house needs a monkey, or two, or three! My life may be a bit of a zoo, but we're loving it!
1 comment:
BUGS!!!!!! :o)
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