I am on spring break this week so I am really soaking in some extra time with my little guy. He takes after my husband with his patience and love for observing and interacting with nature. So we took the opportunity this past week to visit the Krohn Conservatory's Butterfly Show.
My sister has been telling me about the butterfly show for years. She is also a teacher and is someone who always knows the neat educational events going on around town. She is really good about getting me to try new things.
A week or so before the show, the Little Outdoorsman and I read through Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar a couple of times. Enough times for me to hear him say "salami" for the first time. Pretty cute.
Anyway, if he could get past the pages with all of the snacks, he was able to see the life cycle of a butterfly for the first time. We were ready for the butterfly show.
We arrived right at opening time, and the line was long! It wrapped through the desert plants section, and although they were beautiful, it was totally a spiky valley of temptation for anyone under the age of 10 to learn the hard way why one never touches a cactus. It was a full ten minutes of terror for toddler moms. I made it to the entrance without having a heart attack, so that was good.
At the entrance, each visitor was given a brochure and a cute little landing pad to protect the butterflies. The idea was that you hold out the landing pad so you don't touch the butterflies or accidentally hurt them, like a 2 year old trying to grab a butterfly by the wings, as a completely random example.
My sister has been telling me about the butterfly show for years. She is also a teacher and is someone who always knows the neat educational events going on around town. She is really good about getting me to try new things.
A week or so before the show, the Little Outdoorsman and I read through Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar a couple of times. Enough times for me to hear him say "salami" for the first time. Pretty cute.
Anyway, if he could get past the pages with all of the snacks, he was able to see the life cycle of a butterfly for the first time. We were ready for the butterfly show.
We arrived right at opening time, and the line was long! It wrapped through the desert plants section, and although they were beautiful, it was totally a spiky valley of temptation for anyone under the age of 10 to learn the hard way why one never touches a cactus. It was a full ten minutes of terror for toddler moms. I made it to the entrance without having a heart attack, so that was good.
At the entrance, each visitor was given a brochure and a cute little landing pad to protect the butterflies. The idea was that you hold out the landing pad so you don't touch the butterflies or accidentally hurt them, like a 2 year old trying to grab a butterfly by the wings, as a completely random example.
The Little Outdoorsman is really grinding his teeth here. Thanks, two-year molars! But you can see the cards in his hand. There was also a section of the show where you could view little caterpillars and they had signs explaining the life cycle of a butterfly.
The Butterfly Show was breathtaking, truly. The room was bursting with colorful flowers, fruit trees, and tropical plants. Butterflies of all sizes and colors flitted around, landing every once in a while on people, plants, and little colorful jars of nectar. The room smelled amazing. I really admire people who can garden well. If I posted a picture of my garden, you would see a sad brown box filled with dirt and probably a dinosaur or two buried beneath some seeds I tried to plant last week that never came up. No flowers. So I'm not going to post that....
Reed was so content to stand and wait patiently for the butterflies to land on his little card. He definitely gets that from his daddy. Me, I'm like, "Come on, buddy, let's go look at more butterflies over here!" His reply: "No, I'll be patient for more butterflies." Out of the mouth of babes.
And he "caught" a couple! I think he caught one on his own and others were kinda transferred to him by nice people who were also patient. I didn't catch any.
And he "caught" a couple! I think he caught one on his own and others were kinda transferred to him by nice people who were also patient. I didn't catch any.
It was a really neat experience. I hope we can go back again next year. When we got home, we read back through The Very Hungry Caterpillar and I think the life cycle made a little more sense.
I am so thankful to be able to do things like this with TLO- they really do fill me up inside and make me feel good. Any activity with my family is soul food time.
What activities do you enjoy with your family this time of year? Please comment!
What activities do you enjoy with your family this time of year? Please comment!
RSS Feed