Butterfly in the Sky...

Well, we bought into the hype and ordered the kit where you get caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies. Any time Van would see the commercials he would always turn to us and say "I love butterflies!" We got the hint Van.

They arrived on the day of Van's surgery. At first I thought it was bad timing on our part, but since he was feeling fine and was acting normal it worked out perfectly. He was so excited to see his caterpillars and kept checking on them and looking at them. He always wanted to carry around the cup that they were in. They were a perfect distraction.

It took a while, but they have finally all morphed into butterflies. Van had fun checking on them and watching them come out of their cocoons and hopping around. We let them go between 3 different days, because some took longer to come out of their cocoons. I must say, I am happy to see the little buggers go.

Van was super excited at first

But he would never hold them in his hands. He wanted to, but then last second would walk away. (Wow, I have flashbacks of being just like that as a child. How annoying.)

Weston on the other hand was super interested and didn't mind them crawling around on him.

At least I was able to get some pics with Van near the fearsome butterflies. Derek kept asking Van if he would wear the butterflies like a sticker on his shirt, but that was a no go.

Some of the butterflies were hopping around the grass (unable to fly yet--so we kept them another day) Wes kept going after them trying to pick one up...I was afraid that would be the demise of the little critters. FYI: no butterflies were harmed at the hands of this child.

So cute.

If you don't want to hear any sad news about butterflies, stop reading here. (you have been forewarned)

Out of 10 caterpillars, we had 4 duds: one cocoon kinda ripped and never developed. Then we had 3 "special needs" caterpillars. One had wings too small for it's body, and 2 had a crinkled wing that wouldn't open. We let them go into the bushed in our lawn area....we figured the circle of life would just kinda take this one over. Spiders gotta eat too, right?

Sad news for these butterflies. Good news for local spiders!