Butterflies Part 2

Besides making these really cute butterflies and caterpillars and caterpillar eggs...

....and reading these fun books about caterpillars and butterflies...

This book was my favorite because it had the following two pages. Actually, the book was great for a lot of reasons.

You can't read it from here, but each caterpillar is labeled.

And then on this page you can find the butterfly that goes with the caterpillar on the other pages - the butterflies are labeled too.

This was Joshua's favorite book because it had the following two pages (every picture in this book is a stunning actual photography)

That is a caterpillar pretending to be snake so it wont get eaten.

...mostly all we did this week for home school is drive 8 hours to Denver, Colorado and visit the Butterfly Pavilion. I was pretty pleased with myself for making the 8 hours drive all by myself. The kids didn't start going crazy until we were about 20 minutes away from my sister's home, so all in all, the trip there was pretty good. (I do attribute a lot of this to the DVD player in the minivan.)

The first full day we were there we went with my sister and her youngest, Cameron, and my mother and stepdad to the Butterfly Pavilion. I mentioned I had been there before, but when I was there three years ago they were under renovation. This time, although it wasn't any bigger, it looked a lot cooler and their displays were even better and better organized. They have one room that has cockroaches and spiders and centipedes and even bees (honey bees that have a little see through tube so they can fly in and out of the building. There is a little ticker that counts how many bees exit and enter the hive each day. It is really neat. In this room you can even hold Rosie, a tarantula. Last time Joshua got to hold Rosie but Abigail was too little. I didn't bother to give Lukas the chance, figuring he wouldn't be too keen on the idea anyway - just look at his face in the picture. I'm not sure tarantulas really peak his interest.

The second area was about aquatic invertebrates. There were crabs and lobster and shrimp and jellyfish and anemomes and even some fish. They even had starfish and horseshoe crabs you could touch. In every room too, there was someone who could answer any questions you had.

And then the final room, and of course the main attraction, is the butterfly room where there were so many butterflies that you almost bumped into them as you walked along the paths. Mostly, the butterflies just kind of flew into your path as you walked along. I bought Joshua a little pamphlet to help him identify the butterflies he saw. He was able to find a couple with Grandma Paula but was a little disapointed he didn't find the Blue Morpho Swallowtail - the big blue poisonous one which is his favorite. He asked one of the workers and he said they didn't even have any blue morphos. I was impressed with how Joshua took his "field trip" seriously, just in the sense that he was ready to learn. He watched and identified butterflies. He spent time actually observing the butterflies that had just emerged from their chrysallis's.  He asked the workers questions and then asked if there were any caterpillars he could see too. One of the workers pointed to a bush down the path and Joshua went down there and stared at the plant for a while searching for the little bugs, but he never found any. Still, he came ready and excited to learn and that made me very happy.

This is Joshua posing as a tree so a butterfly would land on him.

Back at home, insect related but not necessarily butterfly related, we made these cute bugs. My sister had the idea in a book of hers and she pulled out the book and all the supplies for us. They were fun and cute to make.

Also on our trip (ok the home school part of the blog post is done) we took a little walk/hike on a river trail in Boulder. The weather on this trip was pretty warm, although cooler of course when the wind blew. Our walk was a lot of fun and we spent a little time sitting on some rocks and watching the kids throw rocks into the stream. We also saw a deer and a bald eagle. My mom said that was nothing, they see bald eagles all the time on her island. And that is true. The one time I was there I was kayaking with Derek and Bob around along the shore of Lopez Island and a big bald eagle majestically flew around us and then perched itself on top of a tree just above us.

Also, the school where Claire's kids go was having a movie night for all the students and families who attend the school. It was completely sponsored by local businesses and they had free popcorn, pizza, and ice cream. The kids picked out a blanket and pillow and we found a spot on the floor and with about a gazillion other kids and parents we watched Monster's University. (Claire and I snuck off right before the movie started to do a little shopping, but we came back during intermission so I saw the very end of the show - don't worry, Bob and Gary were there with the kids.) I know my kids had tons of fun. Joshua's only been to a movie theater once and I'm sure he doesn't remember it - it was, I think, for his second birthday. He didn't sit through the movie very long and we ended up leaving early I think. But even Lukas sat and watched the movie and I think he enjoyed it, even if he didn't understand much.

The next day it was already time to go home. Another long 8 hours, but this time we had potential snow and icy roads to deal with. I was really nervous and I said a lot of prayers. I did go through some slushy icy roads over the first mountain pass, but it wasn't very much, and at the very end over the last mountain pass (do they call them mountain passes here in Utah? Or is it just a summit?) right before you come down into Spanish Fork it was barely snowing. But here is the miracle. Besides those two areas, and even above Spanish Fork, the road was wet but not at all icy or slick, the roads were completely dry. This is a miracle because everywhere around me it was raining and snowing. I could see it raining and snowing looking all directions, even in front of me, but my road was completely dry. It was more than a tender mercy. I think it was a miracle. Especially because we were all really anxious to get home. The kids started going crazy, this time, about 1 1/2 hours before we got to our destination and the last 45 minutes was a constant back and forth of hysterical laughter and crying. But we made it. And we're all home safe and sound.

Now, you wont get a field trip like that attending public school.

Next week, Assyrians and Turkeys!