Butterflies at the Botanical Garden

We enjoyed two wonderful weeks of March with Christian on Spring Break.  I was really sad to have to walk him to school come Tuesday morning.  Even with all my hoping for a day to sleep in past 7 am at least one day during break, it didn’t even happen once and we all even got dressed and ready for the day every morning just as usual too.  I guess old habits die hard.  I didn’t really have a chance to be lazy and just bum around with the kids as there were still errands to run and things to do.  We went to the park and such but not too much. But it was fabulous to have Christian home with us and watch my two munchkins as they play so well together.  They are so much fun to watch. 

We did finally do one exciting thing on the last day of break, and that was to go to the Botanical Garden with my friend Christina and her kids.  When we first got there I was skeptical about visiting the butterfly exhibit but I’ll never have that problem again.  The kids ADORED it!  They even would just hold perfectly still as a butterfly lighted on them.  Vivian was so darling as she would squeel “budda-fye” “budda-fye”.  It was totally worth the extra cost. 

Christian was super excited that his hat seemed to attract butterflies very well and kept saying “I’m a butterfly carrier!”

Christina on the other hand was a little worried about these butterflies that seemed to really like her shirt…and she would end up having one on one side or the other.After seeing how many butterflies kept landing on Christian’s hat, Vivian got a little sad that they were not as attracted to her as well.  She was VERY thrilled though when one lighted on her shoe and believe me, she held perfectly still as this butterfly examined her shoe.  It was precious to see how excited she was and she still tells me daily about the butterfly landing on her shoe.

Butterflies did land on her hat as well, but because she couldn’t see them, she kept walking and this is the only photo I could get of one on her head.

Outside the exhibit, they had those cut-out pictures for photos.  I love these things.

Both my kids made super cute caterpillars.

The butterfly one was a little more awkward since it was so high up.

We didn’t have too much time, but we did check out the “peoples of the dessert”  trail and it was so interesting to see these prickly pears in bloom.

Can I just say how thankful I am that I don’t have dirt floors?  I never thought of this before but how many times do you think pioneer or native American mom’s had to remind their kids not to kick up the sand in the house?  It drives me crazy enough that kids don’t eat over their plates!

These are random but I like how it illustrates how much fun it is for kids to just be in tent-like structures…oh the joys of simple things.

When it was time to go I decided I’d better get a photo of these kids.  They are growing like weeds!  It’s crazy to me that when I first met Christina little James was 3 months old and we called him “Baby James”.  He’s only 6 months older than Vivian but it just seems like he should be closer to Christian’s age because they played together so well before Vivian was born.  Christian just LOVES little kids.

And we can’t forget little Maren who’s now a year old.  How did this happen?  Life goes just so fast.  Thanks Christina for hanging out and chatting with us!. We love you all and always are so glad to see you!