Happy Birthday...

...to the butterflies! Today 3 of the 5 butterflies made their grand entrance. I think the other 2 will break out tomorrow. The kids were SO excited!

When butterflies split open their chrysalis, they hang vertically for awhile and flap their wings to fill them with blood. Their wings also have to dry before they can fly. Our butterflies haven't done much flying today (although there's really not much room in there). They have done a lot of flopping around, though. They also secrete a red substance called meconium that looks a lot like blood. (Official definition: a metabolic waste product from the pupal stage that is expelled through the anal opening of the adult butterfly.) Once I convinced the kids that the butterflies were not bleeding, Tyler was fascinated by it. (It's kind of hard to explain "metabolic waste" to a 6 year old, even one as smart as Tyler.) You can see some of it on the net in the first picture.

We are supposed to feed them a mixture of sugar water sprinkled on fresh cut flowers or a saturated paper towel. They recommended using carnations or mums. The kids bought me a pot of carnations and a pot of mums for Mother's Day. Today is the first day since May that my carnations have bloomed. (The mums still haven't.) It was perfect timing! We also put a fresh sliced orange in there for them as a treat. We haven't seen them eat yet, but we did see one of them coil and uncoil its proboscis.



It's hard to see the butterflies through the netting, and even more difficult to get a decent picture. We also didn't want to disturb them too much. I'm sure we will get better pictures over the next week. The inside of their wings is very pretty. The outside is a little dull, but the kids think they're beautiful.




Today was also my birthday. Our weekend getaway was kind of my present, but the kids made me wonderful cards and decorated a cake for me. Apparently they really enjoyed decorating the cake. I think they used all my green & pink sprinkles. (Ron "supervised" the decorating.) Tyler captured exactly how many sprinkles were on the cake when he took his first bite: "Mmmmm. Crunchy!" It was really good despite the crunch.



This last picture is of Danielle's "toy(s) of the week". She has been carrying around these three stuffed animals all week. What I think is cute, though, is the way she has dressed them all up. The first one is wearing a cape from her Prince Philip doll. She says this kitty is a super hero. The second cat is wearing one of Barbie's scarves. The last one is wearing one of Danielle's hair clips, her bracelet, and a skirt from one of her other toys. She is so girly.

Wildlife Center & Various Updates

After swimming lessons today we enjoyed a picnic lunch and a visit to a local wildlife center. The center rehabilitates native animals that are sick, wounded, or orphaned. When possible, the animals are nursed back to health & then released back to the wild. If there is some reason the animals aren't able to survive on their own, the center becomes their new home.

When I signed in at the office & paid our money to tour the place, I told the lady behind the desk we had never been there before and asked if there was anything I should know. Because they were slow today, she offered to send a guide around with us to show us all the animals & to explain why they were at the center. So, we ended up with our own guided tour. I'm not sure the kids really appreciated the stories behind all the animals, but I thought it was interesting and the kids enjoyed having someone new to talk to.

We saw various types of owls, hawks, raccoons, a red fox, opossum, skunks, pigeons, turtles, snakes, and a coyote (who thought he was a dog). They had a small pond on the property and dozens of nets for the kids to dip in the pond to see what they could find. The kids had fun with that. Tyler and I caught a couple little minnows. Danielle didn't catch anything but she really wanted to catch the resident water snake. We also enjoyed walking on the trails (Tyler liked all the little flowers on the white "flower") and watching the birds & chipmunks from the porch of the office. A hummingbird hovered about 2 feet in front of Tyler for a couple seconds, and a woodpecker stopped in the tree right next to us. It was pretty cool. On the way back to the car, a tiny toad hopped across our path. Danielle didn't want to put it down! Holding the toad was probably the highlight of the trip for them.

Various Updates:

The butterflies have been in the pupa stage for 10 days now. According to the information we received with the caterpillars, they should emerge 7-10 days after forming a chrysalis. I don't see how we could have done anything wrong, so I'm clinging to the hope that they're still alive, just slow bloomers. It's kind of hard to see them well through the netting, so I used a flashlight to see them a little better. When I did, I noticed that orange wings were visible through a couple of the chrysalids (which also provides some hope that they're still alive). If you look closely, you can see the orange & black wing in the chrysalis at the top right. The kids were able to see it and thought it was pretty neat.

Tyler is making great progress in his swim lessons. Today the instructor had them jump from the block, which terrified Tyler at first. Ultimately he did it, though. I cut off the first 50 seconds of this video where he stands on the block and considers jumping in. Notice the huge grin on his face after he does it, though.




I have been impressed with both of our children. I didn't expect swim lessons to be such a character builder. Although they both had moments when they were so afraid they were close to tears, they both bravely tried anyway. I think I probably would have stubbornly refused.

A Day Away

In a moment of spontaneity Friday night, we decided to go away for the day on Saturday. We decided to visit a safari type place a couple hours away and then stay overnight at a hotel in the area. (Ron had some hotel points from his recent business trips, so the hotel was free.) Since we didn't make these plans until around 11:30 Friday night, the kids didn't know about the trip and were pleasantly surprised when they woke up Saturday morning. What a wonderful trip it turned out to be!!

We had a nice time at the animal place. They had a lot of animals that we don't have at our zoo, so that part was interesting. It was a big open area though, so some of the animals weren't close enough to see well without binoculars (which we forgot to bring). Also, the names of the animals weren't written down anywhere for us to see, so it was hard for me to remember what everything was called. Half the time I couldn't understand what the tourguide called the animals. The tour was a couple hours long, but it was divided among three different stops. The kids were really well behaved and seemed to enjoy themselves. There was also a butterfly garden by the parking lot. Danielle was really interested in that.

We saw the baby birds (above) while waiting in line to buy our tickets. The mommy was busy feeding them and had just flown away to get more food.

The sign pictured below was on the cheetah & wild dog enclosures.

After the safari place & a late lunch, we checked into the hotel and went swimming for a couple hours. It gave the kids a chance to show Ron what they learned in swimming lessons this week. There was a lot of splashing and laughing.

Around dinner time we drove to a nearby state park and went fishing for a little while. (We saw a doe and her fawns on the way.) It was the first time the kids have fished with live worms. Tyler hooked his own fish. He did a great job.



(We fed some giant catfish at the animal place, so he had catfish on his mind.) I thought it was funny how much he "struggled" compared to how small the fish was and how surprised he was that it was actually a fish. (What else would it have been??) Ron hooked one for Danielle to reel in. We had a really good time fishing and saw a beautiful sunset on the way back to the hotel.

After we went back to the hotel, I took the kids swimming again while Ron picked up dinner. We slept late, had a big lunch, and returned by early afternoon to get back to reality. We were far enough away to actually feel like we were on vacation for a minute, and it was a wonderful day away.

A Spelling Lesson - Little Rascal Style

In a moment of boredom yesterday, I suggested the kids decorate the playset with some chalk drawings. The only rules were they had to draw in places where the rain would eventually hit and they (Tyler) couldn't write anything bad (like butt). Tyler enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. He immediately got busy making a clubhouse of sorts. He was sick to his stomach this morning, but felt well enough to work on it some more tonight. I thought his spelling was so cute. It reminded me of something from the Little Rascals. (I don't know why he's suddenly making his "s" s backwards.) Here are some pictures of his work, along with my translation, when necessary.

Password (complete with keypad)


Starting on the left: (click on the picture to see it larger)
Get away
Fire escape (pointing to the tunnel slide)
Danger

Equipment



Other News:
The kids were excited to see a hot air balloon near our house this morning. It looked like it was coming in for a landing, but I'm not sure where.

Tyler threw up this morning, so I didn't think he should attend swimming lessons. My brother came to the rescue at the last minute and stayed with him so I could take Danielle. (Thanks, Ron!) Today was the last day of class, although we signed up for more. Danielle's instructor said she's ready to move up to the next class because she's able to swim by herself. (She said she wasn't holding on to her when I took this video.) She doesn't show a lot of confidence in the water yet, though, so we're going to repeat the same class anyway. She was brave, and I'm proud of her.



This picture is for my mom. Princess Danielle and all her babies were relaxing in my mom's (and her sisters') old rocking chair. That's my 96 year old aunt's doll cradle beside her. Of course Danielle doesn't realize the significance of these items, but I think it's kind of cool to imagine my aunt as a 4 year old playing with the doll cradle or my mom rocking her babies in the chair just like Danielle does.

City Kids

Today after swimming lessons and lunch the kids and I took a bike ride. We decided to ride down the road to visit the animals and the new swingset across from the Amish restaurant. I thought the kids would enjoy the swingset the most, but they really enjoyed the animals. The calf had an extremely long tongue that made the kids giggle and squeal. They certainly acted like city kids! Between the swimming lessons and bike riding, they could hardly move by the time we got home! Unfortunately they get their second wind a lot quicker than I do!

There's not much to report on the pupas. I noticed tonight that one of them has a dark line forming down the middle. I read that the chrysalis is supposed to get darker before the butterfly emerges, so maybe this is the start. Hopefully it doesn't mean he's dead. If my count is correct, we shouldn't see anyone until Sunday at the earliest.

Relocating the Poopa

The last caterpillar made his chrysalis overnight, so today we moved them all to the butterfly "cage" to await their arrival. There was a paper disk on the underside of the lid. The caterpillars attached to the disk when they made their chrysalis. When we removed the lid, the disk easily separated from the top and we just pinned it into the net. I thought the chrysalids would be fragile, but they were stuck to that disk pretty well. I had to break some of the silk to get the disk all the way off the jar, and I was surprised at how strong it was. So, now we are just waiting for the butterflies to make their grand entrance. I hope they take the full 10 days to emerge. The net looks rather small for 5 butterflies and I would feel bad that they were all stuck inside there, especially since they only live 2-4 weeks. Not much time to live it up! (And once I opened the cup & could get a better look, they did lose their heads and their first couple pairs of legs. Don't know if you can see it in this picture, but I circled it.)

And tonight I FINALLY figured out how to secure straps to the wire frame of the butterfly wings I'm making for Danielle's party. I am so ignorant when it comes to sewing!! I'm sure I could have bought better looking wings, but Danielle is happy with these, so that's good enough for me. (Hopefully they won't fall apart until after everyone gets theirs home!) Now that I've got it all figured out, I need to get busy making the rest (plus 3 pairs of dragonfly wings). It's a good thing I started early.

Welcome Poopa!

The caterpillars have now entered the pupal stage. Danielle keeps getting the term "pupa" incorrect, though, and it comes out more like "poopa". (Chrysalis doesn't come out quite right either.) I guess the oozing amber colored liquid I saw last night didn't have much to do with the chrysalis, although I don't really know what it was.

The transformation is really interesting. I was watching a caterpillar last night when its abdomen started to contract. It was making very slight movements, but something was happening. When I looked again an hour later, half the caterpillar was covered in the chrysalis. As near as I can tell, they kind of swell up and the chrysalis starts forming at the head and moves up toward the bottom, which is secured to the lid of the container. I think their heads pop off - kind of like molting - because something black and fuzzy (that looks a lot like their heads) is either hanging on part of the chrysalids or is on the bottom of the cup underneath them. Of course, I could be totally wrong, too. I can't catch any of them in the process.

As we were watching the chrysalids tonight, we saw one twitch a couple times. Apparently this is a natural instinct designed to keep predators away. Some types of insects actually make a clicking noise while in their chrysalis. This really was for the kids, but I think I'm enjoying it just as much. There is one caterpillar that hasn't completely changed yet. They will be in the pupal stage 7-10 days before emerging as butterflies. The completed chrysalids are golden in color so far and are kind of pretty. I guess they get darker as they get older. And I'm sure that's more than you wanted to know!

In other news, the kids started swim lessons today. I have wanted to enroll the kids in lessons for a couple years, but I just never got around to it. Today we finally started. The kids were nervous at first but ended up really enjoying themselves. They aren't in the same class but their classes are at the same time. They have lessons all this week. We also signed up for lessons next week, too. (Danielle goes to church with the 2 girls on her right.)

This afternoon the kids painted butterflies for a game for Danielle's birthday party. We also made butterfly hair clips, which Danielle is modeling. (Thanks, Mom R.) She's agreed to allow me to position it a little better for her party. She's so excited. No pressure.

Caterpillar Update

This will probably be the last day I can give a caterpillar update because the caterpillars are beginning their metamorphosis. The information that came with the caterpillars said they would be in the larva stage for 7-10 days. Today is day 10, so I guess we're right on schedule. Two of the five are on the top of the cup but aren't hanging down yet. The other three are already hanging upside down, and one of them has started oozing an amber colored substance which I assume will eventually be the chrysalis. It actually is very interesting.


As a point of reference, here's how big they were when we received them a week ago Thursday:

Here are pictures from earlier this week:

Thursday

Friday

You can see all the silk in the cup. It is a sign the caterpillars are healthy. They use it to protect themselves, and they sometimes slept in it (like a hammock).

Saturday

Today (Sunday)

I asked Danielle if she wanted to share anything about her caterpillars that I could post. Turns out she had a lot to say. Tyler had to add his 2 cents, too. She wasn't done when I stopped the video the first time, so there are 2 videos.