Monarch Butterflies

The last time we went to the mountains we were on the look out for Monarch caterpillars because there was a lot of milk weed mixed in with the trees. We never saw any, but when Fletcher and Nancy took the kids up there for the week they came back with 5!

We put them in our little butterfly habitat and watched them eat and eat and eat until one afternoon we were out for 3 or 4 hours only to come home and find they were all hanging tight in their chrysalis's. A little research told us that in about 10 days we would have Monarch butterflies.

Sure enough, on the 10th day exactly the kids and I were getting ready for school we discovered that one was out! I wish I had recorded their excitement on camera. They were truly beside themselves, just that no-hold-barred child-like wonder that kids express without shame. I love sharing with them in that.

By the time Cole was home from school they were all 4 out (one caterpillar was so small he kept escaping and so we let him grow out on the butterfly bush outside). Kevin got home and we went straight out to let them out near the bush. Everyone got a chance to let a butterfly out. Not one of them decided to stay on the bush, and I snapped a picture of one flying in the sky. These hatched late and that means that they should all begin their migration south. All of us enjoyed learning more about Monarch's through this and it is such a fascinating testimony to the intricate and complex way God created each living thing.