Thursday, September 2, 2010

Hatching Butterflies

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Our butterflies are hatching! It's been about a week and a half since our caterpillars went into their cocoons. On Sunday, our first butterfly emerged. She was beautiful, gorgeous...and amazing! We let her go in our backyard right before we went to Santa Barbara.

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Then, Mr. Mustard came home and told us that two more had hatched. He let them go - and didn't take pictures! Gah!

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This morning I woke up and saw that another one had hatched. All of our caterpillars have their own separate growing spaces - to make sure they all get enough milkweed as caterpillars, and enough room to cocoon and then spread their wings when they become butterflies.

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But, as you can see, there isn't much room to move around in there- so once a butterfly is ready to fly (an hour or two after hatching), we let them go.

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This one took a rest on Paprika's arm before she flew up into the sky. Paprika was so happy and excited. Monarch butterflies are so gorgeous (and much bigger than one would think). Ginger was fascinated and wanted to be right there when we released the butterfly.

We are going to grow some more plants to keep them sticking around, and hopefully they will breed here. I love butterflies, and so does Paprika (and I think Ginger does, too). I think everyone knows that butterflies have a very special place in my heart. They remind me of my girls in Heaven...and also how life can become so beautiful in ways you never could have expected.

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. -Unknown

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2 comments:

Sheila said...

Glad to see ya'll enjoying the magic. It is so life affirming to witness. I know you aren't big on TV but seriously, this would be a wonderful time to watch "Bug's Life". It's one of my favortie movies and never disappoints. I notice something new each time I watch it. Pixar is the best.

Devon said...

i was just thinking about this quote this morning...i feel like my sweet pea is my little butterfly...i really, realy want a butterfly garden too! will you teach me??