From Patapilars To Flutterbys

Danny got a great Butterfly Garden from his Pop Pop for his birthday back in May.  It took us a few months, but we finally got around to ordering the caterpillars so that we could witness their transition into painted lady butterflies.  Both boys anxiously awaited our shipment -- in fact Benji spent most of a Saturday stalking the postal carrier in search of the "patapillars! patapillars!"

When they arrived I was a little skeptical that they had survived the mail, but they soon began to crawl around, eat, and spin some silky stuff.  The boys were quite fascinated.

By the end of the week all five caterpillars had attached themselves to the top of the cup and formed their chrysalides.  It was time for the transfer into the butterfly habitat.  (That silk is strong! It made it hard to get them out of the cup but also kept them from falling off the paper disk, I guess.)

Even though somehow only Benji got into the pictures, Danny was equally as excited, I assure you.

 

And the waiting was a little hard...especially because you weren't supposed to bat around the habitat.

But on Wednesday -- while no one was watching -- the first three painted ladies emerged!  (The tight white mesh of the habitat made them pretty hard to photograph, but check out the proboscis of the one sitting on the orange!)

Coincidentally that was also Monica's birthday (the cake and candles were for her, not the butterflies).  The neighbor girls were equally as excited as our boys and decided that the butterflies would be named Josie, Danny, Callagh, Benji and Emre.  Benji-fly and Emre-fly joined their siblings on Thursday.

We all enjoyed watching the butterflies and tried to keep them happy with the oranges and flowers drizzled with sugar water, but today was the day to set them free:

Thanks Pop Pop for a great gift!