butterflies and bike rides

At the beginning of April we ordered, through the mail, some caterpillars for Sarah's butterfly habitat. It's been reminiscent of being in elementary school again--watching these creatures daily to see them grow and transition. It's so cool. Sarah, Emma & Morgan have really loved watching them and holding them (though it scares Morgan a bit). It's amazing the transition they go through in such a short amount of time--their entire life span is only 2 months!

~BUTTERFLIES~

The caterpillars come in these cups along with their 'food' and a paper disc underneath the lid, to which they will attach their cocoons. Here we have 10 small caterpillars (and they doubled in size almost daily).

Four caterpillars had already made their cocoons, and this one lone caterpillar circled around and around, like a dog before a nap, until he found his perfect spot to hang.

Once all the cocoons have attached themselves to the lid, we peel off the paper disc and pin them to the inside of the habitat.

After 10-14 days we got butterflies! They eat nectar and are colorful on the inside of their wings.

So far we have six butterflies. If we keep them warm and fed they should mate, lay eggs and start the whole process over again. Amazing huh?!

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Today we went on a family bike ride along the Jordan Parkway. Yesterday we got Sarah a new bike for her birthday (dang those kids for growing!), and we wanted to try it out. So we packed a picnic and headed to the park after church. We biked 2.5 miles to a nature preserve and then back again. Emma was quite the little trooper for riding her own two-wheeler ALL THE WAY--with out complaining or even falling! I told her how impressed I was that she biked 5 miles at only six years old! The weather was beautiful and it was just a pleasant day being out in nature!

~BIKE RIDE~

Our little picnic at the park.

Sarah and her new bike "with gears even". (She has this silly thing about tilting her head to the side for pictures.)

Emma doing a great job at keeping up with the rest of us (Morgan's on the back of Gene's bike).

Sarah, Gene, Morgan and Emma at the nature preserve 2.5 miles down trail. We got home just before dark. Can't wait until things turn green to do it again!