We visited the Butterfly Pavilion as a part of their Homeschool Day. Since Bree and Cate have been interested in insects lately, the timing was perfect. They enjoyed looking at all the insects and arachnids there.
When we ventured into the butterfly habitat, we viewed the many cocoons and chrysalises. The girls were excited about this since we recently did this butterfly life cycle ourselves at home. Bree was thrilled to have three different butterflies land on her at various times and Adrianna and I both had at least two that we were able to capture on camera. Cate tried her best to coax a butterfly to crawl onto her hand or sleeve, but was unsuccessful.
After watching the daily butterfly release, we headed outside to one of the homeschool-specific classes. This one was on edible plants. The girls got to sniff different plants as a botanist talked about plants’ various ways of protecting themselves from things that might want to eat them (including fennel, whose stem smells like licorice). The botanist also talked about plants that attract pollinators, such as milkweeds for monarch butterflies.
This visit, all three girls were brave enough to hold Rosie the tarantula. (This was Bree’s first time!)