Flutter By

A new family attraction opened near us earlier this year called The Butterfly Biosphere.  It's part of a group of attractions we have an annual pass for and I've been trying for a few weeks to get the kids to go with me but nobody was interested.  I finally insisted we go last Saturday, and guess what?  It was really cool and everyone had a good time.

Cat had fun photographing with the big camera, and I took some pictures with my phone so below you'll see a combination.  Before going into the live butterlfy area, we explored the outer area of the attraction that contained educational and entertaining bug-oriented exhibits and a fun indoor playground.

  

The biosphere - a big, warm greenhouse - was beautiful, with lush flowering plants, water features, and smooth walkways and bridges.  And there were tons of butterflies and moths of different sizes and colors, sometimes flying so close to you and so suddenly that you'd startle.  One little girl near me started crying because a butterfly scared her.  We were advised to watch where we walk to avoid accidentally stepping on one.  It was really fun to explore and check out the different types of butterflies.  We weren't supposed to touch the butterflies, but Eliza couldn't resist holding her finger out to see if one would crawl onto it.  It did - and then it didn't want to get off!  We also enjoyed looking at the chrysalises on display and even watching a butterfly emerge.

We had a little time for a treat when we were finished - and we were ready to cool off after being in the 85-90° greenhouse for a while.  It was a short walk from the entrance to the old timey ice cream counter where we got 99¢ ice cream cones.  When the rest of us had finished our ice cream, Eliza had quite a bit left, but we needed to leave to get Cat to a soccer game (not to play - she's still recovering from the concussion) so we told Eliza she'd need to throw the rest away.  She decided to try to finish it instead and ended up with an intense brain freeze.  Brain freeze notwithstanding, it was a great little Saturday adventure.