Category Archives: critters

Metamorphosis

We weren’t sure if all of our butterflies would emerge or not, so we were excited to arrive home over the course of a couple of days to find them all delicately fanning their wings in their mesh home. I wish we could have seen them actually come out of their chrysalises, but alas, such is life. It was exciting nonetheless just to see that they had survived their transformations.

We decided we would release them over the weekend on Saturday, but it was so blustery that we held off until Sunday. I had talked to Enzo about releasing them and at first he didn’t want to because he wanted to keep them, but I explained that they would be happier if they could fly around outside. He agreed, especially after Uzi discovered them and knocked their entire habit off the bookshelf. Thankfully they weren’t harmed, but it was clear that it was time to free them.

Josh is truly a butterfly whisperer. He was the only one they cooperated for, so he would carefully let them sit on his hand for a moment while they stretched their wings. I think with each one, they only stayed until they felt a breeze or a gust of wind and then off they flew. Some took off immediately, while others hung out a little longer, but with each it was ultimately the same. They would wait for a breeze to lift them up off of Josh’s hand (or in one case the deck) and then off they went in different directions.

Neither Phoebe nor Enzo wanted to try and hold a butterfly and as soon as they were gone their interest in the whole affair had waned entirely. Our one worry was that birds would get them right away as I forgot about our permanent residents who apparently caught wind of what we were up to and started swooping around. Thankfully, I think the butterflies all escaped. We saw them later in the front yard when we went out to play and Josh to mow the lawn.

It was really fascinating to watch them grow from tiny caterpillars into butterflies. I think we’ll do it again when the kids are older and understand it a bit more. It was almost a little sad when they flew away, and I’m not sure why and then I looked deeper into the symbolism of the butterfly and it all seems to make sense. That, I think is a post for a different day, though.

Conjuncti-LAME

Here we go again. It’s never a good thing when my phone starts ringing at work and I see that it’s day care. I dread answering because it’s never good news, you know? Today? Enzo has pink eye… again. For the past I don’t know how many weeks it’s been circulating through the preschool room despite them disinfecting everything. I would rather get a root canal than go through another round of eye drops with Enzo who acts as though we are torturing him. It’s going to be a nasty 5 days ahead of us.

It’s bad enough that the rain won’t quit and our high for the day was a whopping 49 degrees. I give up. I’m going to bed and will consider waking up when the weather is nice again. Okay, I’ll stop whining… it is really green thanks to the rain, so there’s that. It’s also my favorite time of year because of all the springtime babies. I saw two families of geese crossing busy roads with their large broods of goslings. The other day I saw this adorable family from a distance as well.

I need a bigger lens so I can get better pictures of this particular eagle and nest. I don’t want to risk getting too close since eagles really don’t like you too close to their nests and I’ve heard they’ll abandon their nests even.

Well, it’s been a long day and my background soundtrack has been a lot of children’s TV since I needed to get some work done while Enzo convalesced. I figure we’ll make up for the extra TV by getting out when he’s not infectious this weekend. Or maybe I’ll put him to work again… he did so good on that shelf that I’m sure I can find something else for him to do. Child labor at it’s finest!

Get out those shovels kids, it’s time to dig! Oh, and move a pile of rocks… and pull some weeds. They’re going to earn their keep this weekend! Just kidding… sort of. 😉 Happy Friday everyone!

Road Trip to Colorado – Part 5: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Homeward Bound

In the blink of an eye it was our last day in Colorado, so we took it kind of slow. The kids got up and ate and played and then we decided to go to the zoo.

As much as I’m always torn when it comes to zoos (I love seeing the animals, but hate seeing them in cages), it’s always a good way to get out, and the Colorado Springs zoo is a really nice zoo. Plus, it was cooler and clouds were coming in, so it was fantastic weather to be outside in. We fed giraffes, the kiddos got to pet a baby wallaby, and my niece Aubrey was the Dr. Dolittle of the group – one of the adult wallabies let her get close enough to pet it and a chipmunk as well (though I didn’t get photos). It’s a great zoo for walking as a work out, though, pack lightly as strollers and wagons can get heavy fast with all the hills.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to home base so Josh could get a nap in before his first shift of driving. We had some sad good-byes, but I see many more road trips in our future, and maybe we can get some visitors out our way as well. *Hint hint* The drive home was longer than the way there. The kids didn’t sleep quite as soundly and both Josh and I were a lot more tired than the first time around. We made a lot more stops on the way back and didn’t get home until late afternoon by which time we were all relieved to get out of the car. Schedules and routines were off for us all, but within a couple of weeks I think things were mostly back to normal. Traveling does indeed get easier as the kids get older! Hooray!

A Day at the Zoo

Getting a zoo membership was definitely one of our better decisions. At first we weren’t sure because of the drive, but we’ve already used it three times and considering toddlers sometimes only last a couple hours, you don’t feel like you’ve wasted any money by leaving early.

Last Sunday ended up being just perfect for a visit to the zoo. The weather was nice and we got there a little earlier in the day, so it wasn’t super busy yet. Most of the animals were snoozing, but Enzo seems to enjoy people watching just as much (if not more than) animal watching.

This time his favorite animals were the prairie dogs, and he tried to climb out of Josh’s arms into their enclosure, which would have been adorable, but probably frowned upon. We also had another big first – he actually held my hand to walk for a bit. This soon ended once it got more crowded, though, and hand holding was no longer appropriate, but running was.

The other favorite of the day was the draft horses. We ventured over to the farm area because we figured it would be a good place to eat lunch (and it was), plus Enzo got to pet some cows, was freaked out by the goats, and fell in love with the horses. When we started walking away from them, he headed back and was a little upset that he couldn’t stay longer or touch them. Guess we need to find someone with a horse. :p

Critter Visitor!

We had a surprise critter visitor this week, which was kind of fun. Josh was in the office and was pulling back the curtains on the window when he was greeted by this guy:

A muskrat! We were kind of excited because we’ve never seen one up close before, and he’s really bigger then he looks in the photo. He was just hanging out and digging around in the grass and snow.

They have such big thick tails and claws… I never knew that. We kept an eye on him for a while as he slowly made his way around the yard, then decided to take a nap, which was really cute. While a muskrat may not seem cute… wait until you see one curl up in a ball in the sun. We kind of both wanted to go outside and squish him.

I did manage to sneak outside and grab a quick photo… curse the zoom on my lens for not going further! New lens time perhaps? 😉

Alas, the UPS man showed up while he was napping and scared the bejesus out of him, so he hid in a corner for a bit and the next time I looked for him he was gone.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures