Butterfly Bash

Today we had a lot of fun at a local museum, for their annual Butterfly Bash. We did this last year for the first time (which I blogged about here), but because we had a birthday party to get to right afterward, we couldn't stay very long. But it was SO neat, we vowed to come back next year! And we did! Last year I was still preggars with Liam... amazing how different life is a year later!

All in all this year's Butterfly Bash was lots of fun, although lots of activities/events were cut this year. The weather was a little overcast, but thankfully the rain held out and kept us cool so we could enjoy the day (last year it was blazing hot). Best of all, we got to spend time with some neighbor friends of ours, Rich and Laurey, and their two little girls... Elizabeth's BFF, Katherine and Liam's girlfriend, Ava.

Anyway... here are some pics of our day!

Elizabeth and daddy checking out a caterpillar.

 

Checking out the Butterflies

 

SO PRETTY!

As you can see, we let Elizabeth wear her butterfly wings to the museum. Last year, all the little girls were wearing butterfly and fairy wings... which I thought was SO cute and made a mental note to do the same next time. I even told Laurey and we agreed the girls just "had" to wear their butterfly wings to the Butterfly Bash. Of course, I felt like a big dork when this year we were the ONLY ones with wings! Not sure what happened there! But they did look cute even if they were the only ones, and got lots of comments from everyone they passed--lol. Maybe we'll set the trend for next year!

 

Above: Elizabeth is checking out the cocoons and chrysalises... while Liam finds the hissing cockroaches to be very amusing!

How cute are they?! At the lunch table Liam pointed right at Ava and said "Baby!" These two are both so laid back and did well the whole time! Very sweet!

 

The museum has a new dinosaur trail, which we had never done before. It was pretty neat, and reminded me a little of this dinosaur park we used to go to in Arkansas as kids. It's funny, too, because last year at the Butterfly Bash, Elizabeth was horrified of dinosaurs... she took one look at a fossilized T-Rex skeleton and said "Scary, daddy!" (it was one of the first times she had ever used the word "scary") and to a dinosaur in the gift shop, she was again horrified, and said, "Not cute!" This year, though, she LOVES dinosaurs! She watchs "Dinosaur Train" on PBS occasionally and knows the names of lots of them. Amazing what a difference a year makes!

 

At the museum they even have a "dig" of real fossils (shells, shark teeth, etc) they trucked in. Both girls enjoyed working with their shovels and shieves and looking for fossils--Rich even found a shark tooth!

We also played at the park... and guess who we ran into....

...Wyatt!!!

 

Before heading home, we decided to head inside and check out a few of the indoor exhibits... I sure hope this one (above) is Elizabeth-proof--lol! She spun that thing around SO fast!

Liam LOVED the infant area... this one with the little doors to open and close, with locks and levers, was a huge hit! He also really enjoyed the barnyard animals--especially the big turkey. But really, he seemed to really be enjoying everything! Such a sweet guy!

Someone needs to tell my boy to relax a little, dontcha think?! Lol!

Of course, the ball-track-maze thing was another big hit... this time with Liam! That boy just LOVES balls--and it continues to be the word we hear most often!

All in all, it was a great day!