Butterflies and Bugs

About four years ago, Marina and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion. We haven’t been there since, so we decided to go back today. It took quite a while for us to get to there. One reason we haven’t been there in so long is that is it far from home. During the drive, Marina happily sang along with the radio. They seemed to play all of her favorite songs today. But we were happy when we finally arrived. Marina said she felt like we were “going on an adventure!”

After we bought our tickets we went inside. We started by looking at the underwater exhibit where Marina was fascinated with some unusual looking lobsters. She also liked looking at a little crab who seemed to wave at her.

Next we went in to look at the insects. Marina took interested in a honey bee colony with glass sides. She watched the bees come and go through a clear tube. She shuddered looking at some of the insects – especially the black widow spider. But she was still happy to hold Rosie, the tarantula.

We went outside to the garden for a Monarch Watch. We went with butterfly nets looking for Monarch Butterflies to help study them. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any. So we went back inside.

We went into our favorite part of the Pavilion – the tropical exhibit. We both remembered this part – a warm environment where butterflies fly freely everywhere. We found butterflies on flowers and leaves and fluttering through the air. Marina sat down in an area where many butterflies were flying around and was delighted when one landed on her hat.

Next, we went into the invertebrate exhibit. Marina watched an ant colony, dug up and held a meal worm, placed a bee game and climbed a spider web. We also spent a bit of time browsing the gift shop. Then we went back into the tropical environment for the Butterfly Encounter. We watched as newly emerged butterflies were released into the exhibit.

On our way out, we stopped again at the underwater and insect exhibits. Marina held Rosie again and said goodbye. We were happy it didn’t take as long to drive home as it did to get there.