Today we surprised the kids with a trip down to the Oakland Mall in Troy. But we didn't travel to the mall to do any shopping this time. We went to go see their annual butterfly exhibit. Last year I took the kids and they loved it! This year, Andy was able to go along since I found out about the exhibit right away and he had today off from work. Thankfully, the crowd of kids was much smaller than it was last year and we were able to thoroughly enjoy the afternoon.
First, we got our free tickets and were told it would only be 30 minutes until the next tour. So we took the kids back out to the mall courtyard where there was an indoor play area with alligators, hippos, turtles, snakes, and mushrooms to jump and climb on. This captured their attention until it was our turn to go through the butterfly greenhouse.
Inside it was over 80 degrees (because that's how butterflies like it), filled with several different kinds of plants, dishes of Gatorade and fruit for the butterflies to feed on. Netting was draped overhead for them to land on as well.
I showed the kids what I remembered from last time how to pick up a butterfly, and Aiden immediately wanted to try.
Last year he was a little too excited and didn't get the concept of holding his finger still while letting the poor thing try to climb onto it, but this year he mastered it and wanted to hold one several different times. He was amazingly gentle, and was really intrigued by it sitting on his finger.
Here's proof that Andy was with us....here is a picture of his arm! :)
Mikaela, on the other hand, seemed to forget the enthusiasm she had last time and took a bit of coaxing to get her to try to hold one. We knew that she would regret not having done it if we left without her doing so, so after some persuading, this butterfly made it upon her finger. Beforehand, I told her that it would feel exactly like a "butterfly kiss" only it would be on her finger instead of her cheek. :)
After the first one, she gladly tried another and her response was much better! :)
Afterwards, we headed over to the craft area and made some butterflies like last time with moving wings made out of paper, straws, string, and tape.
Here is Aiden's: 
And here is Mikaela's:
She also liked to make hers fly:
They added another play area this year that included a large checkers board, building blocks, and a really big Connect 4 game. Aiden particularly enjoyed the checkers. He liked to stack them higher and higher. He eventually got the pile higher than he was tall, and after exhausting the supply of black checkers decided that it was time to knock the pile down. And since it was noisy, it was especially great in his mind! :)
After that we headed home with homemade butterflies and extremely tired children in hand. It was a great afternoon spent together as a family. I'm hoping that we can make it an annual event!
