Saturday morning we released our butterflies. It was a beautiful, dry day, the first one in awhile. The first butterfly out of the tent stayed stuck to the plate with oranges so we let that one just hang out while we released the other ones. And most of them immediately took to the sky and darted around, including the one that Sis helped release. One did stay on my hand for a bit and then danced off. The butterfly on the orange was the last to leave. Apparently, they'll stay in the general vicinity for a few days but we haven't seen them since; too many beautiful flowering gardens to choose from, I imagine.
The kids weren't upset at all at their departure, more intrigued and excited. Mama and I were mainly relieved--relieved that the caterpillars did their thing and didn't get too hot in the little container, that the chyrsalids hadn't been disturbed by our constant checking and our cats' curiosity, that the butterflies "hatched" and ate the sugar water and fruit we left them, and that they were all able to fly away in the end. Success! We definitely do it again next year, with its great lessons about life cycles and transformation and fragility. Lessons for all of us.
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