the Butterfly Pavilion

Friday afternoon at Hanna's (while Stephen was still at work) we decided to go to the Butterfly Pavilion. We wanted to do something fun as a family that the boys would enjoy, and it was so close by that the choice was easy. I am so glad we went--it was awesome!

 In addition to butterflies, there are also rooms dedicated to insects and a few sea creatures. We went in and got right down to business.

 Jed was so thrilled about the sea creatures. The girl working behind the starfish was so impressed with everything he told her! It was really cool to touch the starfish and horseshoe crabs--the starfish felt different and yet the same as I imagined they would. One thing I especially enjoyed while seeing the starfish was learning that the starfish only "work" 2 hour "shifts." It's work for them to be touched all day! I loved the attitude of the Pavilion--that the creatures are doing us a favor by allowing us to interact them.

 The boys were totally enthralled with the tanks and would have happily stood there all day long. Several times we turned around to find they had run back there from a different exhibit.

 After we tore the boys away got done looking at the fish, we headed into the insect room. I wowed Hanna and my mom with my knowledge of some particularly gruesome bugs like cockroaches. I guess that entomology class I sort-of payed attention to in college finally came in handy! Jed was particularly thrilled with all the tarantulas, like the one in the picture above.

 This was one of my favorite exhibits. It was an actual beehive inside this "tree." Underneath my mom's lovely head was a tube leading from the hive outside the building. Bees came and went in the tube, often landing on a little platform below it to communicate with their hive-mates about where some pollen was located. Near Hank's hand you can see a speaker, through which you could hear the bees buzzing inside the tree. And if you put your hand on the glass, you could feel how warm it was inside the hive. It was so thrilling to watch all the bees.

 One of the big attractions at the Butterfly Pavilion is Rosie the Tarantula, who is available to hold. I screwed up my courage and held "her" (I am not sure if it was the actual Rosie--just like the spider handlers, the tarantulas work in shifts so they don't get tired). Holding her was totally different than I expected. She was incredibly light, so I could barely feel her walk across my hand. And I didn't get to hold her for very long. The handler put her down in my hand, she crawled across, and then she was back in the handler's hand. They are very careful with their tarantulas--see the way the handler is holding my hand? They have a special way to hold your hand to keep their spiders (and the public) from getting hurt, should someone decide they are nervous at the last second and try to fling the spider away. When we were taking turns holding Rosie, we were the only ones in the room, so we had a great chance to talk to the handlers and learn a lot about tarantulas. It was great!

 I love this picture of Hanna holding baby SJ and Rosie at the same time. Any mama knows you have to multi-task when you have a tiny baby!

 My dad is quite the ham--Dave told him to make a scared face!

 Even Nana held Rosie! We offered Jed a turn as well, but he hid behind the bee tree and said he was happy there.

After we got done looking at all the spiders, scorpions (my favorite one was like the one in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I neglected to get a picture of--it was absolutely astounding) and bugs, we headed into the sultry air of the pavilion itself. SO many butterflies were there to greet us!

 The colors of the various butterflies were totally gorgeous. I could have spent lots of time in there, if not for the humidity.

 Hank pointing out his favorite thing--some turtles!

 Jed was running all over, exclaiming over the turtles (he spent almost the entire trip being Sammy the Turtle, so he was thrilled to see some kin) and butterflies. Dave and I were laughing at how much Hank looked like Jed for the entirety of our life in Texas, while we were in the butterfly enclosure. SO HUMID.

 Along the front wall of the enclosure, they have a large tank where they keep the chrysalises that are sent from the rainforests to open at the pavilion. When the butterflies and moths emerge and are ready, they are released into the pavilion. I really enjoyed seeing how all the chrysalises were sorted according to type. Someone definitely paid attention in their entomology classes!

These enormous moths were easily as big as my hand. They are not released into the pavilion because they have the potential to be an invasive species in Colorado, so they just stay on their opened chrysalis until their life span is up (about 5 days) and then they are mounted and given to museums.

The Butterfly Pavilion was SUCH a great place to visit. Our hotel was nearby and Jed asked to go back every time we drove by. He LOVED it, as did we all. Such a fun thing to do as a family!