Goodbye Butterflies!

Sunday afternoon marked a difficult day for my kids.

We let our butterflies go into the wild blue yonder.

It was time.

They had hatched from their chrysalis on August 11th and had not laid any eggs for us.

My kids were so very sad.

I warned them, when the last orange slice was gone, we needed to bid them farewell and let them experience the world.

Good or bad.

So Sunday came.

We first took the opportunity to hold a butterfly.

I took the kids into their bedroom and shut the door.

I carefully pulled out Butsen and placed him on Monkey's hand.

Monkey stayed so very still while he held the butterfly he had named.

Then I pulled out Rapunzel for Princess to hold.

Rapunzel was more interested in the window than she was on staying put on Princess' hand.

Above: Rapunzel taking flight from Princess' hand

Princess cried.

I wanted to cry for her.

I took out Wilson.

I actually was able to hold him.

He has NEVER let me hold him.

But it was for only a moment, and then he REFUSED to hold still so I could put him back into the cage.

Princess was able to hold Butsen, but not as long as she'd wanted.

He would not stay put as well.

I had to try and get Rapunzel down from near the ceiling, when she was done fluttering around, she landed on Princess' bright yellow dress.

It was precious!

I wish I could have taken a photo!

Finally after about 20 minutes, we had all 3 back in the cage.

We then headed to the park near our home.

It's where I got leaves for the caterpillars to eat.

It has a nature area, and so I thought it'd be the best place for them.

On the 3 minute car ride over Princess BAWLED because she didn't want to let her butterflies go.

It broke my heart.

She was able to fake a smile for me though.

Wilson immediately started fluttering around in the cage once we got outside, so when Monkey unzipped the top, it was no surprise to us that Wilson launched himself straight up into the air about 20 feet and then flew off over the trees.

When we turned around Butsen had made his way outside the cage and was sitting on top.

Monkey said goodbye and then Butsen just left.

In much less dramatic of a fashion than Wilson.

Or a different kind of dramatic fashion.

It still brought me tears.

Lastly, Rapunzel was the only one left in the cage.

Princess opened the top, and put her sweet hand inside to nudge the butterfly out.

Crying the entire time.

We then said our goodbyes as loud as we could to our sweet friends.

Then had a good cry right there on the path.

Well, they cried and I held them close.

We walked to the car talking about Wilson's drama works, Butsen saying goodbye and Rapunzel being oh so scared.

It was an amazing experience to raise caterpillars, and then see them become an amazing creation, the butterfly.

If you ever get the opportunity to raise caterpillars, please do!

It was so much fun for me, and for my kids.

Melissa was able to get her caterpillars from Insect Lore.

Thank you Melissa for giving us caterpillars too!

You can see the rest of my posts about our butterflies here.

Thanks for joining me through this journey!

It was....Amazing!