Butterflies, Badgers and Gymnastics

We got these caterpillars in the mail in April and they were very tiny.

One month later, a beautiful Painted Lady butterfly emerged.

You can see this one has just burst out of its chrysalis. The drippy colored stuff you see is not blood, it is just what happens when the wings dry out. In this picture there are 3 empty cocoons, one cocoon with a butterfly still inside, and this newly hatched butterfly!

We put some snapdragon flowers in the "butterfly pavilion" so they would feel comfortable. We also put some orange and apple slices in there as well.

Time to let them fly away. We had to wait for a day that was at least 55' outside!

On our way to gymnastics, we saw some badgers on the side of the road.

Here they are scurrying away from us after I pulled the van around and parked on the side of the road.

Two turned around for this picture. Aren't they cute? I know they are vicious, but from a distance they are undeniably cute. We decided to get on our way so they could go back to theirs.

We had a parachute for gymnastics. What fun!

There are about 16 kids (and 2 instructors) sitting inside it.

Henry loved hanging upside down on these rings.

Looks like fun to me.

Snow on Cinco De Mayo!

Here's Henry trying out a neighbor kid's skateboard.

We've gotta get this kid his own skateboard now.

Henry and Joe painted the master bedroom for my birthday.

Good old chocolate cake recipe from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box.

Helen lit the candle for me this year.

Nice hats! I'm 5 months along now. When it was time to make a wish this year, I was truly stumped.

Here's the snow we got on Cinco de Mayo! It wasn't much, but still... it was just bizarre. The kids ran outside and said "Take our picture!"

We went to the Boise Zoo with our friends.

The zoo has a nice new petting zoo area and the kids spent an hour there just feeding sheep and goats.

Henry named this goat "little ears".

We went on this new safari boat at the zoo.

Thomas: This is so great. I've never been on a boat before!

Helen: This is my second time. I went on a ferry boat once to Balboa Island with my cousins.

Henry: This is my second time too. I went on a boat with my grandma at Disneyland. (The Jungle Cruise)