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.