What an amazing experience it has been to rear Monarch butterflies. Boo Boo and I collected three caterpillars from our garden and one egg. Over the past couple of weeks, we have watched them grow, eat milkweed, grow, eat more milkweed, and grow some more. Boy, The Very Hungry Caterpillar sums it up well ;-) We have been able to see up close the process by which these cute little guys grow and grow, although we missed the actual molting. However, we got very early morning displays of the chrysalis process ... truly amazing. The Monarch chrysalis must be the most beautiful of all the butterflies. They look like jade pendants with gold beading detail. Yesterday, we noticed that two of the four chrysalis were turning very dark. When taking a closer look, we saw the actual wings of the Monarch butterfly all folded up inside. So, we knew that it would emerge at any time. This morning, we were blessed with two beautiful Monarch butterflies as breakfast guests. We put them right in the middle of the kitchen table so we could keep our eyes on every move while eating our breakfast. In just moments, this little creature went from a folded, crumpled-up little lump to this amazing creature with beautiful wings. It pumped its wings for a while and then later in the morning took it's first little flight around the cage. Once we knew they were ready to fly, Boo Boo and I took them outside to set them free in our garden. She absolutely loved how they perched on her finger for a while before deciding to take flight. It was as if they knew how much she loved and cared for them and not real sure they were ready to "leave the nest" (hmmmm...). Just as quickly as they flew away, they came right back and fluttered all around us to sip nectar from the garden. It was quite a fun day!
