Butterfly release

You know, I posted that picture of the butterfly release, and never explained it. Hmmmm. Rather a long time ago now, Sam received a butterfly cage with a coupon for caterpillars from his grandmother. I can't remember why we couldn't send off for them right away, but then we were moving, and then we'd just moved, and so on and so forth. Well, we finally sent off for the caterpillars. We got them, but they'd already entered chrysalid stage, and the two that actually emerged were, um, not normal. So thanks to a guarantee from the company for "three perfect painted lady butterflies", we got five new caterpillars, still in larval stage. They did what they were supposed to, and we had five perfect butterflies. After about a week of enjoying them, we released them into the wild. The kids adored the butterflies, and I think we'll get some more another time. Awyn wanted to keep them forever and ever, but I was afraid I'd forget to feed them and kill them early, so I pushed for an early release. She was adamant that she wanted to keep them until they died, right up until I casually mentioned that they couldn't get married and have babies if we kept them in their cage. She was trying to take them outside right then and there. Awyn takes weddings and babies very seriously. Now whenever we see any butterfly that even remotely resembles a Painted Lady, she points to it and exlaims, "Look, she's got married, she's a mama! She loves me!" Ah the eternal life of the butterfly that isn't killed by a girl's mother.