Butterflies

Dale and I recently became members of the Albuquerque Biological Park, which allows us to visit the city's zoo, botanic garden, and aquarium for free. Dale hasn't been able to take advantage of our membership yet, but Adelaida and I have walked through the botanic gardens a few times. The last time we went, the Botanic Gardens had just opened their annual butterfly pavilion, so we spent some time with the butterflies.

We went with a couple of other moms and babies, and all the kids loved the butterflies! Adelaida had a long-winged zebra-striped butterfly land on her shoulder, but I wasn't able to get a picture of it. Here is Adelaida's friend Emmalene with a butterfly on her hat.









In addition to seeing several different types of butterflies (bright orange, zebra-striped, purple, and leaf-shaped butterflies, among others), we also witnessed something I've never seen before: butterflies hatching from their cocoons. We saw two butterflies break out of their cocoons and unfold their delicate wings for the first time.

Adelaida's favorite part of the butterfly exhibit was not the butterflies, but the plants in the pavilion. The butterfly pavilion is a lush green enclosure that provides the butterflies lots of great greenery to land on. The leaves hang over the walkways, at just the right height for a baby carried in her mother's arms to reach out and grab. Adelaida tore several leaves off the plants and even got a couple of them in her mouth (although I don't think she actually consumed any of them).

We had a great time and hope to get back to the butterfly pavilion several more times this summer!