At Christmas, I aim to select gifts that are both entertaining and educational, fostering the boys' understanding of the world they live in.
Our kids love science and nature, so I put a butterfly flight cage on the gift list for grandma so she wouldn't buy more toys to lay around. I mean, the cage did sit on my shelf for over six months, but at least it wasn't on the floor for me to trip on, right? And what could be more fun than watching caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies?
It was a great idea, until it wasn't.
Two weeks ago, I was packing for an RV trip to northern Wisconsin when the package arrived. Contents: 5 caterpillars. I looked into the jar and saw there were actually six. Bonus!
My enthusiasm died shortly after discovering that these caterpillars would likely take the epic trip to chase waterfalls with us. A simple Google search would have stopped me from ordering these little crawling creatures, but I didn't even think. Not an ounce of thought went into this project. Thankfully, the caterpillars rode gently on my bed 282 miles to the tip of northern Wisconsin. When we came back, the butterflies began emerging, and we released them into our yard where they blissfully floated towards the canopy and did what butterflies do. What do butterflies do? I have no idea, but they are pretty to watch.
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