Butterflies, Bugs, and Besos (Kisses)

Mom and I have been trying to get an outting to the Smithsonian's newest exhibit The Butterfly Pavilion in the works for months. We finally got our chance the weekend of October 10th. We called up Will, who lives just minutes away from the museum, and confirmed that he would be available. We got Mike to keep his schedule open on the same day too and so I got the green light to go ahead and buy our tickets. We were so excited!

We got to the museum just in time for our 2:15 pm butterfly visit. We stepped into the foyer of the exhibit and received our instructions on how to proceed into the small, domed tunnel and how to behave while we were in there (don't touch the butterflies, watch where you step because they sometimes land on the ground, etc.). We then entered the exhibit and began to sweat profusely. You see, they keep the exhibit climate controlled (ie. very warm) for the insects: 80 degrees and 80% humidity. But it was worth it. You immediately had butterflies flying all around you, landing on the fresh fruit that had been set out for them to snack on and collect nectar from the beautiful blooms around them. Catelyn enjoyed watching the butterflies from afar, but did not want to get up close and personal with them. The first photo below shows how she wanted to be carried and stay close to daddy.

After Will's hitchhiker departed (a butterfly decided he would be a nice, soft place to sit on for a bit), we exited the exhibit. We again had to step into a foyer-type place before we left so that a museum worker could look us all over, up and down, to make sure we didn't have any butterflies clinging to us for a quick escape.

Since the butterfly exhibit was in the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, we decided to take advantage of the time we had there and do a bit of exploring. We were able to see the Hope Diamond, dinosaur bones, and bugs. Creepy, crawly bugs. A lady had some bugs in containers that she was pulling out and letting children hold. Mike was the willing person and he held the big green caterpillar and the hissing cockroach so Catelyn could see them upclose. Awww, the love fathers have for their children.... :)

I got a few other cute shots of Catelyn while we were taking a resting break in one of the lounge areas. She was having a great time running around in the open space and looking out the windows. I also got a picture of her "kissing" the skeleton of a tapir -- one of her favorite recurring characters on Go, Diego, Go. Too cute....