Butterfly Whisperer

It's quite interesting when you realize you may be a part of a modern day Noah's Ark and be in the presence of a butterfly whisperer all in the same day.  As of my last count today, I had 4 boys running around my house, 2 cats, 2 hamsters, a toad, and a dragonfly that I have a feeling has passed on :(  If you want to experience "the wild", come on over!

I took these four wild ones to Reiman Gardens today.  NEVER in my wildest dreams would I have imagined the "thanks mom, this rocked" that I got at the end of our time there.  They had so much fun!  Who knew such a pretty place could capture the hearts and imaginations of these four boys?

We started out in the butterfly garden.  This was by far the favorite part for all of the boys. It became very apparent in here that I had a butterfly whisperer on my hands.  Austin had quite the knack for getting the butterflies to attach to him.  I bet he had at least 10 different ones that he was parading around at one time or another.  

 

Braden's butterfly skills were pretty rockin' too!  He was quite persistent in getting those beautiful creatures to come to him.  He was so proud when he had success and would whisper to me, "Aunt Weesa, look at me!"

Drake and Carter had far less success with the butterflies, but sure enjoyed trying.  We headed to the pond area where the boys were intrigued by finding bullfrogs and bullfrog tadpoles.  I can honestly say I've never in my life seen a bullfrog tadpole until today...and I don't ever need to see one of those hideous looking creatures again!  Yucky :(  The boys thought they were pretty cool though!  I preferred to gaze at the beautiful lily pads instead :)

They pretended to be rock climbers and were jumping from high (not really) cliffs.

They entertained themselves and several others by playing hide and seek in the back of the gardens for over an hour.  Braden hid in plain sight every single time, but we nearly lost Austin because he was hiding so well!  We found some musical chimes to jump on.  The boys had a great time playing their own version of Simon Says with these.  

Somehow three of the monkeys ended upside down climbing a tree.  I'm not sure that's what Reiman Gardens is meant for, but it made these guys' day!  If the little one could have found a way to get high enough, he'd have been in a tree too I'm sure.

I know I didn't get to enjoy the "intended" beautiful sights of the flowers and plants around the gardens, but it didn't matter because four little boys had smiles on their faces and giggles that radiated from the tips of their toes!  That was the most beautiful sight of the day for me :)