Spring Time Nature Studies

I've always heard about those insect kits you can order and watch caterpillars change to butterflies, but I've never had any desire to do this with my kids.  I'm just not an animal person, and insects fall under that umbrella.  Our kindergarten science curriculum came with a reader about butterflies and caterpillars, and it recommended ordering one of these kits to observe the life cycle of butterflies.  I was on the fence about it until one of my friends ended up with two sets of caterpillars and offered us one.  It actually turned out to be really fun.  I wish I was more dedicated to photographing this kind of stuff, but at least I got some shots of the butterflies as we released them.  We released them into our screened in patio first so we could observe them a little.  The we opened the door, and they eventually made their way out into the world.

And, after taking these pictures, I've realized just how dirty my patio really is.  I'll just add that to the to do list.