Mother's Day Bike Ride

The only request I had for Mother's Day involved taking the girls downtown and biking around the National mall.  Dave liked the idea and ordered a trailer and partner bike for the girls.  We tested the gear and prepped the bikes on Friday evening.

Come Sunday, I awoke to a lovely breakfast in bed - crepes, scrambled eggs, fruit and milk.  Our calm, peaceful morning turned a little crazy after we discovered a flat tire on my bike.  Our sweet friends down the street saved the day and let us borrow one of their bikes.

Here is the picture when we finally made it downtown - only two hours behind schedule, but we made it!!

Kaitlyn is ready to roll.  Where is daddy?

Mommy grabbing the girls for a quick picture pre-bike ride.  

 Madelyn digging her trailer.  She had two books and a blanket to keep her comfortable.  Next time we will take her camera.

 Daddy is ready.  Let's get this show on the road!

A quick group photo outside the Lincoln Memorial.  Several times during our ride, Kaitlyn screamed "This is awesome!" or "This is so fun!"  It made me smile from ear to ear.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the feet of Jefferson.

 Kaitlyn hydrating before we ride back to the Capitol.

We asked the girls to pose for pictures and this is what we ended up with instead.  These pictures crack me up.

After the girls went to bed, Dave and I enjoyed a bottle of sparkling wine from Domaine Carneros.  It was a great end to a wonderful day!

Now Dave wants to bike Gettysburg for Father's Day.  Hmmmm...there are a lot more hills there. ;-)

Butterflies Released

 Today we released seven Painted Lady butterflies with Kaitlyn's class.  The kids seemed super excited and everyone wanted to see them up close.


As soon as the sunshine hit the butterfly habitat, the butterflies came alive and started flying around inside.  Maybe they knew that freedom in the great wide open awaited them.

Kaitlyn walked around the flag pole block and tried to give every student in her class a chance to see the butterflies.  She also explained to them how they ate and what we put in their habitat.  She showed them the pipette we used for the sugar water and two examples of the sizes that the larvae/caterpillars were when they arrived and when they formed their chrysalises.

 The butterflies put on a good show for the kids.

 As we unzipped the habitat, one butterfly flew away immediately and she flew fast!  The pictures below show the kids hold their hands and fingers out hoping a butterfly will land on them.

The perfect ending to our butterfly release experience occurred.   Our last butterfly landed on Kaitlyn's finger.  She was so happy.  It's the first butterfly to actually land on her, not just near her.  

We hope the butterflies do well around her school.  Maybe they'll fly by and say hi to the kids on the playground.

Madelyn's New Hair Cut

 Madelyn got a hair cut yesterday.  It is now one length all the way around.  She did awesome with the hair stylist.  She looks like such a little girl now.  It's super cute when you see it in back.  She was very excited about picking out a blue barrette too!

Butterflies, butterflies, butterflies!

 Kaitlyn received a living butterfly habitat for Christmas.  We waited until early April before ordering the caterpillars for the habitat.

Here is Kaitlyn holding one of the two containers filled with tiny caterpillars.  They were about the size of a staple.

 The next few pictures show the caterpillars growing.  Kaitlyn and I took the pictures with my phone.

We were instructed to keep the caterpillars out of direct sunlight in a 65 degree to 77 degree F room.  We opted for the basement because the temperature is pretty constant.

The following set of pictures shows the caterpillars forming their chrysalises in which we needed to wait 7-10 days before moving them to the butterfly habitat.

After waiting just over a week, daddy and I transfered the chrysalises to the butterfly habitat.

Our first two butterflies hatched within a few days of being in the habitat.  Kaitlyn was over the moon excited.

 By the end of the night, we had three butterflies.

 After hatching it takes two hours for their wings to harden.

 Kaitlyn and I prepared fresh flowers from outside, sugar water and watermelon for the newly hatched butterflies.

 Kaitlyn set up a 'bed' to watch the butterflies.

The next day after school, Kaitlyn and I discovered she had six butterflies.  We moved their habitat to the kitchen and turned it upright.  We also replenished their food.

As of my typing this blog, we have seven painted lady butterflies.  We may release them with Kaitlyn's class, but if not, we'll take them to the park and maybe release them with friends.

This was such a great experience for Kaitlyn to watch the transformation.  Daddy and I thought it was pretty cool too!