Release!

On Friday we released the 6 butterflies that we have been raising. They emerged from their chrysalises on Tuesday. If they stay in their cage for more than a few days the male butterflies will fight each other to the death. Ours were getting a little aggressive, so we released them on Friday. Thankfully the weather cleared up so they would fly (they need a clear day and at least 16 degrees to be released.) It was such an amazing experience. We hope to do this again next year!

 

Juliette was not at all shy about getting right in there. One of the cool things about raising butterflies is if they "imprint" on you they will form a bond and they will fly back to you after being released. Both Karis and Juliette had a butterfly imprint on them. Ella didn't love the idea of having a butterfly crawl on her, so she held hers by the stem of a flower.

In her element!

Peter was excited about the butterflies as well. He called them "flies." For the last few days they were in our house he enjoyed pulling a stool up to their cage and saying "hi flies."

Ella enjoying her butterfly from a distance :)

Above is a funny video that took place the day before we released the butterflies. The girls were feeding them their dinner and one of them escaped out of the cage and into our living room. Here is footage of Spencer catching it and putting it back into the cage.

And below is a video of the release. So much fun!