Yesterday morning my mom and I did some final bits of yard work- spreading mulch we had purchased the evening before. If we hadn’t run out of mulch, I am sure there would have been even more work to do. We finished around 9 a.m. and made a mad dash to be ready and out the door so Fuller could show Vieja the penguins and sharks at the aquarium.

Since this was my first aquarium visit with my new camera, I insisted we also visit the butterflies, my favorite part of the aquarium.

While we in the butterfly atrium, Fuller was approached by a volunteer who was holding an injured butterfly. He let Fuller gently hold it, which 1) got Fuller to stop running around and 2) actually hypnotized Fuller into a little bit of awe.

After a little bit (and several pictures by me), Fuller decided the butterfly needed to go back to its natural habitat, so he tried to put it a leaf.

Unfortunately it didn’t work and the volunteer took it back to do whatever they do with injured butterflies.

Later, Fuller saw another butterfly and put his arm out for the butterfly to land on. Fortunately the butterfly had received the memo, because it did land on Fuller. We gave him a quick lecture to not touch the butterflies with his finger (no poking or prodding), but to just let the butterfly sit there.

The aquarium has these laminated identification cards Fuller likes to look at, so while he “held” the butterfly, he and my mom were able to identify it as a Paper Kite Butterfly.

This was such a fun experience, cementing the butterflies as my favorite place in the aquarium. Of course we saw fish, sharks, and penguin (full set here), but all I need are the pretty insects and I am happy.

Technorati Tags: butterflies, encounter, aquarium

Trackback URI | Comments RSS