Releasing the butterflies

This was such a fun day. We got to see a butterfly moments after it hatched Tuesday, and today we got to watch the last one hatch! It was amazing!! We were making smoothies and our favorite preschool Grandma had stayed to help and noticed an antenna. She called us over, and they all got to go over and watch the butterfly hatch. I was so excited, and so were the kids!

We had planned on releasing the butterflies that day, because by next Tuesday, 2 of them would be a week old and they only live a week in captivity. I knew the new one couldn't fly out, but we took the others out anyway. My phone said it was only 53 degrees, so I wasn't sure what they'd do. We took them out and there were two right by the top zipper. When I opened it, the one crawled out and just stayed there. The other 2 opened their wings, but stayed put. I moved them over by the flowers thinking they'd like them, and one flew out. The kids got to chase it all over the yard before it took off and they loved that.

The others never left, so we took them all back inside with us.

I was worried they wouldn't survive until the next week, so that afternoon when the sun came out, I tried again and one flew immediately away, but the other stayed in, and of course the newest one couldn't leave.