Butterfly Wonderland

In case you haven't heard, its birthday month for Miss Lily.  She has been waiting well.......all year for this month to come around again.  I too have been waiting, but for much different reasons (no I don't feel guilty saying it :)).  The birthday celebrations started with the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Longmire last weekend.  Oh the girls were both ecstatic to see them and to start the festivities.  

Lily is into mermaids BIG time this year.  She pretends that she is Ariel all of the time and practically has the Grotto song memorized.  She dreams about and tells stories of mermaids and is constantly inquiring as to whether or not mermaids are real.  She has been asking and asking and asking for a mermaid tail to swim in the water with. I knew Grandma and Grandpa were on it, but had to keep the suspense up for months.  She waited, ever so patiently.  Its been hot here which lent itself to pool time and I am very grateful because she got her purple mermaid tail and quite literally wouldn't take it off!

Of course we always have Halloween right around Lily's birthday so both of the girls spent time dressed up as princesses for school parades and parties.  Their social calendar is quite hopping.

We went to the zoo for their Halloween night and the girls had a blast.  Lily was beside herself that the Moon Mermaid made an appearance and they were simply delighted with the candy row, magic show and spooky carousel ride.  It was a blast and the girls left with plenty of treasures and sugar.

Bob and Grandpa got to play some golf during the days when the girls were in school which was a great time of reconnecting for them.

One of the biggest highlights of the weekend (other than getting a date night for Bob and I), was the Butterfly Wonderland.  I have wanted to go to this butterfly conservatory ever since we moved here.  It is incredible and so amazingly peaceful.  Right off the bat the Butterfly Princess showed up and the girls were both mesmerized by her.

We started our tour with an incredible 3-D movie teaching us all about the migratory patterns of Monarchs and how their generations function.  It was incredible and the girls were so giggly trying to "catch" the butterflies flying towards them.  They were so happy.

Inside the actual conservatory was the most peaceful and beautiful experience.  The building is simply filled with hundreds of butterflies that fill seemingly every space.  If you are quiet and calm they quickly land on you and either rest or take a ride.  They were very much drawn to white so Grandpa and Daddy REALLY made some friends.

Lily and Ev

The experience was a highlight and we discovered that the nearby Aquarium was having a sort of Halloween Festival with costume clad princesses to top off the day.  

Memories were made in abundance last week and we ended up with 2 very tired kids (SCORE!). It was so much fun to have the Longmire's out to kick off the birthday shenanigans.