The Butter-fail Exhibit

 Friday, the boys and I had no plans. This usually results in Woody watching Disney Jr all day, and me asking important questions such as:

1.) What happen to Sofia's biological dad?
2.) If the fairies gave Izzy just enough fairy dust for emergencies, how does she never run out?
3.) Is Doc McStuffin's Clinic for Stuffed Animals and Toys located by The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too?

4.) Should I get a hobby?

 So when Jessica called and said there was a new butterfly exhibit, we quickly said we would be joining, because butterflies trump boredom.

It was at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. We did the inside exhibit first. Woody really liked this part. I liked that there were no animals he could immediately put in danger.

 

The fake light-up fish

 

Real fish, but swimming safely behind thick glass

With his pal, Burke (Jessica's son)

Did not realize there was a SNAKE in the trunk of that tree. Again, thankful for thick glass.

And Peepers (Gaines) was there too!

Ha! It was just a possum. (But my Peepers was there too. He just chilled in the stroller. You know what they say, "If you aren't acting like a complete disaster, you don't get any pictures taken of you.") The possum was part of their "Critter Creature" exhibit. It is also where things began to go downhill when my son hit the poor guy's cage. When I sensed things might begin to get ugly, we ventured outside to check out the butterflies.

Maybe I should have saved the ten bucks and let Woody run around our backyard because this was clearly his favorite part.

There were lots of different animals. We just didn't get many pictures because I was abandoning Jessica with the stroller and Gaines while I chased my oldest child.

Finally we stopped at what we came to see: the butterflies. They were in a tent and the stroller was not about to begin to fit. This meant I had to strap Gaines to me with the Baby Bjorn. Might I add that this tent was extremely humid since it is a butterfly exhibit. Baby Bjorn + Hummidity = Drenched in Sweat.

They had these foam brushes that were dipped in sugar water that the butterflies were supposed to  land on. All the children had 3-4 butterflies on their brushes. Seemed simple. Well, they must be the butterfly whispers because none were landing on ours. So there I am, Gaines strapped to my stomach, having a heat stroke, one hand frantically waving a brush in the air, and the other hand alternating between grabbing Woody and trying to capture this beautiful memory on camera. Apologies if the pictures aren't quite focused.

(I may or may not have grabbed a butterfly and put him on my brush because I was not about to be outdone by the 4 year old girl beside me.)

Woody decided that since his mother was apparently a terrible butterfly catcher, he would steal another kid's.

(Still not in focus)

(And yes, I typed a "k" instead of a "l" in butterfly and am too lazy to fix it)

And this is where things really went downhill. Earlier in the week, we were busy making other precious memories with a craft project. So my child, being the genius that he is, obviously knows that these are really paint brushes and proceeds to paint the dirt with the sugar water. The butterfly keepers were not happy with this, and Woody lost his brush privileges.

I should have just given them the $0.49 for the brush to keep him from screaming the entire walk back....

Don't worry, we got back to the car, threw some ice at each other, and decided it was a good time after all. I love being a mom.