Something Different

Mom's been dying to take the kids to The Butterfly Place for well over a year now. As the weather gets warmer, she's more eager to "make memories that will keep [her] warm during the cold winter." Add to that the fact that she's just plain stircrazy and she's pretty much always asking me to do "something different." Last night she came up with the idea of finally going to The Butterfly Place.

I was a little skeptical, concerned that Liam and Ella would be a tad unmanageable. I forgot to mention our plans to J entirely and he had the back to front stroller in his car. I almost packed the side by side into the van as we set out, but decided to take my chances and explain to the kids that they must hold hands with Nana and Mumma or we were going to leave "the butterfly show" (as they called it) immediately.

When we pulled up, there were 3 school buses and Mom's heart sank a little. It's not a huge place, and we were concerned that it was just going to be overrun with school kids. One of the buses was leaving as we parked and the other two groups cleared out a little while after our arrival. We walked through the display area, where they have various (live) life stages of the butterfly for visitors to observe, and then stood at the window of the atrium in awe of the butterflies. Finally, we went into the atrium and it was so magical! It's a bit tropical, as butterflies and moths need the warmth to fly, but it wasn't unbearable. The kids did a great job, and I eventually slackened my hand holding rule once we were all comfortable in the area and I knew the layout of the path. Liam was a bit intimidated of all of the butterflies. Ella was in awe and Mom was so happy. The blue morphos are stunning and we had such a lovely visit.

The highlight of the entire day, at least for Liam and Ella? Moxie, the talking moose at Bugaboo Creek (a restaurant we'd never been to before and decided to try in Nashua - we liked it!).

All in all, it was a much needed and very lovely change of scenery.