The butterfly exhibit is back at The Nature Center!

My advice, as always, is to go early. However, this time when we arrived the butterflies weren’t too cooperative at first. We had a lot of this.

Harper was also very annoyed that the butterflies kept landing on her clothes, instead of on her finger (that’s what you get when you wear a cacophony of color) so eventually we just stopped pointing out the butterflies on her hat and shirt.

And eventually they decided that they might like to sit on our fingers, too.

Then Cole found this really cool moth, and we all took turns holding it. It probably would have gone home with us, too, as it just sort of stayed wherever it was placed.

Having gone to this exhibit for several years now I’ve noticed that the admission rates always seem to creep up another dollar right around the time the exhibit opens. So my advice to you: if you live in the Asheville area, if you’re a tourist and think you’re going to visit the Nature Center even twice a year, or if you’re a grandparent in the area with family who comes to visit, buy a membership. My mom faithfully renews our membership every year and this is such a great gift for us to use. Plus, it includes free admission to the Greenville Zoo in South Carolina (as well as at other zoos across the country) and Friends of the Nature Center receive other discounts throughout the year as well.

This past weekend we went to an event for the Nature Center that was held at the Folk Art Center. (While driving on the Parkway to get there we spotted a black bear cub running into the woods!) The kids did such a good job holding this black rat snake. Don’t they look proud? Harper offered to let me hold it, too, but I quickly declined. Aunt Kris, who accompanied us to the Folk Art Center, mysteriously disappeared right as the snake appeared…

…here’s a little visual depiction of that occurrence by Cole.