Butterfly Pavilion

My cousin Mandy and I were trying to find something fun to plan together for this weekend. She came up with the idea to visit the Butterfly Pavilion. We had never been there, so we were excited to check it out. It was a very cool place to go. They had many insect displays with lots of icky bugs and huge, hairy, scary spiders.

Here Alex and I are looking at the cockroaches. They are even more disgusting up close! Still give me the heebie geebies thinking about it!

I believe they are looking at the scorpion exhibits.

Those brown things hanging from the branches, yeah, those are bugs!
Here is a neat video of this ugly, gross bug emerging from under the dirt.



I somehow even mustered up enough courage to hold Rosie the tarantula. It was freaky crazy. Michael was brave and held her too. When I asked Lily if she wanted a turn, she backed away and said, "Nope, no thank you!" and she was gone :).

They had a really big fish aquarium with different sea life. The Upside Down Jellyfish were really neat. Alex and Lily were transfixed with all the different fish! I guess Lily though they were stinky because she kept plugging her nose and saying, "Pee Eww!"
We even got to pet a starfish. They are really soft and slimy.Lily and Alex weren't too sure about touching them at first, but then they each did.
Once was definitely enough!
Then, finally, we checked out the butterfly garden. It was definitely the best exhibit!They had many cocoons and chrysalis' from different countries and you could even watch some of butterflies hatching. It was very neat!
There were so many green plants and pretty, bright colored flowers in the garden. Hundreds of butterflies were just fluttering all around us. Lily and Alex were just giggling and pointing excitedly as they flew by them.
This moth was stinkin' GINORMOUS!!! I think they said it was and Austrailian Moth.
There were so many different species of butterflies. Some had such pretty designs and colors on their wings. It was a lot of fun finding the different types of butterflies. They were all so beautiful and they created such a peaceful atmosphere.

We even got lucky and had some butterflies land in our hair :).It was a very fun and educational day. The kids definitely left pooped!