Animal instinct kicked in. Like a solitary zebra on the African Savannah that’s just caught the scent of a hungry lion in the searing, hot breeze I froze in hopes that the savage beast would not see me.
Then it came again. Closer this time.
“Honey, I asked if you want to take the boys to the Butterfly Pavilion on Saturday.”
Still frozen, I glanced to my left but saw only fangs and hair. Knowing there was no chance to outrun the menace I tired diplomacy. “Do I really have a choice?”
So as we were discussing our departure time for Saturday morning I had a thought: I still have to take Tyler to a game for completing a line on his potty chart. Knowing that the Sky Sox were not in town and the Rockies would not be back in town until Monday I thought I might be able to salvage part of my Saturday. I suggested we go to the Denver Broncos training camp. We could pass it off as a football game for Tyler and kill two birds with one stone (but no butterflies, that would be frowned upon).
On the way to Denver we asked talked Tyler into putting the butterflies on hold long enough to go watch some football. When we arrived we had to take care of first things first – Tyler went potty in the port-a-potty. This chart is really working some magic with this kid. He’ll pee anywhere but his pants at this point!We grabbed a seat on the ground (they don’t have bleachers around the practice field) behind one endzone and watched the Donkeys, er Broncos, run plays from midfield. The boy’s favorite part was the long pass plays, seeing the ball and players running towards us. Tyler told us several times that he wanted to catch a ball. But alas, being professionals, nobody overthrew their receiver by the 30 yards that would have been necessary for Tyler to have a shot at catching a ball. Later we moved to the other endzone to watch them practice their red zone offense.
As they wrapped up practice we headed out to see some butterflies and other critters. After stops to see stick bugs, bees and two inch long cockroaches the boys declined the opportunity to hold a tarantula, but did enjoy seeing mommy hold it. We checked out some starfish and horseshoe crabs and said hello to Nemo and Dorie (as far as the boys knew anyway) before reaching the marquee attraction….butterflies.
We made two trips around the pavilion; a greenhouse filled with tropical plants and humidity, as butterflies buzzed the tower repeatedly and lounged on branches and railings.
The boys really enjoyed searching through the plants and finding butterflies of all different sizes and colors. After we left the pavillion the boys climbed on a replica of a honeycomb and a rope spider web. On the way out I asked Tyler what his favorite part was. Without hesitation he said “the butterflies.”
Despite my early apprehension I had a lot of fun seeing them running around, exploring the pavilion and marveling over the butterflies and looking at the birds and turtles. We finished off with lunch before the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. Overall it was a fun day…even it was centered on butterflies.
1 comment:
This was a cute post!! It is so fun to read about your family, you are such great parents, and it is so cute to see or hear about Justin being a Daddy, what a great Daddy :) Hope you guys are doing well Meredith!!!
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