From Butterflies to S'Mores

Tuesday
July 30, 2013
Part Two of Two


After buying not one but three sweatshirts (I couldn't resist the fun over-the-head mask/hood designs for the boys), we headed for Reiman Gardens, one of my favorite places in Ames.




Reiman Gardens is a 14-acre facility with indoor and outdoor gardens on the Iowa State University campus.  Michel loved the butterfly emergence cases, where you can watch butterflies leave their cocoons.  She also enjoyed posing for lots of pictures in the conservatory.  The gardens are perhaps best-known for their butterfly wing, a 2,500-foot indoor space with up to 800 live butterflies!

Michel liked the butterfly wing, but I was very surprised to find that she was a little skittish around the butterflies...and perhaps more afraid of flying critters than I realized.  She stayed close to me, clinging to my arm, throughout our walk with the butterflies, and she jumped and squealed nervously every time one would approach.  (I, however, held as still as a statue, with one arm extended, hoping that a butterfly would land on me!)  Despite my red t-shirt and the boys' brightly colored new sweatshirts, we didn't have any "passengers" land on us this time.  As jumpy as Michel was, that's probably a good thing.

Several of these moths were just released today.  They are huge...and gorgeous!

We didn't make it to the outdoor portion of the gardens today.  Andrew wasn't feeling well, and all three kids were tired.  I was disappointed to miss out on the children's garden, the rose garden, the ponds, our favorite dancing chimes, and everything else Reiman Gardens has to offer, but I also knew that it was time to head for Des Moines.

When we got back into town, we headed for my friend Megan's house.  She made an awesome dinner with lots of Michel's favorite foods (grilled meats! pineapple!).  Michel and the boys played beautifully with her kids while Megan prepared dinner.  Michel fashioned a great "face" out of the food on her plate, then proceeded to eat her creation - hamburger, hot dog, bacon, pineapple, tomatoes, grapes, and Sun Chips!

After dinner, we made S'Mores over Megan's fire pit.  Michel tried S'Mores last weekend, when we made them with Mike's sister's family on our gas grill, but we hadn't really given her the authentic S'Mores experience until she could roast marshmallows over an open fire.

After S'Mores, it was time to get all the tired kiddos home to bed.  Matthew fell asleep on the way home, not unexpectedly.  Michel spent some more time sharing her photo album with Andrew before going to bed.  It was another late bedtime, but it did not take long for her to fall asleep!  May her dreams be as gentle as butterflies and as sweet as marshmallows.