Amazing Experience - hatching Butterflies

One day I was dropping Jesse off at school and saw eleven tiny plastic containers on the table with something in it. I looked closer and I saw tiny caterpillars. "YUK!" I said, and I started talking to the teachers about these very ugly creatures.
"They will hatch into butterflies!" both of the teachers told me with such excitement! "OH" I said with a funny face still wrinkling my nose.... "We are going to take picture in every stage!" Mr. Knopf said... and that's when it hit me... I can do it! :-) I tried, but I didn't have the right gear on me and we decided, that one of the caterpillars was going home with me. I had it on my desk ever since. I stared at it every hour of the day like it should hatch any minute! I Loved being part of this process but I got really excited after my Caterpillar turned into a Chrysalis. I looked one minute and it was still a Caterpillar. Few minutes later, I saw something dropped on the bottom of the container, and when I looked up, the Caterpillar Just started becoming a Chrysalis. It was so cool, because Jesse was still up and I was able to share the news with him. Then, I had to wait 10 days for the Chrysalis to hatch..... and it paid off... this morning when I woke up, I saw some red drops on the bottom of our container. I looked and up on the netting, there was a gorgeous Butterfly still drying her wings. It was such an Amazing Experience to see the whole process, just like an ugly duckling.... becoming a gorgeous swan, our ugly hairy Caterpillar grew into this gorgeous colorful Butterfly, called Painted Lady. It will be so sad to let her go, but they only live 2 weeks, so he might as well enjoy his life at the longest. We'll miss YA!
OK, here is the very hungry Caterpillar ... eating and eating and eating...

... and this is when it happened ... our very hungry caterpillar became a Chrysalis. When we looked at it in the sun, the yellow spots were as shiny as GOLD! Amazing!

I took this shot just to show how small the whole thing was! :)



This morning, I found an empty Chrysalis and a beautiful Caterpillar hanging right next to it's old house! :) I was sooo excited I could hardly wait to call Mrs. Buck, Jesse's teacher.


Here is our "Painted Lady" in it's own Beauty! Isn't she absolutely gorgeous?

... and this is our petting ZOO ...




This is the Butterfly from the bottom view ... so many details!

I wasn't sure what to feed it before we let it fly away, so I asked a friend, teacher, and she told me either flower or sugar watter. Then I read somewhere, that they have their taste buds in their legs! I was wondering why she isn't drinking, but standing in it forever! :) how cute!

... and this is the most beautiful RING on Earth! Wouldn't you agree? ...
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. It was an amazing journey and experience for the rest of my life. I learned so much about butterflies being part of this awesome class project. I really will miss checking out the tiny Caterpillar container ....