Surprise Party!

I was successfully able to pull off a surprise birthday party for Analese today. I had the help of dear friends, who took her for a play date, and brought her home for the surprise. I have to say that she was truly surprised. She said she had no idea that it was going to happen. It was a fun time for all. The pool water was nice and warm and the weather was great. It will be a fun birthday week.

The Release!

My theory was that we should release the butterflies back onto the neighbors' milkweed flowers where they were crawling around and growing as little caterpillars. What actually happened is that the first butterfly (the one that hatched yesterday) took off in a blaze of glory above the treetops before I could even get a good photo.



That butterfly was READY TO FLY!

The second butterfly was a bit more hesitant, but it did allow for more photo opportunities. It even sat of Analese's hand before it joined it's sibling butterfly up in the top of the tallest pine tree. It was just amazing to watch these beautiful creatures take wing.

Birth of the Second Butterfly...

We were determined not to miss the big event today. We noticed that the chrysalis had become absolutely transparent. You could see the wing pattern through the chrysalis. It was hard to photograph, so it mostly looks dark in the photos.






These photos were taken about 20 minutes before the butterfly very quickly emerged. This next photo was taken right after the birth. The wings are all wet and crumpled.






It only took another half hour or so for the wings to straighten out.



We gave the butterfly a few hours to start flapping it's wings and moving around. Then we headed to the neighbors' house for the big release! That blog post will follow.

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All Kinds of Butterfly Excitement!

After taking the photo of the changing chrysali this morning, we went upstairs to do school. We headed down for lunch just 2.5 hours later, and lo and behold, this is what we found!




It happened very quickly, and without our notice. It is amazing to me how large the butterfly is, and how small the chrysalis case is. The butterfly was very still until we came back from dance class this afternoon, then it started flapping its beautiful wings and really wanting to fly. I put bouquets of gardenia flowers and lantana from our yard into the bottom of the habitat. I sprinkled sugar water over the bouquets. I have not seen the butterfly (Isabella, according to Analese) eat yet. Hopefully, the other one will be born tomorrow, so we can release them outside soon. I don't really like to keep caged butterflies. They really do want to be free to fly.













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Awaiting the Birth of Butterflies!

The chysalises (chysali?) are changing. Looking down through the clear top of the butterfly habitat, you can see that the chrysalis in the bottom of the photo has turned dark. The other chrysalis is almost two days behind that one. Any day now, I expect we will have a monarch butterfly!


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Wordless Wednesday...

Update to race results...

I was #347 out of 573 participants, not #334 out of 555 participants. I just had to make that known! I'm not sure why the result changed today. Maybe some slowpokes came across the finish line? And I was #51 out of 110 female participants in my age 30-39 group, not #52 out of 109 30-39 year old females. See, I did even better!

Waiting...

The second monarch caterpillar became a chrysalis yesterday afternoon. The monarch caterpillar makes a very beautiful bright green chrysalis with speckles of gold. Now we just wait a couple of weeks until our monarch butterflies finally emerge.



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Race Results!

I've been quite excited to get my very first race results. I've been stalking the website all day waiting for them to be posted. And...drumroll please....here they are!

Out of 109 females participants age 30-39, I ranked #52. My overall ranking was #334 out of 555 participants.

Maybe some of my experienced racer buddies can help me decipher these numbers, because I don't know the difference between time back and pace. Nor do I understand the difference between chip time and gun time. But here are the numbers.

Time back: 14:47.9

Chip time: 36:46.0

Gun time: 37:10.8

Pace: 11:52/M

YAY! I was just thrilled to not come in last, but to have a pretty strong showing in the middle. I am going to work on 10K training now, but I want to participate in a few more 5Ks. My thought is that 10K training will help me with 5K times and endurance. Feel free to chime in, runner buddies. Any and all advice appreciated!

Muddy Trails Fun Run and 5K

Today was race day for me and Analese. We started with her 1 mile fun run. I got to "warm up" for my 5K by running along with her. Here we are waiting at the starting line.



Ready, set, GO! Analese sprinted off. That is why I appear to be running a kids' fun run by myself haha!




I finally caught up to the little booger. She did her mama proud! She was hot and tired, but she kept on keeping on! We made a strong finish across the finish line.





She earned that snow cone, and Mariele was just keeping cool under the spectator's umbrella enjoying her own snow cone. Mariele was feeling a little better after sleeping and watching movies all morning.




I had to head back to the starting line for my 5K. This is like Where's Waldo, except it is Where's Mel?




My race...Wow, it was hard, but very fun. I did not sprint at the beginning. I did pace myself, and I felt very confident because I was passing many other racers. I got water at each of the water stations. I really felt like I was killing it until the two mile mark. At that point, I was feeling a little nauseated. I could kind of taste the yummy lunch that I ate about three hours before that coming up in little burps. The next race, I am going to fast at least five hours before. Anyway, that last mile was hard, and I did do some intermittent speed walking, but I made it. I thrived on the challenge and I just kept pushing myself toward the finish line. I was feeling tired, but definitely having that runner's high as I neared the finish line. I'm certain that I finished in the middle of the pack. There were many, many racers finishing after me. I should know the exact results within 24 hours. We did not stay for awards, since Mariele is still a little sick and just being there in the heat was pushing her a bit much. The feeling of crossing the finish line was absolutely amazing. In my estimation, I finished in 35 minutes, but I will know the exact time soon. Whatever the time, it will be a PR since this is my first ever race! Not my last race...I totally understand how this is addictive. I hope to do another 5K soon. I will be on the lookout for opportunities.






The finishers!

Happy Easter Weekend...

Well, Analese and Lee went to church this morning. I was all dressed and ready for church when we made the decision not to drag Mariele out today. Poor baby is even sicker today than she was yesterday. She abandoned her breakfast without taking a bite and went upstairs to crawl back in bed. She has the chills and is running a very low grade fever. I really hope she feels like going out to my 5K run this afternoon. I did take some pretty pictures of Analese and Lee this morning. And Analese even took one of me and . Oh yeah, I got new hair yesterday.

Caterpillar Update

One of our caterpillars formed its chrysalis yesterday. It is amazing how quickly this happens. When we left for the evening, the caterpillar was hanging by its posterior on the paper towel in the lid of the jar. When we came home for the night, there was an entire shed skin underneath it, and it was a green chrysalis.


The other caterpillar is hanging from the paper towel in the "getting ready to form a chrysalis" position. I'm sure that by tonight, it will be a chrysalis.



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