Magic Wings

I realized this past weekend that in the past three months my family and I have not done much beyond our routine of work/parent's center/grocery store, I began to feel like I had to do something to stimulate and wear out my recently two year old.  On Sunday morning I suggested to my boyfriend that we get out and do something as a family, what I came up with was taking a walk downtown, what he came up with was going to Barnes and Noble.  The problem was that since he works outside all week on the weekends, especially in the winter, the last thing he wants to do is go outside to do something; unfortunately for me going into a store of any kind is not something I consider fun or recreational.  Then it hit me that we are sitting in the middle of a valley known for its interesting activities and culture.

After a few moments of thought I realized that we hadn't yet tried the Eric Carle museum which was just across the river.  Up until now I had been worried that our daughter was a little too young to get much of anything out of the museum but at this point I thought it was worth the admission price to see how she reacted.  If nothing else it would get us out of our small apartment to do something that was neither outside nor in a store.  After discovering that on Sundays the museum doesn't open until noon we decided that our best bet was to get Audrey down for an early nap in the hopes that she would then have a shorter nap leaving us more than enough time to get over the river (and through the woods) and still have time to go at own pace once there.  Unfortunately fate was conspiring against me on that day and even though we got her to sleep at about quarter of one she slept soundly until nearly three.  Considering the place closed at five we decided to put off that trip until the following weekend.

Though it was an unproductive idea on that particular day it did start me on my quest to find things to do with a toddler in the valley.  Which led me to our first toddler adventure on Monday– a trip to a place called Magic Wings.  Though we did not go as a family as my boyfriend was at work Audrey and I did go with friends of ours – a woman about my age whom is a stay-at-home mom to her daughter who is only three months older than Audrey.
Magic Wings is a butterfly conservatory and gardens.  It is actually a pretty simple concept, you go in, pay your admission and get your hand stamped. Then you get to go into what is essentially a large green house with paths and benches and thousands of butterflies.  You have to walk carefully and try not to touch the butterflies but it is okay if they land on you.  While the butterflies themselves were not the highlight of the trip for the toddlers (that would have to be the hand stamp and the giant ceramic frog near the entrance of the green house area)  they enjoyed the butterflies and also the tiny pheasants running around and I am sure as they get older and we go more they will enjoy the lizards and frogs they have (some free in the environment and some in large cages).  The sweetest thing though was how much they enjoyed talking to each other about the things they were seeing and kept calling the other one over to sit on a bench or look at something they thought was interesting.

The two year olds lasted about 45 minutes and after that they stopped listening to the parents and started wanting to run, so that was the end of the butterfly experience as it is hard for anyone and especially a toddler to be careful not to step on butterflies when they are having fun running from their mommy.  Hopefully there will be more toddler adventures in the near future.