So long Henrietta!

 

You may remember (as per our last post) that we 'adopted' a monarch caterpillar on our canoe trip. With my superb science teacher background :) I thought it would be fun to raise it and let it change into a butterfly. Sure enough, a few days after we took it home it formed a chrysalis. Kurtis actually caught it in the act (which only takes a minute or two) and we watched it form. It's an exciting thing. After about 2 weeks SHE emerged into a healthy female butterfly. Males are known by a large black spot on each of their back wings. They are pheromone sacks to attract females, which don't have the spots. So, ours being spotless, was a female. She was no Henry the IX.. but Henrietta. It was quite cold and rainy for a few days after she hatched so I kept her inside with some honey water and sticks to walk around on. Sarah was really interested, in a scared sort of way. Hopefully she's warmer and hibernating in Mexico by now. That's what they do. Learn all about monarchs here. There's your science lesson for the day.

Sarah doesn't like canoeing

We found out. We went out last weekend and it was a bit cool, but still beautiful. I think Sarah was scared by the unstability of the boat but we survived. She's been on other boats and liked them.We also found a monarch caterpillar that we adopted... probably illegal but, as a science teacher, I've raised a ton of these things! It's healthily in it's pupa or chrysalis as we speak. We actually  got to watch it change.

She spent most of the trip this way

Or trying to walk back and forth between us. She was foiled by the bar in the middle. It was very distressing for her.

Our new friend

Henry the IX, Kurtis named him

The best part of the trip was playing down this ramp to the dock. She lovedd it.

What do you do...

with a big bucket of tomatoes from your garden?

You make tomato sauce and can it!

I ended up with 12 pints of these delicious babies that I'm hoarding.. so good. I'll post my totally easy recipe on my other blog. YUM!

On another note.. we've got 3 pumpkins! The rest of the garden is slowly dying due to the crazy summer weather we've had but we did get an albino zuccinni. Intriguing. Sarah tried to model it for you but it was a bit too heavy for her.

Bike Date!

Our Relief Society had its annual 'love auction' where sisters offered services, baked goods, and other fun things for others to 'bid' on with fake points. I found out there was a date offered and immediately set my eyes on it. I waited patiently until it came up for auction and bid all my points before anyone else could even think about it. I guess I was a little greedy about it... or resourceful.. but I figured if I wanted a fun date, I needed to plan it myself! My friend Anna offered a date on her tandem bike, a picnic lunch AND babysitting. Are you kidding?! So we went a couple weekends ago and had a fabulous time riding through downtown. We planned on riding to a lake on the north side of town but came across an art fair along the way. We ended up walking around the booths, listening to local artists and my favorite-getting henna tattoos! Usually these tattoos are way expensive but I found a great deal at the belly dancing booth. Hem..hem.. no, I did not do any dancing afterwords. Kurtis decided he wanted one too.. later on.. and found a more, shall we say authentic booth with real Indian ladies who did henna. He got a fancy but manly arm-band tattoo which promply washed off soon after. Mine however is still noticeable.. weeks later. It was a wonderful date and I'm so glad we got to go.

The tandem bike took a little getting used to. And no, I'm not that big yet. My shirt was blowing in the wind, I promise

The art festival. WE LOVE ART! :)

My tattoo lady

Kurtis waiting patiently with the minstrals in the background

His tattoo lady

Finished product. Mine had sparkles! (And it's upsidedown on my ankle)

Lake George

When we first moved to Rochester we lived like kings in a townhouse near a small private lake. We loved walking around it and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors. We go back every so often to walk around it and say 'hi' to some of the older neighbors we met when we lived there.