Slugs and Butterflies

Just call my daughter "The Slug Whisperer"

At Breeseman Forest, the kids kept finding banana slugs on the pathways. The first one they were excited about. My friends daughter even drew a very detailed picture. And they continued to be intrigued by these critters the whole time every time they saw them at the park. We all talked about how slugs feel vibrations through the ground, so when you stomp close to them (I did this, so there was no accidental slug stomping... that would have stopped the fun pretty quickly) they curl up and become about 1/4 of their stretched out size. It was interesting, even for me, who has seen slugs all my life (one of the perks of living in rainy WA state I guess).

That night, just before I got into bed, I saw this little critter climbing through my bathtub.

Considering I have NEVER seen a slug in this house I thought it was a very odd coincidence.

Our caterpillars are turning to chrysalis this morning. They started climbing the sides of the cup yesterday and they are all hanging upsidedown this morning. One is even putting on his glossy shell.

I love the transformation... butterflies are so interesting! We are not doing as much with the study this time as we did the first time we did it... but we are finding it more interesting now that we know the names of the pieces, and how long to wait until they turn to butterflies, etc. Cyan likes standing on the stool and waiting for the caterpillars that are upsidedown to jiggle. She says it looks like they are dancing. Last time it was a 'lesson'... this time it is just fun. I hope we get some pictures of them as butterflies this time!