Spring Break; Winter Wonderland To A Butterfly Paradise

    This year Geoffrey's and Nathaniel's break were back to back, making for a time span of 2 weeks for being out of a routine, and not doing the everyday activities. We spent most of Geoffrey's break in Door County,WI.At this time of year it was a winter wonderland. Due to this being Nathaniel's last semester to complete his master's, he is mainly busy writing his thesis and only has a Tuesday class scheduled. So, he was able to join us in Door County for a couple of days and finish up his spring break in Springfield. Besides just relaxing, playing games, and visiting relatives in the area, we had a grand time enjoying the wintry outdoors.
   I always enjoy checking out the views at Garrett Bay. It was quite nippy out with a very brisk wind from the north....we did not spend a lot of time here. I had to warm my hands up between pictures!!

Geoffrey is missing the view because he is standing with his back to the wind :-)

Not even tempted to sit at the bench this time!

Geoffrey is wishing he had a snowmobile.

    One afternoon Nathaniel, Geoffrey , and I decided to explore the backyard, each in our own way. Geoffrey's way was a bit more unusual, he was sure that he could bike through the snow like he does at school.

Finished pumping up the tires and all set to go.

Not quite as easy as he thought it would be.

At this point, decided that biking thru snow with an icy crust was not the way to go!

    Nathaniel had x-country skis and was able to maneuver around a lot easier than Geoffrey.

    I liked my snowshoes better than the x-country skis because then my hands were free for picture taking.

    It is easy to wander around the woods in the winter without getting lost, our cottage was in sight the whole time :-)

     Another outing was a hike at Newport State Park. Even though there are 12.5 miles of x-country ski trails and 6 miles of snowshoeing trails, we opted for just plain hiking.

After taking in the wintry beachline view, we head off on a trail.

Following the rules and staying to the side, off of the groomed ski tracts.

Pine cone all nice and cozy in its snowy bed.

Some new interpretive signs added since last time I was here. I am looking forward to spring/summer when I will take more time to read them.

I like the fern detail under the sign.

    Still hiking alongside the ski tracts.

   In summer the springs that flow into the lake seem cold, but in winter they are warm enough to prevent ice from forming.

   We take a few minutes to take in Newport's wintry beauty before we leave.

   After our trip to Door County, Geoffrey went back to school(SIUE) and we were back in Springfield. I had seen that the Butterfly House in St. Louis had a special event in March...The Morphio Mania. During this time the Butterfly House has thousands of the Blue Morphos in their tropical conservatory. Nathaniel and I agreed that this would be a good day trip and it got even better when Tami and Lillian were able to join us.
 

This would be quite an eye-catching sculpture for our yard!

 The Butterfly House has over 60 species of butterflies and 150 tropical plants.

A hallway full of neat displays.

Through a doorway and we enter a tropical paradise!!

 In no time at all, Lillian is pointing out all the butterflies to us....

 and it was the Blue Morpho with its exquisite metallic blue :-) I did not give my camera enough time to adjust to the higher temperature and humidity...so it kept fogging up. So, in the beginning I have either out of focus pics or...

pics with blurry spots :-)

There were some fun, adventurous side paths in this small conservatory.

The place got quite crowded with school groups.

At this time, I was still in the vicinity of Tami, Lillian, and Nathaniel...

A small butterfly at Lillian's level.

   and then we were separated when I paused to take more pics. I did not see them again until I left the conservatory. A few of the kids enjoyed extending their hands out for the butterflies to rest on. It did happen, just no pic of it :-(

Almost every where I looked, there was a good photo shot...lots of fun!!

As a defense,the Blue Morphos fly in groups. They also spend quite a bit of time near the forest floor.

 The brilliant blue is very eye-catching, so at rest....

 they close their wings and the brown underside usually serves as a camouflage.

  Outside the conservatory, I met up with Nathaniel, Tami, and Lillian. We checked out some of their exhibits. Here Lillian is up close with the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches!

   Tami crawled under there to hold her up, so that I could get this pic. Otherwise, Lillian was way too short to be seen in the bubble :-)

I think it was easier for Lillian to get under the bubble than it was for Tami :-)

This insect could be in a science fiction movie.

Checking out what goodies the store has.

Outside is a fun caterpillar sculpture to climb around on. But, some help is needed to get to the top....

 Grammy Tami to the rescue !!!

 Again, Please :-)

 Nathaniel and Lillian checking out the ducks before heading to...

the nearby playground. Trying to pull herself up by only using her arms.

 Again, Grammy Tami to the rescue...and shows her how to use the foot holes.

After we had lunch together, Tami and Lillian headed back home. I returned to the Butterfly House for a few more pictures while Nathaniel walked around the park.

  On the first day of spring Nathaniel and went to Carpenter park to enjoy the sunny and slightly warmer weather.I am looking forward to the 'greening up' of this area along with all the migratory birds that will be passing thru!!!

  To cap off Nathaniel's spring break, a visit at his Grandma's house with lots of game playing,music, and visiting with a wide variety of relatives :-)

William explaining the 'ins and outs' of accordion techniques.

I sure did have fun on Geoffrey's and Nathaniel's Spring Break :-)