Bumblebee

On the week before Labor Day my parents were visiting and on Sunday we went out for breakfast with them.  As we were walking into the restaurant, we saw a monarch caterpillar sitting on a milkweed plant.  I've been wanting to find one of those all summer for the boys to watch transform, so we told the boys that if he was still there when we finished breakfast we would take him home.  After breakfast we headed back to the milkweed plant and found that he had not moved.  We placed him into a cup that we had and then grabbed a couple of leaves to take home to feed him.  That afternoon we made a home for him out of a peanut butter jar and some sticks and placed the milkweed leaves in it for him to eat.  The boys were both very excited by our new 'pet', but we needed a name for him.  After tossing around a few options we all decided that 'Bumblebee' was the best.  After all, a bumblebee is both an insect AND a yellow and black transformer! :)

We kept an eye on Bumblebee but by the next evening we quickly realized we had not gotten him enough to eat.  He surely was The Hungry Little Caterpillar!  Since our research told us he only eats milkweed and we did not have any more of that in our yard we decided to head over to our neighbor Marge's house to see if she had any in our gigantic garden behind the house.  Sure enough, after a tour of Marge's moon flowers (which were pretty awesome), pear trees and grape vines we found some milkweed and grabbed a few more leaves for our new little friend to munch on.

None of us were sure how long it would take the little guy to build up his cocoon, but by Tuesday night we found him in a 'J' position on the stick and by Thursday morning he was completely inside his beautiful little cocoon.

For us Bumblebee had perfect timing because later that same morning we left for our Labor Day Weekend at the cottage and since we'd read it would take 10-14 days for him to transform and leave his cocoon we were excited that we would be back in time to see it...IF everything went accordingly.

When we got back from the cottage, everything looked the same and so we waited.  Then, on September 10th, 15 days after we brought him home we woke up to a cocoon that had turned black!  At first I was afraid that he was dead and feared having to tell the boys our buddy hadn't survived, but upon closer inspection I could see a bit of his new wings through the cocoon.

That evening, when we got home we found that Bumblebee was no longer a cute yellow, white and black caterpillar but was now a beautiful orange, white and black butterfly!  To say we were all thrilled is a bit of an understatement!

We brought him outside to let him out of the jar and let him stretch his wings.  I thought he would just fly away, but apparently it takes them some time to spread them out and let them dry completely before they are ready for flight.  Since he wasn't quite ready to leave our home, we got to enjoy some very gentle personal time with him hanging out on our hands before finding him a safe place to rest until he was ready.

Video: Bumblebee

It was pretty awesome to see the little guy up close.  Eric and I enjoyed the experience just as much as the boys did!  It is not every day that you get to witness the full power of God's creation and then get an up close and personal look as it prepares for a long migration journey ahead.  Once we'd all had a chance to check him out and hold him, we found a hidden spot on our cucumber vine near our fence to let him rest up and conceal himself from any predators.

Video: Bumblebee

He stayed on that vine all night and was still there in the morning, but by the time we came home from work, school and daycare that evening he was gone and we hope he made it safely to wherever he was migrating to.  :)  Goodbye Bumblebee!!