Visit from Aunt Maddy

In February, we were beyond pleased to get a visit from Aunt Maddy!  Everything is always more fun when she is here.  

Even though the kids would have been perfectly content to just hang around the house with her, we decided to go on a few outings.  One was to the indoor butterfly garden at a nearby university.  I think we all enjoyed being without our coats in a place with blooming plants when the weather had been so frigid.

Aunt Maddy is good about catering to the kids interests.

And the kids were interested.  This garden was very, very small but they enjoyed it anyway.

There were lots of fun butterflies around.

Aunt Maddy would pick up anyone who asked for a closer look.

It felt so great to be warm in an outdoor-ish place!

I think the kids were especially fascinated by the display of live cocoons.

(We are definitely ready for spring.  Take a look at those poor chapped cheeks!)

This butterfly was huge.  It was much larger than my hand.

Everett's favorite was the one that looked like an owl.

I don't know why this was Ashley's favorite, but she sure liked it!

I wish I had taken more pictures of Aunt Maddy's visit.  We loved every second of having her with us.  On the way home from dropping her off at the airport, William said sadly, "I really miss Aunt Maddy."  I think we all feel the same way!