A day out exploring

With a break in the wind and snow we went for an adventure today. After a drive down historic Deerfield's Old Main street and a flash back to the movie "Little Women" with Wynnona Ryder (all for me. I will have to go back in the warmer months to visit and tour all the old homes) we made our first stop at a Butterfly Conservatory and Garden. David and Allison were super excited to see if they could get a butterfly to land on them.

When we first went in we saw some really cool blue, green and yellow frogs. Allison was excited to see a real tree frog with red eyes...okay so was I! Then we happened upon these creatures. We decided maybe we didn't want to go visit Australia if all the bugs are so big.

Can you spot this 8 inch Australian bug that looks like a branch. UGH.

or this enormous Australian Walking Stick? This isn't zoomed in...they are BIG. We also saw bearded dragons and other Australian creatures. David kept asking, "I wonder if Jen (my sister) sees these by her house in Australia?"

Grandpa was having fun showing Bridget the big bugs.

Inside the Conservatory we found more birds, tortoises and TONS of butterflies. This is Humphrey. David and Allison liked to pet him and watch him explore the area around them. There were so many butterflies you had to be careful where you stepped and often they would fly right in front of your face. We even saw some coming out of their chrsyllis. My mom was busy trying to catch a picture of these certain butterflies that were blue inside, a Blue Morpho. I don't think she ever got a picture of one.

But David and Allison had the chance to hold one.

I caught a "hitchhiker" as they call them as we were walking through. It is an owl butterfly.

Can you tell it was very warm inside. We were all getting red cheeks as we walked around. We saw chameleons, a papaya tree, parrot, other lizards and exotic birds, magnolias, orchids, birds of paradise and gardenias. It smelled wonderful and was a little paradise from the cold New England day.

We then headed over to the Yankee Candle Factory.

The kids tried their hand at dipping candles.

We found some pirates

Visited Santa and learned we only have 358 days to wait until next Christmas. David signed his name on the good list and was out the door.

A sit in his sleigh and then on a horse completed the day.
My mom and I had great fun exploring the many candles, rooms, Christmas decorations and things at the "scenter of the universe".

We finished the day off with a yummy dinner at a little BBQ place that has won many awards. What an adventure and we found more things we want to go back and see.