Butterflies

So I'm having some camera issues. My phone got lost in the bottom of my beach bag along with a drippy water bottle on our cruise. Although most everything is still in working order, my camera is broken and the flash is permanently on. The good news is my phone is extremely easy to find in my purse. The bad news is I'm not eligible for an upgrade until June 22nd. Not willing to pay full price for a new iPhone, you can guess where I'll be on June 22nd.

Which means I'm back to using my old Canon Powershot. But the whole ordeal has got me thinking about cameras, and pictures, and whether or not we should just bite the bullet and buy a digital SLR camera and be done with it. I'm *extremely* disappointed in the quality of our photos from the cruise, but wonder if I'd really lug a big camera around? Decisions, decisions. 

In other news, the kids and I went to Krohn's Conservatory today to see the butterfly exhibit. We went last year and the kids liked it enough so I thought we'd do it again.

I took the kids' picture on this butterfly bench last year and it pains me to see how much they've grown when I compare the two photos side by side. But I'm pretty sure they get cuter as time passes, so that's good.

They were such willing subjects with my requests to take 100 pictures of them.

The butterflies are fairly difficult to "catch". They give you paper designed to look like a flower to attract the butterflies, but they're smart creatures. They know the difference.

Both kids got a few butterflies to land on their flowers, which they were delighted about.

 

A kind woman took our picture. I don't particularly care for being in pictures all the time, but it is nice to have documentation that I am indeed a part of the family and accompany my people on outings and experiences.

We finished our adventure with shaved ice and ice cream which the kids shared surprisingly well. The shaved ice was from a local company that makes the flavoring out of simple syrups from real fruit - so no dyes, artificial stuff, etc. It was delicious! I'm pretty confident the ice cream was full of junk. You win some, you lose some. The kids were happy.

What a refreshing way to spend the day, especially with such lovely weather. Summer, here we come!