The Butterfly House

As we prepare for the arrival of baby Norah, we are trying to soak up our time with Avery (while she's still our one and only) and squeeze in some fun family outings between washing baby clothes, tackling house projects, and crossing things off the to-do list. In July we spent a morning at The Butterfly House, a butterfly habitat in a neighboring town. It was basically a big greenhouse room full of beautiful plants and a couple hundred butterflies fluttering around. A simple concept, but absolutely breathtaking to stand in the midst of. Avery was captivated by the whole scene and kept asking for a butterfly to land on her (which sadly never happened. I think she was too much of a moving target). It was a simple, easy way to spend the morning together and it brought our little girl a lot of joy!

One of Avery's favorite parts of the whole experience was the butterfly stamp we got on our hands at admission. It's the little things.

Admiring the butterflies. She did VERY well with the "no touch" rule. I was impressed!

Posing (with some help from Daddy)

Another fun trip we took in July was a visit to the beach at Maumee Bay State Park. The park has special sentimental value because that's where Erich and I got engaged, but we had never visited the beach there and thought it would be fun for Avery since she's become such a little fish recently (Avery and I spent LOTS of time at the pool during this record hot summer!). Rocky Ohio sand and lake water don't quite have the same effect as the ocean beach (my favorite) but Avery didn't know the difference and she was in heaven as she ran back and forth between the sand and the water. We even got to witness a real life water rescue by the lifeguard... a tense moment, but thankfully it had a happy ending. We packed a picnic lunch and had a great time spending a few hours together on a hot day. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera so we don't have any photos to document it, but it was a fun day none the less!