Football

Reese began his first year of tackle football this year.  He is enjoying the sport very much and never complains about the extreme heat they have been practicing in since mid-August.

The league he is in is called the Junior Development League and their philosophy is instructional and fun.  He is paired up with similar-sized boys to reduce injury and they play different positions throughout the season.

Here's a shot of my boys at Reese's first game.  His team won!

The second game played was just days before Reese turned 13.  His Mimi and Pa came to watch the game and cheer him on.

A New Creation

In all, we had about 9 monarchs reach full maturity.  Two didn't make it due to wing malformation.

This whole process is simply fascinating to me.

Here is a shot of a chrysalis.  Don't you just love the gold accents.  When you see it in person, it truly looks like pure gold and the green is like jade.

Here are some of my favorite shots of these beautiful creatures (butterflies and children).  

Also, see Sophie's blog for more details.  She has a video of the "birth" of the butterfly.

Before the wings are fully ready, the butterflies are very docile and will stay perched.  

The were trying to release the butterflies but they didn't really want to see them go.

 

 

 

Reese got in on the action too but didn't really want a picture of him with the butterfly.  :-)