Butterfly Pavilion

Last week we had the pleasure of taking L to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. We went on Wednesday in the early afternoon. There was almost no one there, it was amazing! I believe it was $11 per adult, which didn't seem to be outrageous.

We stopped off to see all the tarantulas first. The displays are setup for both children and adults. The adults can look through the glass from standing on the floor and the children get to climb a couple small steps to stand on a platform to see all the critters. L loved climbing the stairs and seeing everything without having to be held up the entire time.

Next, we visited with the sea creatures. They let you touch crabs and starfish! At 18 months, L was not into reaching into the water to touch a moving crab, but she did feel the starfish. The man at the exhibit was very knowledgeable and passionate about his work.

We then entered the butterfly exhibit. There weren't many people so we let L lead the way. She walked slowly around the first time, checking out all the flowers, plants, animals, and butterflies. Then she wanted to keep going and going and going (just like the Energizer bunny). She ran talking about all the puddled water, dodging giant butterflies, and otherwise exerting her independence. We almost got her out without kicking and screaming by saying we needed to go find more spiders.

We did find more spiders, and ants! We kept her away from the amazing indoor play space because we knew she would not want to leave, and in her over-tired state was already a little hot to handle. We will have to go back when she is three so that she can hold Rosie, the tarantula, if she wants and then introduce her to the play equipment.

Bottom line: Super cool place that is really geared toward children and hands on learning!