The Little Explorer...

My daughter had plans for today, so I decided to take Mae up to my sisters' house for a visit, & that way I could also see how my nephew was coming along. We were there about 7 hours & I still had a really hard time talking Mae into climbing into her car seat when it was time to go home. My sister had brought in 10 (monarch) caterpillars she'd found on the milkweed awhile ago while out walking, and they'd all progressed to the chrysalis stage. Yesterday two came out, & she'd released them when they were ready. Two more of the chrysalis'were dark black today, so she thought they'd come out before we left, which they did, and once they were ready the three of us took them outside and released them. Mae pronounced it "super cool"! My sister also bought her this "bug explorer" hat, along with a net and a bug house, which kept her occupied for quite a long time. When Mae got tired of looking for bugs on her own, she handed me the net, my sister the bug house, & climbed up into the play tower where she was using the telescope to "find the bugs" & directing us where to go to catch them--all pretend, but she has a great imagination. She played her guts out on the swing set, slide and tower, then we went out for lunch, came back & played tag, walked around looking at all the flowers, butterflies and bees, played hide and seek, & took a walk along the road with my nephew, who's been doing unbelievably well & recovering more quickly than anyone imagined!  He asked my sister & I how long we thought it would take Mae to fall asleep on the way home, and my sister said she didn't know about Mae, but she thought SHE'D be needing a nap...she read my mind!  :))    (& the answer to how long it would take Mae to fall asleep was......literally.....about 2 minutes!!    :))