By now they are about 2/3 chrysalises and 1/3 munching caterpillars.
I brought along some Hollyhock for the road and figured they'd eat up and make their way up to the roof to make their final chrysalises.
I was wrong. And it was gross.
The leaves ran out, and I had no Vancouver source of Hollyhock. We tried various other types of leaves, but no dice. We tried Cheerios, nada. As we searched for a substitute, some caterpillars died. They just stopped moving and kind of deflated. In a bind I put a peeled carrot in there, and they ate right through it. Others crawled up to the top and did in fact make a chrysalis. But those turned black over night and then leaked thick black goo. Dead. Finally, with maybe 6 caterpillars left, a walk to the park near Shona's lead us past the always neat to see East Vancouver backyard gardens cultivated by Chinese Canadians. The trelises and neat rows of plants are a marvel of planning to me. And what do I spy on the border of the sidewalk? A Hollyhock! I've become quite the expert at spotting them by now. We nab some leaves and rush our bounty to the remaining caterpillars. They eat them up. We breathe a sigh of relief and head out to Granville Island.
We started our adventure there at Granville Island, a must-stop spot in my childhood and now theirs. We talked about how it's a man-made island, once used for industry, now for tourism and locals. We bought burritos and birdseed, and Leif focused on being still to get a pidgeon to eat out of his hand.
We all remarked on the big variety of pidgeon colourings. Did they get their colourings like cats did, how many eggs did a pidgeon lay at one time, could more than one male fertilise eggs within one 'litter', like cats? Yes, we had cats on the brain.
At one point, the universe intiated a series of tests for Leif and Hannah. Ivy'd fallen asleep on my lap, and Shona'd gone to get a coffee. Hannah really wanted a bagel like Leif had gotten, but I couldn't help her. I told her where to go and how to order it (I could see the counter through the glass wall and it was about 50 feet from me). She gave it a go. But when you're shorter than the counter, and a kid in a culture that tends to ignore kids, or expects an adult to speak for them, you can wait a long time for service. I asked Leif to go help her, and he got huffy about having to speak to strangers, but went. Upon their return, after I thanked Leif and told them how great they both were to try ordering on their own, they told me of a 'wierd' man they'd seen inside. He was standing on a box, all dressed in silver, not moving at all. I explained that he was a busker, a performer. And that if they put money into the box, he'd 'turn on' and do a litle show. So with loonies in hand and Shona as chaperone, the kids went in to see how it worked. They all tossed their money in at the same time, which proved to be trouble. The man started up and did some magic tricks that baffled them (he put golfballs in his pockets and they came out his mouth). Then he reached over to shake Leif's hand, after Hannah declined. Leif, brave and game, shook his hand. And the man turned off, still gripping Leif's hand. Leif panicked a wee bit, asking 'someone put in some money!'. Eventually someone did and he got his hand back. I thought it was a great experienced for this often-shy-but-sometimes-bold little dude.
Then we boarded the little harbour ferry and rode to Science World. We'd heard they had a Lego show, and we always like hanging out in the Eureka Gallery.
We danced in the special effects room, spun on the circular floor, played the drums, shot balls into the air, cranked the windmills and divided ourselves into 10 with the folding mirrors. Science World always rocks, especially when we miss the school groups and have it all to ourselves.
We boated back to Granville Island, and the kids pointed out the various huge art sculptures we passed on the way. Once back we wandered the grassy pathway to the car, and found turtles in the pond!
Ivy has expanded her love affair with owls to include Canada Geese. She had yet to see one for real, but loved to look at them in our bid book at home, and play their honking call. Then we found one 'for real'
It was very cool.
Here is a picture, showing how sweet my 8 year old is, having tea with the little ones. He's happy to play, with whomever is interested.
Leif and Hannah collaborated on a special Keep Out note for Isla's bedrooom door.
Ivy and Bryn shared their end of the bathtub just fine.
And Bryn shared a special moment with me, as she showed me how she coud use her own head for Mr. Potato Head parts. Love her!
On the way home we had a big chat while waiting for the ferry, about the shipyard across from the terminal. How the freighters bring the traincar boxes across the water (or take them away) and then they use those huge cranes to lift them onto the trains, to take them across the land. We talked about what we might have shipped to us from other countries on such freighters, what we might ship out, and how they decorate the cranes for the holidays.
Once home, we entered the age of fine arts. Painting any and everything. All 3 of the kids painted the sidewalk in front of our house, and here is Hannah pinting a rock she found that looks like a fish. She's wearing her swim goggles because she planned the shape the rock by chipping little bits off it on the pathway. Smart girl.
You know what else happened this week?
We found it odd that so many (%99) of our caterpillars had cocooned up, while one or two stayed down and kept eating. We phoned the fellow at the Butterfly Gardens (thank you Curtis!) and he explained the eggs we ordered would have been collected from various sites, and so would be of varying ages, not siblings from one mother. So they'd grow a different rates.
We snagged a crazy shot, if these two have any sense of awe about themselves.
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