Parting is such sweet sorrow

Our time with Charlie and Scooter has come to an end. Yesterday evening we released them in our backyard so they could begin their adventure as monarch butterflies. 

All three of us really enjoyed watching this whole process and Grayson was so excited to get home from school so he could immediately run over to see Charlie out of his chrysalis. 

Once they emerged as butterflies, we learned that Scooter was a girl and Charlie was a boy. Michael's research uncovered some wing patterns that helped us tell them apart. I think they are siblings, but Grayson is convinced they are mommy and son. 

Either way, we had all agreed that we needed to wait until Charlie was out to release both butterflies at the same time so they wouldn't be separated. Here are a few shots from their last few days with us:

Right before the butterfly emerges, the chrysalis turns translucent and you can see the black and orange wings inside. This is Scooter just minutes before she came out. As you can see, Charlie's chrysalis was still green and he came out a day later.  

 This is Scooter the moment she emerged and started spreading and drying her wings. It takes several hours for the butterfly wings to fully open and dry out. It's simply breathtaking how striking their wing patterns are and how much beauty is in nature. 

This is Charlie right before we released him in the backyard.  

Here's the final picture of Scooter. She flew out first (classic female, always one step ahead). 

As we were eating dinner, I asked Gray what he thought the butterflies might be doing. He said he thought they were eating dinner too, on our roof. Wherever they are, I hope they are enjoying the open air and their beautiful new wings.