Butterflies

I give a whole-hearted recommendation to visit the butterfly exhibit at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. We have been going since our oldest was in a stroller and it seems to get better every time.

This year, we hit the exhibit early on. Usually, we're the stragglers coming in at the end of March when the butterflies have tired themselves out. Not this year -- we picked a sunny day on the second weekend.

The place was busy, but there was plenty of room to watch the butterflies. Our youngest daughter was excited because she saw the Blue Morpho flying around. She had seen this butterfly on "Go Diego Go" on Nickelodeon. She stood motionless for a several minutes -- now that's saying something -- watching them float around.

My oldest daughter was lucky enough to have a butterfly land on her arm.

After the trek through the rain forest, we went outside to the kids play area. It's fantastic! The sun was shining and it was 60 degrees, so exploring all the kids stuff was great exercise for us parents. There's a tree house, walkways, huge Lincoln Logs the kids can use to build their own houses, drums and all kind of stuff to tire out the little ones.

Of course, we trekked up to see the DaVinci giant horse. It's anatomically correct, too. Explain that to the kids! Some of the Andy Goldsworthy outdoor sculptures were up as well.

The place is easy to get to: M-6 to I-96 West to the East Belt Line. It was my first trip on the new M-6 and I got lost. I took I-96 East and had to double back. I ain't too bright.

The cost is high -- $12 for each adult and $6 for each child -- but with the outdoor sculptures and kids park, it was worth it.

Thought: Can you still hear the song "Dog and Butterfly" by Heart?