bye bye butterfly

So, I decided that an early release was a good one.
I loved watching them transform from larvae to chrysalis to butterfly but honestly, I wanted my counter top back more and as I was shocked to learn as the butterflies "matured" so did their actions and I found they weren't so "G" rated anymore if you catch my meaning.
Today was supposed to be our release date.
It's muggy and gray..not the nicest day to introduce butterflies to the great unknown so I am glad that we chose Saturday when it was sunny and warm.
I hauled out the garden, let my two little ones say goodbye and then I unzipped the garden.
Nothing happened.
Waited...and tried to coax them out.
Nothing happened.
Shove my hand inside the garden to take 3 of them out then the rest seemed to figure it was better to fly out on their own so they made their escape.
Thank goodness!!
We released them into our backyard where I learned much later there was a hungry Robin watching my every move.
We haven't seen any of the butterflies since but I am okay with that.
(I also haven't seen the Robin so I don't know if she got well fed or not)
This experience has been a great one!
I proved to myself that I am not that scared of butterflies or bugs in general and hopefully that rubbed off on my little ones.
The Butterfly garden has been scrubbed clean and is now ready for use next year.
An experience well worth the time and investment!