Niagara: the butterfly conservatory

In researching for our trip, I found out that there's a butterfly conservatory in Niagara Falls. I thought Nikolai would like it and online reviews made it sound good, so we decided to go for it (all the while hoping it wasn't just a tourist trap).

It was not a trap, guys. It was AMAZING.

My pictures do not really capture it, but this place is full of about 2,000 butterflies and they're constantly fluttering through the trees and across your path. It was incredibly magical!  So, I've taken about a million pictures in attempt to try and capture that magic, and while I'm not sure I was able to fully do that, I'm going to dump about half of them on you all the same. There's a LOT of pictures so I'll dial back the writing so you can feel free to mostly just scroll through. 

The butterflies above were some of my favorites--they look like they have eyes when they close their wings, but when they open them, they're gorgeous and blue inside like the one below! 

Can you spot 5 butterflies in this picture? (hint: two of them are blurry and in the background)

Below: Niko looks at a poison dart frog.

Niko looks at a butterfly resting on the ground:

Through a window, they had all of these butterflies emerging from their cocoons. It was so cool! Side note: Did you know that butterflies come out of their cocoons with small wings and a large body, and they slowly siphon the moisture from their body to out to make their wings grow? Then they hang there, upside down, for a few days while their wings dry. So neat!

You can't tell from the photo, but the moth below was MASSIVE--like the size of my two hands stretched out side by side. HUGE. 

Nikolai was totally astounded by the butterflies and kept running around shouting "Fly! Fly" every time he was one (which, given the number of butterflies in the place, was really often ;D)

It's hard to tell, but these butterflies were flying all around us. I've tried to capture that in some of these photos but the butterflies are too fast! So, if you see a colorful blur like the one below, just assume it's a butterfly. 

Niko pointing excitedly at a "fly":

Is he singing opera or orating? Either way, it was really cute (honestly, by the way he's holding his fingers I think he was counting!) 

Can you tell there were 4 butterflies around Niko in this picture?

There was also tons of gorgeous foliage in this conservatory:

This peacock butterfly was one of my favorites:

Niko spent most of the time running around excitedly, like this:

Do you see all the orange butterflies in the bushes?

One landed on Niko's arm, and another landed on Jesse's back!

Then we wanted to pose for some pictures, and instead of smiling Niko just winked:

In both pictures!

There are three butterflies in this picture!

I told Niko the butterfly below was sleeping (primarily because I didn't want him to touch it) and he responded by pretend snoring. 

It's hard to tell in the photo below, byt there are like 4 blue butterflies off to my left!

Niko and I loved stopping to look at any butterflies that would stay still for a moment:

You guys, if you're ever in Niagara Falls, you must go to the butterfly conservatory! The Falls still stole our hearts, but the butterfly conservatory was a close second. It was so lovely and Nikolai still talks about butterflies a week later! So if you're ever in the area, be sure to stop in--you won't regret it.

And that ends our Niagara falls adventure! It was a whirlwind trip with some sickness (but id it really a family roadtrip if no one pukes? don't answer that) and long drives but ultimately it was a great trip!