brown at heart: elk and butterflies

This weekend we took the kids to Lone Elk State Park and then the Butterfly House at Faust Park. I had not been to Lone Elk State park for a long time and the last time we went, I don't remember seeing so many animals. This time, we saw quite a few and we thought it was really cool.

We came across the bison first. We saw about 10 of them in a little herd and they had a couple of babies with them.

We also saw some elk and the one was huge with a big rack. My Dad would have loved him!

After the drive through the park, we went to the Wild Bird Sanctuary. We didn't see a lot there because it was too cold to walk through the park, but my kids decided to turn into birds:

After the Bird Sanctuary, we headed over to the Butterfly House. I haven't been to the BH since I took my Grandma when Stephen was a baby. It made me think of her and miss her horribly. Every butterfly that I see makes me think of her because she loved them so much. When I went with her the last time, Stephen was in a stroller and Richie wasn't even in school yet!
Butterflies are really HARD to catch in a good picture! They're constantly moving and by the time you get a good focus, they're off! Not to mention if you get too close to get a good macro shot, they get scared and fly away too! Here are some shots that are OK.

My favorite butterfly shot is this one. Not the prettiest butterfly, but more along the lines of what I was trying to get:

The flowers weren't moving, but there was so much steam in the room (they keep it hot in there and shoot out mist...) that my camera kept fogging up too, adding yet another challenge. At least these flowers reminded me of spring, which I am DESPERATELY WAITING FOR!!!