Raising Monarchs, days 11-18

It's Monday morning after a pretty exceptional weekend!  We spent it in the company of good old friends and some good new friends and plenty of good food and wine, too.  I'm on my front porch with (not my first) cup of coffee and getting ready to do ALL THE LAUNDRY! But first.  Monarch recap. Our first Monarch hatched 13 days ago. Eating much more, showing his stripes at 1 week old.   And other cute things that help gather milkweed.... :) Tuesday was a really hard day with the kids and I had to run to the store...and MAY have stopped to walk around a prairie path by myself on the way to the store...and MAY have found several more monarch eggs in the process. Thursday morning, about 9 days old.  He proceeded to eat, and eat, and eat ALL DAY. Thursday evening, significantly bigger. Friday, one of my new eggs turned black... Add caption The little black head tilted to the side... And slowly emerged! Can you see him here?  He's eating what's left of his egg shell. 12 days old. Stunning, right? And that brings us up to date!  At 13 days old, our caterpillar #1 is fully mature (takes about 10-14 days after hatching) and will be ready to pupate (form his chrysalis) very soon.  So excited.