Thursday 24 March 2016

Theological pick'n'mix

Pete's Jewish daycare was closed again.  Honestly - I'm thinking of converting so I can get all these extra holidays.  And then moving to France, for the same reason.  Anyway, today was Purim, celebrating the events of the Book of Esther, which is in the Bible.  I think Anglicans believe in the Bible so the holiday is, you know, kosher.

But what to do with an excited 3-yr-old on a holiday that we don't observe?  I decided to go to the zoo, because it's large, fun, and free to get in.

We drove up fifteen minutes before it opened, and proceeded to sit in a traffic queue for the next thirty to get into the car park.  After walking the mile from the nearest space to the entrance, we had to wait in the huge line to get our bags checked before we were even allowed in.  Who knew that everyone in DC was Jewish?  Except they're not as it turns out to be DC school's spring break, and every parent picked this exact day to take their own kids to the zoo too.  And a zoo official was telling everyone who was querying the lines that they only check visitors' bags over the Easter weekend because...I have no idea.

Peter has always leaned more towards the physical and chemical side of the sciences, and the wealth of fauna (human and animal) on display did nothing to sway him.  His main interest was the manhole covers, although a few concrete slabs that he could climb on did punctuate that.  "Look Pete, a hippo!" I would exclaim, to no response, as the crowds surged around the two of us crouching over a manhole.  The only time he acknowledged the animals was when he asked why the bison weren't flying.  I didn't have a good answer.

A couple of hours of that was enough so we came home to make Easter nests, proclaiming the resurrection of Christ by melting chocolate, mixing it with cornflakes, and placing eggs on top.  Almost half the mixture made it past Pete's mouth and into the cupcake papers!

Thankfully school is open again tomorrow, which is why they call it Good Friday.


Wandering through a quiet corner of the (fake) Amazon.


A concrete slab with manhole covers in it!  It's like Christmas, at Easter.


He was slightly interested in the elephant, although wanted to know why it wasn't making more noise.


Oh yeah, and these were good, because you could open and close them with a bang and stuff.



A cheetah!  C'mon Pete, a cheetah!


Back home, and ready to cook.


Sampling your ingredients is one of the most important aspects of baking.


Happy [insert religious festival of your choice].