Easter at the Zoo

Hamslice's school is closed for Good Friday, and that happened to correspond with the opening day of Easter at the Maryland Zoo, so what a natural fit.

Mommy, the typical airhead, got the time wrong for the Easter Egg hunt, and we wound up arriving over an hour early (but miraculously on the correct date). So never fear, we went to Golden West, a hip diner in Hamden, and got pancakes with chocolate chips AND bananas for Hamslice. The pancake was so big that it served as breakfast and lunch, and may well be dinner also.

Then we headed to the zoo for some fun in the windy, cloudy, 45 degree weather. To our extreme delight and surprise, the zoo was offering Face Painting!  This time we got in line right away so Hamslice would be sure to have a turn.

The theme of the face painting was, of course, zoo animals and Easter bunnies. When Hamslice got into the chair, the lady asked him what he'd like to be, he answered without even pausing that he wanted to be 

a green DRAGON. With glitter. 

And... voila...

 I explained to Hamslice that the lady had drawn yellow dragon eyeballs on his eyelids, so when he closes his eyes it looks like a real dragon. From that point on, Hamslice tried to go the rest of the day with his eyes closed. You'll see in the rest of the pictures from the day that he is fully "in character"

 And here's Dragon Hamslice with his Easter eggs after collecting them in the all-city egg hunt. He turned these in for TWO chocolate covered peanut butter eggs.

The zoo also offered some nature activities like planting wildflower seeds in a Dixie cup. This is one of Hamslice's all time favorite things to do -- must be those latent farmer genes from his daddy. He scared most of the other kids in line with his dragon makeup. We drew comments and finger points from children and adults alike. Hamslice was in heaven.

He was enjoying the attention so much that by the end of the day he decided to wear his Easter basket on his head. It's all about the audience, right?

Stuff my Kid Says

Oh we are getting into the phase where Hamslice is figuring things out, and the moment of comprehension comes out statements that make me do a "double take":

Today:
"Mommy, be sure to put on your socks and makeup; otherwise you won't be beautiful."

Saturday:
H:  Why are there these things on my rug?
Me: Those are baseballs and footballs... you know... SPORTS.
H: What are splorts?

Friday:
"Pythons kiss by eating your head" (pronounced as "Pypethons")

Ahoy Hamslice

Last night we headed out to Chick-Fil-A because Wednesday is "kids eat free" night. Hambone and I are never opposed to getting a deal like that.

To further celebrate Kids' Night, the restaurant had hired a face painter for the kids -- again at no charge, so we sent Hamslice over to get some makeup. But our poor baby was the first kid in line after the line was closed, and the face painter let him stand around for 20 minutes before she told him that.

I had to take him out of the line while he cried like his heart was broken.  Other patrons were giving us sad faces and sympathetic 'Tsks" and it was too much for our little man.

When we got home he was still upset, so he and I went upstairs and I put on some of my own makeup to transform him into "Pirate Hamslice." We even put an earring on (resting it over the top of his ear) He liked the pirate get-up quite a bit. I think we made it all better.

This morning he wanted the pirate makeup on again for school. I told him to save it for when Uncle C. comes this weekend =)