St. Patrick's Day 2012

After feasting on green pancakes for breakfast, Henry, Charlie and I spent the afternoon of St. Patrick's Day at the zoo while Jill studied. It was Henry's first time on the carousel. Due to the crowds, I had to leave Charlie, unattended on a cassowary, in order to accompany Henry on a nearby ostrich.

Notwithstanding the indifference of the ride conductor, who rather flatly addressed us, the children delighted in the sensory experience, the up and down, the round and round, the air, the music, etc. which was no doubt enriched by the fear of falling.

Charlie was excited at first. I looke up to see him smiling and waiving back at us. Noting he was content, I focused most of my attention to Henry who was giggling when the ostrich he was on came to the peak of its rotation. He was obviously enjoying him. I am not sure how long Charlie was watching, but the next time I checked on him, he returned my smile with a contemtous scowl.

Later, we strolled along the west end of the zoo. Henry, was engaging in paraoxysms of wonder at the sighting of every living creature. I was worried he would stop breathing when he saw the wild Mongolian horses. Similar reactions occurred at the sighting of the Bongo, the Lesser Kudu and the Black Rhinocerus. It was while we were waiting for a submerged hippopatamus to resurface, that a group of a dozen gangly kids approached from the opposite direction singing, the chorus of Queen's song "We are the Champions", made even more obnoxious by the breaking of several pubescent voices on the high notes.

As they walked by, that same scowl I had seen on the carousel returned to Charlie's face. Charlie responded to the commotion by saying, "Dad, teenagers are disgusting!"

I believe the hippopotamus stayed under the water until they had passed.