Law enforcement

We were in the car and Hudson spotted a traffic infraction (one of his favorite pastimes), I believe it was a lane change without signaling, and this conversation happened:

Hudson: Oh HO. Look at that law breaker! People need to LEARN how to DRIVE properly.

Helena: YEAH. That BAD person should go to prison and JAIL!

Hudson: Well, you don't necessarily HAVE to go to jail for not using your signal. Jail is for really bad things.

Helena: what bad fings?

Hudson: (long pause) Things like...THEFT. Or destruction of PROPERTY.

I love that those are the two most heinous crimes he could think of. The bubble is intact!! Also, Peter Rabbit should totally be in prison.

We went to the zoo Friday.  It was HOT. Probably 99 degrees.  So hot that we were wilty before we even really started. So we ended up in the bird house fairly quickly because it is air-conditioned. My kids really love the bird house, not surprisingly. We were with the R's and I was enjoying some conversation with Mrs. R when I heard Asher say, rather off-handedy, "I don't like birds." It was like an atom bomb had gone off in the bird house, as far as my kids were concerned. They each handled his statement differently. For a moment, they all stared at him and made various exclamations of disbelief. Harper scowled, crossed her arms, and walked away from him. Turned her back on his heresy, if you will. I went over and whispered in her ear that it is not an actual CRIME to dislike birds. She went over and demanded to know WHAT animals he does like? "I like serpents!" he replied, cheerfully. Harper's face was a storm cloud. I went over for another whisper. "WELL," she barked, "I don't think you should like serpents better than birds because a serpent is what made people BAD." Rather than get into it with her, I said, "That wasn't really a serpent, but we can talk about that later." She then continued to make barbed comments about how "Some large water birds EAT serpents and so HAH." to which the ever patient Asher responded, appropriately, I might add, "So what?" Hudson, once he recovered from his initial shock at Asher's proclamation, followed him eagerly around the bird house trying to change his mind in a winsome manner: "what about the pretty birds Asher? Like scarlet tanagers! And manakins! You have to like those!" Helena kept saying, "What about parrots? They are pretty AND they TALK. You HAVE to like parrots!" Asher did finally concede (probably just to stop the berating) that he liked birds that were the colors of the Ninjago ninjas, but that was it. This answer was satisfactory to both Hudson and Helena, but I fear Harper is still holding a grudge.

I am going to try to write a little something every day this week, so stay tuned.