A New Bear

Today, despite the blistering cold,

we decided to go to the Oregon Zoo.

Even though Orin is a little young to have a deep appreciation for

the wildlife of the world, he does enjoy wheelies,

which he got to do quite a lot of with Casey in control of the stroller.

Besides the usual lions and tigers...

and bears...

oh my!

Orin got his first look at elephants 

(notice the now ever-present tongue),

bald eagles, anacondas, otters,

sea lions, naked mole rats, and polar bears.

Watching the polar bears was definitely 

the highlight of the trip for me.

They are absolutely massive, but still so graceful in the water.

The polar bears struck a cord with Orin as well. 

To ward off the cold this morning 

we dressed Ori in his snow bear suit.

At the zoo he was almost indistinguishable 

when he was next to the other bears.

What do you think?

We have decided that we will have to come back in the summer

when Orin is a little older and it is a lot warmer.

After all, we didn't even get to see the hippopotami. 

I will leave you with a completely non-zoo themed picture

which will serve as the baby picture of the day.

Here, Orin is demonstrating that no matter how many brightly colored,

multi textured, singing, dancing, vibrating, neon-flashing 

baby toys you offer a child, 

they always has more fun with something else,

something really boring... like baby powder (in this picture)

or Orin's all-time favorite toy, his yellow spatula (picture to come)