… to cool whip. Debi let him try it while we were eating pancakes with strawberries the other day. He liked it enough to rub it all over his face, and then into his eyes, at which point he realized the cool whip had the ability to make him cry:
He didn’t like cool whip so much after that… 
So I mentioned that we’re well on our way to getting our money’s worth out of the annual zoo pass we bought. During one of those visits, the staff at the zoo was handing out rub on tattoos. Here’s Toren showing off his tat’:
Hardcore, huh?
Because we’re workaholics yet want to spend time with Toren, we’ve worked out our weekends so Debi has Toren in the morning until 1:00 while I work and then I have him from 1:00 until he’s ready to go to bed around 8:00. That’s usually when I take him hiking or biking. To add a third option to the mix, we bought a 1 year family pass to the local zoo, the Lowry Park Zoo. Lucky for us (though also intentional), it’s less than 10 minutes from our house and parking is free. The pass was $125.00 for Debi, Toren, and me (though, technically Toren would be free as he’s under 2). Regular adult admission is $20.00 per visit. So, one of us has to go 7 times for the pass to pay for itself. I’ve been three times and Debi’s been once, so we’re more than halfway there. Also, they say no outside food, but Toren NEEDS snacks and drinks, so his diaper bag usually contains a soda for me and snacks, as well as his drink and snacks.
I actually bought the pass without having taken Toren in, but figured he’d like it because he loves looking at stuff, particularly animals. I was right. He loves it. He gets to be outside, see groovy animals, and even play in the water fountains they have there, which he was afraid of the first time, but now doesn’t want to leave.
Here’s a photo of Toren playing on one of the toys by the water fountains:
And here’s how Toren plays in the fountains:
I let Toren play in the passenger seat of the rental car while we were in Oregon to keep him busy while I got the backpack ready. He loved it and remembered it, so I let him play in the passenger seat in my car one day. Debi went a step further and let him play in the driver’s seat, which he loved even more:
"This is easy! Why should I have to wait until I'm 16?!?"
Toren, whether he wanted to or not, got to watch a lot of World Cup soccer (as that’s pretty much all I did in my free time during June and July). You can see him sitting on his improvised soccer watching seat in this photo:
Turns out those hours and hours of exposure to soccer did, in fact, have an affect on Toren:
