So in case you hadn't heard: there are BABY TIGERS at the Virginia Zoo! The zoo's breeding program for this critically endangered species has prospered and been fruitful and now little 000 and 001 (temporary names for the tiger cubs) have taken up residence in our fair city. Every day at 1:00 PM the almost 10-week-old cubs are on display at the Animal Wellness Campus and put on a display they really do, at least the three times we've visited, rolling and tumbling and biting each other and playing with toys. Just generally being adorable. So exciting!

For those of you not in the area (or those of you who are but can't make it to the zoo on any given day), you can see our precious cubs on the Malayan Tiger Cub webcam here. As a general note, be sure to check the time that the tigers will be on display before you visit -- it changes as the cubs grow and their schedule changes.

Speaking of cubs, how big are these ones getting?


We love our zoo now more than ever!

Just a quick midweek note to say...we know everybody loves to play in the zoo fountains up front by the entrance, but don't forget the smaller ones over by the tigers/otters. We spent some time there on a hot day last week with friends and had an absolute blast (and it was much less crowded).



There's a lot going on at the zoo these days, some highlights: a new Masai giraffe has arrived (Noelly) and we heard from a keeper that Imana, the resident female, is expecting her second calf? foal? in late summer. Speaking of baby animals, the baby zebra (Emilie!) is out and about in the enclosure and on our most recent visits, we've spied her running and jumping like crazy. There's also the new cassowary exhibit, over by the binturongs, worth a look. Oh, and the goats are back for the season.

We love our zoo!

Anne's fourth birthday was her first "real" birthday party -- the first three were just close friends and family -- and she wanted to go all out for it. We looked at several venues around the area, and then cheered when A. chose the Virginia Zoo -- besides being one of our favorite places, it's a reasonable price, especially for members, and it allows a ton of guests (up to 45, which is necessary when you have a big family like ours). Other than that, general plusses were that a zoo party really cuts down on planning to be done, as it includes food (pizza!) and activities (animal visits!) in the package. All you have to provide is the cake and a dozen excited toddlers, hooray for minimal fuss.

The zoo staff was really great, helping us with setup and logistics and providing toys and hands on activities, but the animal presentation was really the highlight of the party. Our handler was really knowledgeable, and the variety of animals was really cool and varied, from tarantulas to tenrecs. The end of the party, cake and presents, felt a bit rushed -- it would be great if the zoo allotted two hours instead of one-and-a-half for the whole shebang -- but other than that, Anne's big 4 was a big success and it was a real treat to be able to experience the zoo with all of our favorite people at once.

What are your favorite birthday venues around #HRVA? I'd like to put together a master list or regular feature on birthdays around town, if you have any ideas or would like to feature your child's party, let me know!

Anouk and I were super excited to find out the other day that the long-closed-for-renovations barnyard at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk has partially reopened! We were even more excited when we trucked back there to discover that the main pen has been completely populated by adorable friendly goats. The new petting-zoo setup means that visitors are free to enter and roam around among the goats and even brush and feed them.

We had a great time meeting the animals and seeing the little baby goats up close. They were nursing from their mothers and headbutting each other plenty, but mostly just trying to stay out of the hot sun. We can't wait to go back and visit some more (and to see the rest of the barnyard when it reopens fully).

Bonus points: the new barnyard is right next to one of our favorite zoo spots, the under appreciated reptile house! And the old Beastro adjacent has opened up again, too, which means tasty treats for all.

Writing this blog actually takes a lot of planning -- and it sometimes happens that we just stumble upon something great without being prepared to blog about it, no camera, no advance prep work. It's been happening a lot lately, so right now I have a ton of new experiences to write about but sadly not enough for a full blog post. It seemed a shame to not share, though, so I thought I'd stitch a few of our latest greatest experiences and discoveries together in one post here. Here goes -- a few snippets of stuff we've been up to around town lately.



Brunch at the Cyprus Grille (Hampton): We meet up with friends regularly for brunch; this month we decided to try out the Cyprus Grille, located inside the Embassy Suites hotel in Hampton. Cyprus Grille's been getting a lot of press lately because it  recently placed in a state cooking competition! Chef Kyle Fowlkes's recipe for Nana's Buttermilk Fried Chicken came in second in the contest and after tasting it, we're wondering what could have possibly topped it. I highly recommend their chicken and waffles -- the waffles are crisp, the orange-black pepper syrup is unlike anything I've ever had before, and the cheesy grits it's served with are great, too.



Rose Garden at the Virginia Zoo (Norfolk): Recently, we went to the Virginia Zoo with our playgroup and discovered a previously undiscovered corner of the zoo (at least, to us).  Beyond the kangaroo exhibit, all the way at the south end of the zoo, you'll find the Victorian gazebo situated among a host of rosebushes, all in full bloom this time of year! Bonus points: you can see the zoo's beehives  (which I didn't even know existed) and stone steps nearby are a nice place to put on a show with friends. Read more about what to see in the rose garden here.



Atumpan African Dance (Norfolk; various locations): Speaking of the Virginia Zoo, we saw the Atumpan dance group at the Virginia Zoo's Arts Are Wild celebration last weekend and they were fabulous. Such a sense of humor, passion, and vibrancy from all the dancers and musicians. They know how to work a crowd, and how to deliver information in a way that's fun for all age groups. Anouk got up and did her best to follow the steps while the rest of us played along with the traditional West African instruments the dancers passed around. Atumpan offers regular lessons (drop in or recurring, ages 2 to adult) at the Attucks Theatre in Norfolk or you can catch them at one of their local events.

 What have you been up to lately? Any new discoveries (here in HRVA, or in your neck of the woods?)

Over at My Active Child today, I'm sharing some thoughts on our year with a Virginia Zoo membership. Have you thought about joining the Zoo but aren't quite sure whether it's worth it? I hope this can help give you an idea.

(P.S. -- that picture of Anouk is from this time last summer! Look how little!)

Happy Wednesday!

We're big fans of Zoo Tales at the Virginia Zoo, so we gave a big cheer when they brought back their summertime sister program, Garden Tales, at the beginning of April. Like Zoo Tales, the Garden Tales program consists of a few themed stories suitable for toddlers and younger kids, but instead of meeting new animal friends each week, participants are introduced to a different kind of plant that grows around the zoo, with an activity to follow.

This year's inaugural Garden Tales focused on vegetables, and how they can be either "tops" or "bottoms." The kids were invited to examine some vegetables up close, and to guess whether they grew above or below the ground by putting the relevant veggie cutout above or below the soil line on a felt board. Some of them were familiar, like carrots, but a few, like radishes with their leafy tops, required more thought. The funniest part, I think, was seeing the storytime leader hold out a round green head of lettuce and ask the group what it was. "It's a salad!" one toddler piped up, and the others scrambled to voice their agreement: yes, yes, this is definitely a salad.

Baby A. and I have been frequent Zoo Tales-goers, but to tell the truth, she's become a little bored with animals lately (after having been asked over and over again for the past 18 months what this one or that one "says," I'm not sure I blame her).  With all of the plants in our yard bursting into bloom, and because of our renewed visits to the farm, she's become really interested in plants over the past few weeks -- how they grow, what they eat, what makes them happy -- so Garden Tales is right up her alley. She's asked every morning this week whether we're going to see the "baby plants" today and seems bummed when I tell her she'll have to content herself with the pallets of seedlings in our backyard. It's just not as exciting when there's not a lion or two nearby, I guess. (Or a tiger -- the VA Zoo's new zoo tigers arrived in their habitats in last week!)

The Virginia Zoo has some gorgeous gardens and trained horticulturalists to recreate animal habitats from all over the world (many of the treats the animals enjoy are grown right on the zoo grounds). The gardens and the plants are so pretty and well-kept that it's almost a reason in itself to visit. (You can read more about the zoo's different gardens and the plants in them here).

Garden Tales is held every Thursday morning at 11 in the zoo's Eco-Garden, just off of the main plaza. It's free with admission (and always free to zoo members).

I can't get over how much older Baby A. looks in this picture compared to our first visit to the zoo last summer. Next year she'll probably be as tall as that turtle, right?

The reptile house is easy to miss at the Virginia Zoo. It's tucked away in the barnyard, which is currently closed for renovations, so it's not very a high-traffic area. However, Zoo Tales is often held during the winter in the barnyard classroom, and Anouk and I rediscovered the reptile house after storytime a few weeks ago. It has quickly become one of our favorite places to spend a rainy/chilly morning at the zoo.

The exhibit is pretty low-key, definitely not as flashy as the new tiger or orangutan habitat. It hasn't been renovated in a long time -- not since I was a kid, because I remember visiting it and things looked exactly the same, then. But it would be a shame to judge the reptile house on its outward appearance -- because the array of reptiles (and amphibians!) at the Virginia Zoo is pretty amazing. They have a wide collection of snakes and frogs, turtles and lizards (including a couple of fearsome iguanas), a few of which we've been lucky enough to be able to see up close (and pet!) at recent Zoo Tales. A. has been all about frogs ("woggies") lately, thanks to a little rubber frog she got at the pediatrician's office, and enjoys being held up for some face time with the frogs more than almost anything else the zoo has to offer.

The reptile house is attached to the nocturnal animal exhibit, and so when we tire of the creepy crawlies, we mosey on over to visit the the shrews, porcupines, and owls, and the animals in the small mammal house, including a teeny tiny red deer and the spider monkeys. The monkeys might just be our favorite animals at the zoo -- they are constantly in motion, tumbling and rolling, swinging from branches, and tossing each other food. It's worth a zoo trip just to see them -- Anne and I could watch the spider monkeys for hours. They're better than any movie, and far less predictable.

Don't forget about the reptiles and the small mammals on your next zoo visit! They just might surprise you, and turn out to be your favorites, too.