VIRGINIA ZOO AND BUILD A BEAR

April 10th we went to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk http://www.virginiazoo.org/ The zoo is very clean and the exhibits are nice and spaced out. We really enjoyed walking around and looking at all of the animals. The picture above is from the prairie dog exhibit but they weren't home =( Lots of animals were still inside because of the weather but what we did see was great! I can't wait to go back several times during the summer months.
Photo album of the zoo http://pix.kg/p/994342413507%3A1495077485/sct After the zoo we took the kids to Build-a-Bear in the mall to make deployment bears with daddy. They each picked their own animal and TJ helped walk them through the process of getting them stuffed, giving it a heart, getting sewn up and then getting dressed. TJ put a voice box in each bear and recorded a special message for each child so they can push it and hear his voice at any time. They really enjoyed making the bears and loved pushing the button at night when TJ tucked them into bed. We plan on pushing the button every night when I tuck them in for bed.

Photo album from Build-a-Bear: http://pix.kg/p/665804313507%3A1618632575/sct

That evening we had the Rommels over for dinner. Probably the last time we'll see them for a while. Hopefully they get orders to come back to VA in a year!