A packed weekend!

There was lots of fun this weekend with the family....
...playing with cousins who came up from Arkansas, Jason's deli,  a trip to the zoo, the Y (no pictures of that), birdwatching, birthday party and church.
















A trip to the city and lunch at Jason's Deli.
The kids are getting older now and were all able to sit at the kids table without grownups!





The zoo is always a great place for the kids.  We can't see it all in one day though.   Good reason to have a membership and be able to go anytime we want.

The kids love to take pictures with the statues.  

Claire was chased by a duck so was surprised that she got this close to these!

zebra kill by lion

The lions, which are one of my favorites were off exhibition, "for introduction". 

 We are getting more lions I would guess?

Good thing we bring the wagon to pull a tired 4-year-old!

Funny how the kids can be so tired and yet, when they see a playground....

The airport is just beyond the zoo 

Tired parents!

 That pose cracks me up!

 

 The kids called the penguins with a mimic cry and they all flocked over.

On Saturday morning, the Arkansas kids went on the monthly bird walk that I go on at our local college.   The kids were up by 6:30 and anxious to go!  It was a tad bit early as the birdwalk wasn't until 7:30, so we made a stop at our donut shop in town!

We had a sweet breakfast and also purchased a couple of boxes for the church brunch.

The brisk wind made it chilly.

Glad we had our coats!

Despite the high winds, we saw Mississippi kites, a couple of cooper hawks building a nest, a belted kingfisher, several mallards, jays and other birds.  Next month the leaves will be sprouted on the trees and they will be harder to see!

We celebrated Hannah's 12th birthday party (a few days early).

 Sister love!

From the cousins - a box within a box within a box within a box....

and an ITunes gift card inside the last one!

 I made her a card with pictures of each year.

 The birthday girl got to choose her favorite foods for the meal...hamburgers, bacon-wrapped smokies, watergate salad, Doritos and a few other things.

wrestling and pile-on are favorites!



We ended our weekend with church together as a family.  The church brunch was pretty awesome!  People brought biscuits and gravy, sausage, donuts, egg bakes and much, much more!  Josh and Staci led worship.  Adam preached.  Our bellies and hearts were filled!

A stay at Hotel Columbus in Rome

After our visit to the Otis Antica and the catacombs, we got on the bus for a ride to our hotel.  They don't allow motorized vehicles close to the Vatican and as our hotel was within the Vatican square, we had to walk a little distance lugging our suitcases behind us.  Good thing we travel light!  Some people insist on many bags, but we always do carry-on only!  Even when we went to Africa one year for 5 weeks.  We were on 17 airplanes and we knew the possibility was high that if we checked luggage, we wouldn't see it again until we returned home!

This hotel was built in the 1400's!  

A pope and several cardinals used to reside here many years ago.

It's about a 5 minute walk down the street to the Vatican.

Courtyard

What a quaint place!

This is the "living room" area downstairs where we could get wi-fi the best.
We had to get new passwords each day from the check-in desk.

Our little room with old wooden shutters.

 View when opening the shutters.

There was a teeny, tiny elevator that we used to take our lugguge to our room, 

but it was almost faster to walk the steps than to wait on it.

After depositing our luggage, we walked to St. Peter's square.

  A marching band was going by.

How I enjoy people watching!

 This couple was having their picture taken with the Vatican in the background.