Fun in Columbus

We headed east to visit some cousin's this weekend. It was a fun-filled four days while Mike went to South Bend to help my brother. We went to the Columbus Zoo with the Venias and the kids had a blast.

They had a restored carousel that everyone rode, except for Becca. She won't sit on the horse.




But she did enjoy the stroller with Clara.

Patrick and Liam spent a lot of time together just being boys.

The weather was great and we were outside a lot. Becca even allowed her aunts to hold her for awhile.


Did I mention that four of the 7 children were 3? Here they are in the following pictures.



This rock was a great source of entertainment.

Patrick found this trumpamaphone shortly after arriving. It can transform from a trumpet to a saxophone.

With four birthdays in March we naturally opened presents. Patrick was there to help.

Clara has fallen in love with all things horse.

And Erin likes them too.

John was very excited about his Transformer.

And Liam loved his tool set, but it did cause some fights later in the weekend.

After we got home, Becca needed a break from being sweet and brought out her "bad" side.

Last Tuesday we went to the Peoria St. Patrick's Day parade with the Showalter girls. It was long and the kids were tired at the end, but boy did they get a lot of candy.

Thank you to my sisters: Elizabeth for hosting us; Pat for flying in; and Maureen for driving across town to see us. The only dark spot on the trip was that Patrick threw up twice in the car within 40 miles of Columbus. After two shirt changes I stopped in at a Wal-mart and bought a bucket, which he never used. He had a fever and felt kinda dumpy until about mid-morning Monday, when he suddenly got up off the couch and ran around. Becca managed to have two! teeth break through over the weekend and thus was not too happy about life. We were all thrilled to see Mike again when we reunited in Washington. That's about all for the week.