Great Wolf Lodge and St Joe's

Tuesday night we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge. The was our third time there. We like to work around and go during the week when everyone else is in school and working. Not only are the rates great but there aren't many people there either. We had a great time to say the least.

Every time the bucket was getting ready to dump Dominic and Blaise would get under it. Here is Dominic about to get soaked.Blaise was a little fish and was going under as much as he could in that life jacket. Xavier and Daddy in the pool

For dinner we brought in some pizza

and of course we had to go down for story time with Wally.

On the way back to our room Blaise wanted his picture taken with this particular wolf

The next morning we got to swim and play some more!

Dominic walking over some wiggly tree stumps

Zachary even got his first experience in a swimming pool! He really seemed to enjoy being in the water.

Xavier was happy to be jumping into 5" deep water all by himself

...and we finally got him to go down one of the smaller slides

Hopefully see you next year Great Wolf Lodge!

We also planned our trip so we would be able to visit our godson close to his birthday. We stopped by on the way home to see him on his last day before he turned one.

They even made a cake for the eve of his birthday so we could share in the party.

Not bachelors anymore huh guys? :)

A visit with Jonny and Marlys

January 18th was our nephew's 2nd birthday so we drove to Kansas City. Tom's brother and his family took us to Union Station for dinner that night. We ate at a place where the food is brought to you by a train on the wall! Fun Fun! Here are the engineers:

Here are Tom and Jonny with some of the boys
Aunt Marlys and Xavier
Union Station had a train exhibit and we stopped by. Xavier was thrilled!

and Dominic loved studying it.
Here are the cousins at the hunger awareness display in front of a train made of cans of food.
After that we went on the real train bridge and felt some trains go under the walkway.

The next day we were off to the Great Wolf Lodge...

Sledding etc.

Zachary is now 4 months old! ... and growing as I type.

January 10th was a pretty warm day so we went to the big hill at the neighborhood school. Dominic couldn't get enough. Blaise got cold and tired pretty quick and Xavier enjoyed being pulled around by mom.

Dominic and a neighbor friend

Xavier

Santa brought us a 3D movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth) There are the guys with their glasses. What a novelty!

Christmas Excitement

Here are a few pictures from this Christmas (in backwards order)
Sunday before Christmas we went to Tom's dad's to celebrate with family. Tom's brother's family was there from Kansas City and the boys got to sit together at the kids table.

Daddy helping Zachary open his first Christmas presentThe Saturday before we went to the library and made gingerbread houses. The boys really got into it.

...even Xavier. It was a fun and delicious way to spend the afternoon!

Making Cookies... Always a fun Christmas tradition!

This is what memories are made of. Thank you to all who helped make this a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas pictures

Just because it's so hard to pick a favorite to send with Christmas cards, I am posting the rest up here. My friend's mom came to our house and took these pictures for us. They came out so well... many thanks!!

The Boys

Dominic age 6 1/2

Blaise age 4 1/2

Xavier age 2 1/2

Zachary age 3 months

Here we are together again

Blaise and Xavier on a horse

Dominic and Xavier on a horse

Corrine, Tom and Zachary


Zachary Evan

Dominic and Blaise in front of our tree

Xavier on his horse

Hope you enjoy. We sure do. Thanks for visiting. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~ Love The Larsons

Tom's Italy Pilgrimage

Tom went to Italy last month with the confraternity of St Peter and he enjoyed visiting many places related to our Christian faith. First stop was in Norcia where they toured the birth places of Sts. Benedict and Scolastica http://wordbytes.org/pope/SaintBenedict.htm

Mike and Tom in Norcia

After Norcia they went to Cascia and visited the convent where St Rita lived and died http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=205

as well as a Eucharistic Miracle that happened in Cascia.

Here are Neill, Mike and Tom in Assisi

The stable where St Francis was born

And then off to Rome...
This was taken from the second highest point in Rome at the North American Collage.

Michangelo's Pieta

Mike holding Omaha's banner on October 14th, day they visited the Pope

Tom took this picture of Pope Benedict XVI that day

Tom said the highlight of the trip was getting to see these relics of the Passion...

They also visited the catacombs of St Callixtus http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/dettaglio.html
The Holy Stairs, St John Lateran (the first Christian church after the persecution), St Mary Major, St Paul outside the Wall, the Trevi Fountain, the Sistene chapel and the Colleseum

This is my favorite picture of St Peter's that Tom took.

He saw many things that deepened his faith. It was definitely a pilgrimage well traveled.