The Vatican, the zoo and glow in the dark toys

So I have to admit I had kind of decided to pack in the blog since we had received ZERO comments on the trip to Cairo. Mainly because hello, if you are going to get no comments on pictures in front of the pyramids, well, you just are never going to receive comments. But then I thought about my mom who has no idea how to leave a comment and how much she loves seeing the kids and I thought alright I will keep it going. So this is for you mom. Jan was kind enough to watch the kids one afternoon so Chris and I could go tour the Vatican. It was amazing, although to tell the truth I was totally shocked by how tiny the Sistine Chapel is. I was thinking it would be more the size of St. Peters, amazing, just smaller then I always thought. It is so nice how alike Chris and I are when it comes to "touring". We enjoyed the amazing art but went through at a speed that by the time we were done we weren't thinking oh my gosh art over kill.

We decided to go to the top of St. Peters Basilica and could not believe how TINY the stairs were.

At one point the walls were slanting in and you had to lean as you walked. The hallway was only as wide as Chris's shoulders. Then when you think it can't get any smaller you see a rope hanging in front of you to hoist yourself up the last TINY stairs.

The view from the top was amazing...

even if from this vantage point all I could think about was the Da Vinci code ;)

We got a rare shot of the two of us:

and ohhhhd and ahhhd at what I think was the Popes residence.

Don't worry though, if you are hot and sweat from teh massive hike up they reward you with gelato, so Italian.

They also have a phone and I was trying to convince Chris it would be hilarious to call someone and see if "The Vatican" came up on the caller ID.

There was also a post box but of course I had no pen on me to address some postcards. How cool would that be to get a postcard with the Vatican Stamp on it.

Then we went downstairs and toured St. Peters, seeing Bernini's famous baldacchino

Then outside to gaze at the wonder that is the Vatican Guards uniform.

How cool would it be to wear something designed by Da Vinci. And these guys OWNED it the way they strutted around.

The piazza itself is simply amazing.

Then we headed to Neuvono for a lovely dinner all by ourselves. The view from my table looked something like this:

We totally got lost getting home and wandered for almost an hour but it was such gorgeous wether and we had enjoyed such a wonderful day we didn't mind in the slightest (add to it two stops for Gelato and well how could it be bad right?)

Since we took sooo much time from Chris's mom and Dad who are such fabulously dedicated missionaries we had one day with just the fam while they got some much needed catch up taken care of. We decided to head to the Zoo in Villa Beourgese. When we got out of the car it immediately started raining so we looked around and spotted the Hard Rock Cafe. Perfect! We took the kiddos in for some yummy American Fare.

We have now decided this is one of THE best places to take kids. The boys were positively enrapt by the music videos. I had to capture a picture of them watching Tom Petty's video where they are remaking Alice in Wonderland:

Liam had just woken up from a stroller nap and you could tell he was totally confused by the whole situation:

I loved it because with out saying a word to us Sammy calls over the waitress (by her name) and sweet talks her into bringing him a big bowl of Olives ha! I guess he has some great confidence. We walked over to the park and intended on walking straight to the zoo but ended up stopping and letting the kids play at every play place along the way. They had so much fun and the weather was fantastic so we were all happy campers. Once in the zoo the boys hoped on the train while I stayed with a sleeping Abby. I love how happy trains still make Sam.

We checked out the Giraffes

And I always make Liam take a picture by the {Lemers} but this was even better because it had a cut out to pose with!

When we were all done with the zoo we headed back to the restaurant Chris and I ate at for dinner.

I was sooooo impressed with Jan's mad parallel parking skills. We got a super sweet spot, which is really saying something for Italy. Grandma spoiled the kiddos and got them the coolest light up toys ever. I don't know how to describe them but you whiz them up on the air.

Liam and Sam were pro's by the end of the night. They made friends with another little boy and were running around having a blast zooming them into the sky.

I mentioned how much I would love to give them as party favors at Liam's space party and Jan bartered a guy into a sweet deal and bought them. I am sooooooo excited to hand them out. It was such a wonderful day, and then we collapsed asleep ha!