A January thaw (sort of...)

Yes, those two bundles of feline energy that we brought up with us over the holidays do have their quiet, affectionate times... The picture above shows Bella and Draco curled up together in front of our fireplace, which is glowing with the coals of a fire. We seem to have left the northern door open when we returned from our holiday trip, as cold air penetrated far south, well into Florida and the Gulf Coast. While not nearly as cold as the north was, southern Arkansas plunged well below freezing for days at a time, enough for the ground to freeze and lakes, ponds, and slow moving streams to build up a layer of ice 1-2 inches thick. The temperature has moderated some over the last couple of weeks, but parts of that archeological site I've been working were still too frozen to excavate Friday...

We haven't been doing much, except enduring another gut-wrenching post-season loss by the Packers and getting back into our routines. On Saturday, I had a meeting up near Little Rock (I am a vice president in the state-level Arkansas Archeological Society, and we had an executive committee meeting). Hope also had a meeting in Little Rock that afternoon (she is one of our church's VIRTUS trainers--VIRTUS is the program the US Catholic Bishop's Conference runs to help eliminate sexual abuse problems), so we decided to make an overnight stay of it (I had a free night at a Hampton Inn because of all of my work travel). So, while Hope attended her meeting, I took the kids to the Little Rock Zoo for lunch and a quick run of the exhibits. Below, Stephen and Kenny eagerly await their (expensive) food:

Stephen was very impressed with the large, open air cafeteria, which you can kind of see in the background of this picture:

They have a number of flat panel TVs advertising their exhibits, and have a large capacity for crowds when the weather is nicer than it was Saturday (cool and rainy). I guess that's why it was kind of expensive for a very basic lunch, but we had the experience, right? As I mentioned earlier, we did a whirlwind tour of the zoo, largely because I didn't want to get soaked in the rain that was falling. Below, Kenny, Beth, and Stephen try to find an animal--many of which weren't cooperative, probably because they didn't want to be wet and cold as well:

We had a good time, nevertheless, and in particular enjoyed a close-up look at their bald eagles (I presume that these can't fly, because their cage had no top...):

This poor bird was perched in a low branch underneath a holly bush, trying to stay out of the rain. After our zoo visit, we drove back over to the church Hope was getting her training at, and then after picking her up, we drove to our hotel and checked in. We then went back to that church for Saturday evening mass (it seems weird attending mass at such a large church after so many services in our small church) before heading to one of our favorite regional Mexican food chains for supper. Our meal would have been fantastic except they kept forgetting Hope's order, and when they finally served her, it was the wrong food... She ate it anyhow, and then we went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool before bedtime. We drove back to Monticello the next day, and enjoyed the afternoon once the clouds parted and the sun came out.

Today is a federal holiday (MLK Jr's birthday), so the kids are off from school and I'm off of work. Kenny and Beth are shortly to leave for a play visit with friends, and Hope and I will lounge most of the rest of the day. Well, I better go--sounds like the kids and cats are becoming a handful for Hope...