Canberra's Railway Museum

 Doug had the boys all day playing paint ball, so I took the girls for an adventure to the Railway Museum.  They are not really obsessed with trains (maybe they should open a Barbie Museum), but I thought it would still be fun.  We got to ride this old train. 

 Faith said to me, "Can you tie this around my neck like an ascot?"  I think she watches too much Scooby Doo.

 The girls loved the balloons, face painting and glitter tattoos.

 We walked through this old train.

 Faith didn't want her picture next to Thomas.  She wanted to be inside Thomas for a picture.

 This little train ride was their favorite thing all day.

We ended with a quick jump in the bouncy castle.  

Batter Up

 James wanted to experience Australian sports so we are signed up for two and a half months of cricket.

 We obviously don't know much about the rules.  Let me just say if you think going to a Little League Baseball game is boring, well, you haven't been to a Cricket game for ten-year-olds.  I think we've had more fun watching paint dry.

 So there are two batters that just keep running back and forth between those posts. I think they are called wickets.  You can't strike out in cricket so you could be there forever.  I think the pros can play cricket for up to five days for one game.  Doesn't that sound exciting?

Of course we love watching James, but throw in a potty-training toddler at a 2 1/2 hour cricket game where every single bathroom is locked and you basically have the night from hell.  I am still very excited for the cricket season, however, because it means James plays on Friday night and we have every Saturday free for a long time.  It's all worth it. 

Happy, Happy Birthday...

 I think Doug got what he wanted most for his birthday, the day off work (thank you, Columbus).

 We took him to dinner to Hog's Breath because kids are free on Monday night.

 The big ice cream had sparklers in it for his birthday, but they went out before I could get a picture.

Thank you, Leefes for suggesting we go to Hog's Breath.   Happy Birthday, Doug!  We won't mention how old you are :)  And this concludes our birthday celebrations for the month of October.  

Three

Today my baby is three.  She was so excited to get her new bike.  We had big plans to take her to lunch, but after she opened her bike, she just wanted to stay home and ride it.  

 She and Faith got this easel for their birthdays.

 Our friends the Leefes invited us over for dinner tonight and that was the highlight of her birthday.  

 The kids are playing pass the parcel. It is not a big game in America, but it's big here.   Here's the gist of the game.  Wrap a present with many layers of wrapping paper and play some music.  Pass the parcel along and when the music stops, whoever is holding the parcel gets to unwrap one layer.  The Leefes had a lollypop in each layer of the wrapping paper too.

 It ended with Hope and she opened a little gift bag.

 Her birthday cake was a little purse made out of the left-overs from Faith's cake.  We eat a lot of cake in October.

 Opening her present.  How we love our baby Hope!  She is my sunshine.

Happy Birthday, Hope!!