Thomas the Tank Engine -- Take 2

Our second trip to the Thomas exhibit was great too! We even discovered some parts of the museum we hadn't made it to the first time around...

"First we'll check-in with Thomas. Then we'll hit up the gift shop..."

"See-ya later, Mom...I'm on the express train out of town"

"I'll just reach up quick as a bunny and they'll never even notice one's gone..."

Julia went to the unoccupied double scooter, sat in the back seat and waited. Smart girl. Moments later Caydence hopped on the front and peddled her all around the play area.

"Round and around it goes over and over again...what do ya say we shake things up a bit..."

"And see how the town fares with a giant in town"



"Y'all come back now, ya hear"

I Would Walk 500 Miles...

Okay, so not 500 miles. Just 2 steps. But in the world of this 11-month-old little boy, that's a lot. Yes, that's right. Mr. Liam took his first 2 steps today! He must have woken up this morning saying, "Hey, I think I'll walk today" because right from the start our day was different. For months he has been able to pull up and walk along the furniture, but this morning he simply stood up unassisted. Then a few hours later while playing out on the patio, he stood up again and then took two strong steps forward before standing still a moment and then sitting right back down. When I cheered him on, he just looked up at me like, "Yeah, I know I'm clever" and then proceeded to eat a stick of chalk like it was a banana (just when you think they're moving out of the baby stage..." ;-)

Of course, I didn't have the video camera handy for his first steps, but here's another one of the funny little man practicing his favorite sport of wrestling (on his favorite sheepskin rug):

Love Your Enemy

Last night Julia was saying her prayers with me before bed. She had gone through the usual family members and the friends she usually mentions (Caydence & Debbie, Simon & Sarah). I thought she was about to say Amen, but then this darling girl adds....

"And God bless Jack. He hit me. With a hammer."

Thomas the Train Exhibit

We had a great day out with Cam, Simone & Flynn at the Ipswich Rail Museum. The place is huge, and they are running a Day out with Thomas exhibit that the children absolutely loved! In addition to all the full size replicas of the Thomas characters and the real no-longer-used trains that you could walk through and the model trains, they had a huge playroom filled with toy trains and ride-on train toys. We had a really great time (I'll let the pictures tell the rest)!

Umm, guys? Anybody? I think there's a train coming

Driving the train simulator

Liam (aka "King Kong")

1st Day of School

Liam and Julia started school this past week, Julia in a new classroom and Liam for his first time at all. One week in and they are both loving it!

Brunswick Fair

Last year Julia was too young to come with us to the little local fair as it doesn't open until about 6:30 each night, so we were excited to get to take her this year (Liam was asleep and stayed with Gran and Pop).

First of the big kid rides. Julia was really excited till it started then she looked a little worried. But the second the ride ended...
"I go again?"

Leading us to the giant slide (too dark to really get pictures of the rides)
Again Julia was so excited to climb the steps but got scared as we were actually flying down the slide together, but then the rest of the trip she kept asking to go again.


Daddy and Uncle Shane won her some toys at the arcade games.

But the bingo hall was her favorite. She helped cover up the numbers and thought it was really funny when someone won and called out "Bingo"

Brunswick Christmas

We spent 5 days down at Brunswick Heads with Matt's brothers and parents, enjoying the sun, sand and surf. Julia pretty much spent the entire time in the water either at the beach or in the river (both just a stone's throw from the house), and Liam thoroughly enjoyed crawling on the sand and water. He's such a water baby, I think he would've just kept crawling into the ocean if we hadn't redirected him each time. The children and I took a lot of long early morning walks along the river, and we even had an outing to the local fair (I'll put those pictures in another post). We had lots of visitors too!

Sandcastles with Daddy

Painting hats with Pop


Cool baby cool

Auntie Julie (she and Uncle Bink came down for a visit) and Uncle Shane


The whole Ryan clan also came down for the day


Nick Ryan and Julia
(Julia had never met Nick before, but when he introduced himself as Simon's brother she said, "He's my favorite"and from then on they were friends)


Allison and her husband stopped by with their three boys. Julia was not to be outdone by all the males and eagerly joined them on Uncle Shane's and Pop's motorcyclesGotta have the gloves for the full effect

Hors d'vours on the deck (Liam's trying to help himself to the mango salsa)

Gran, Pop, and Liam (he was actually asleeep)


Just like our Christmas cards, the family photo never seemed to happen (this was while Liam was asleep)

Liam, Julia, and I got to add our footprints to the beach house wall.

Mother-Daughter Day

Today Julia and I had a fun girl's day together. Unfortunately, I didn't take the camera, so these photos are just some cute random ones that haven't made it to other blog posts. I had to go down to the Gold Coast to sign some paperwork for school and buy my books, and we weren't up for a full day out with Liam and all the gear associated with these two at the beach. However, Julia was keen for an outing, so we got to spend the day together while Matt and Liam hung out for the day. We packed a lunch and headed down the coast. I'd hoped she'd get her nap in the car, and miracle of miracles that actually happened! She woke up happy and refreshed the minute we pulled into Bond. I thought we'd have to hurry through the errand part of our excursion, but she loved it! She marched (literally) around campus with such purpose that she might as well have been the one buying books and preparing for the start of the semester!

It was still too much in the middle of the day to head straight to the beach (plus the weather was looking a bit iffy), so we went to the mall, and I let Julia lead the way in and out of the stores. Grocery shopping with children can be a nightmare, but when you have all the time in the world and no real purpose to the trip (and-- here's the key--only one child with you), shopping excursions are actually a lot of fun!

The weather had turned beautiful after that, so we headed over to the beach at Burleigh Heads. Julia is very familiar with that area because that's where Nana had her condo when she was here helping me, and Nana took Julia playing at the local parks and the beach a lot. We haven't been back there since my mom left in October, but the second we got there, Julia said, "Let's go see Nana"-- we wish we could!! She remembered it all and was very definite about which part of the beach she wanted to go to. We had a great time playing in the sand, running through the tide, and Julia quickly had me fully in the surf, splashing around with her. We had a blast!

Rough and Tumble

Liam is incredibly active and desperately tries to keep up with his sister. He can climb up on the coffee table, cross a room in seconds flat, and he has a knack for finding things that are off limits (electrical cords, breakables, etc.) even in a room that has been "child-proofed". His latest feat is that he's figured out how to wriggle out of the harness on the shopping carts and stand up in the seat (terrifying when this first happened a couple of days ago). And this is all before he's even figured out how to walk!

Of course, with all this activity and demolition (typical boy...Matt calls him "Destructor") comes some bumps and falls, and the worst part is that the worst seem to occur while he's within arm's reach. They happen too fast to stop it, but somehow it also feels like you're watching it in slow motion. So Christmas morning the presents were unwrapped, we'd had a yummy pancake breakfast, and the car was all packed to head down to Brunswick for more Christmas festivities at the beach. We were literally minutes away from leaving, and Liam pulled one of our heavy wooden dining chairs on top of his head. The dead silence that comes in the first seconds after a child hurts himself is the worst. By the time the screaming started about 10 seconds later, he already had a huge goose egg coming up. I tried to soothe him, hold ice on it, and (unsuccessfully) keep panic at bay while Matt called the doctor. We didn't think he had a concussion, but it was recommended that we get it checked out, so we waited 4 hours for the doctor who said to just monitor him every 2 hours throughout that night. By the time we finally left for the beach, he was completely back to his usually self, happily playing with his new drum.

We'd finally mended from that head wound (you can barely see the bruise through his hair anymore), but then yesterday I got a call from their school saying that Liam had once again injured himself. He was climbing on one of the baby play structures and managed to split his eyebrow on the edge of a step. If it's not one thing it's another. Back to the doctor. Fortunately no stitches...just that cool skin superglue. At least for boys facial scars are a bragging right!