Earlier in the month I saw this email deal for a place called The Train Shed. Basically for $19 we got four tickets, 1 Adult 1 Child per ticket, for rides on the trains, Devonshire tea for the adults and chicken nuggets and juice for the kids. Knew Tony and Megan would love to go on little train rides so bought the deal and put it aside till we felt like going for a drive as it was approx 1 1/2 hours away if the traffic was good.

Last Saturday we booked in and drove on down, unfortunately it was raining so took us almost 2 hours to get there but once there the kids were delighted. Gordon and Thomas were currently on the track so Daddy & Megan jumped on Gordon and Mummy & Tony went on Thomas. Each train ride was approx 7mins where we did a lap around the top and then went down a gentle hill, circled round and came back through a little tunnel. They also have a big train carriage for parties and sure enough there was a party going. Of course after our long drive 3 of us needed to use the toilet but Tony had a little tantrum as there was no way he was leaving the trains as the toilet block was just outside the carpark…so I had to stay with him while he watched the trains till the others came back. Tony wanted a ride on James but he wasn’t going yet so we got our free food and I got to use the toilets. Then they brought Percy out so Megan had a go on Percy and Tony had another go on Thomas. At that point I went and got another four tickets for $18 as I knew we would be around for awhile yet . They also had a model train set inside on a table that you could push the dials to make the trains go or stop plus a nice little shop full of all things Thomas.

Unfortunately we never got to go on James as they used him for the Party group so Tony went on Thomas yet again and even Megan had a go on Thomas. Then we let the kids buy something from the shop so Tony got Spencer and Megan got Emily wooden trains to go with our set back home. After that Tony wasn’t interested in having his last ride so Megan went on Mavis and shortly after we headed home. As we left they offered the kids Thomas & Jame stamps for their hands (Tony said No being grumpy about not going on James) and we got two free Train Rides for when we came back.

So all in all it was a great day, tantrums aside and the occasional rain shower, we did have fun and I can see us going out there again in the future. The photos are in the “Other Stuff” album so go check it out.

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Well guys I have finally gotten round to updating the last couple of birthday photos. We have the 2nd & 3rd Birthday for Tony, both of them Car themed. And for Megan we have her 4th Pool Party, 5th Princess Party and 6th Spooky Party. So check them out in the Gallery. We have lots of lovely photos and for two parties we hired the Fairy’s to come and do face painting, organise the games and pinata and entertain the kids. Last year for Megan our lovely neighbour, Sam, did the facepainting and got into costume too. We just had a few games for that party but the kids were too busy making their own fun it was hard to get them to sit still long enough. I must say I am looking forward to Tony’s 4th Birthday as he is now at an age where we has his own friends from school so this will be a big one for him and at this stage it will either be Cars or Thomas themed .

So go enjoy, hopefully this week I may be able to get the Christmas photos up.

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Well today and last night it has been raining quite steadily, so we went for a drive to check out the usual flood spots and a few of them were under, some were about to go under (creek at Ourimbah) and a few others where the drains had been fixed so no longer flooding (no fun). Kids enjoyed going through the big puddles and watching the water splash over the car . When we got home we let them go out the back in their boots and umbrellas, have a before shot and after shot when after 30mins they were both soaking wet.

Also a few weeks ago Mark and I went to Melbourne for two nights. We caught up with our friends Rachel for chinese one night and then Ken, Gabby & kids for lunch the next day. Also during our wanderings around Melbourne we went to the aquarium so there is a bunch of photos in the gallery for you to look at.

Enjoy.

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Today was Fathers Day, ours started at 6:30am when two excited kids came in our room to say Happy Fathers Day to Daddy. Then I had to get up and help them wrap the presents and for Megan to finish writing in the card. Megan gave Daddy a wind up torch and a little fishing tackle box with hooks, sinker and a bait fish as she knew Dad liked to go fishing with Pa, at school they made a hand card that had two hands saying “I love Daddy” and big long bit of paper joining them together that said “this much!”. Tony had made at school a tie that was painted by him and had a happy photo of him on it, laminated that said “Happy Fathers Day, love Tony”, he also gave Daddy an electric clock/calendar where you can insert a photo (hopefully a nice one from today). And we also organised a gift voucher from Brew-By-U so he can go brew some beer but its all done there, no taking up any room at home and someone else keeping an eye on it.

Around 11am we headed round to Granny & Pa’s as they had just received that morning two boy Alpacas, still some debate about what they are going to be called. One is white and the other a lovely dark brown. Their neighbours also got two, one was white & grey the other a caramel brown. So they kind of huddled together but had a fence separating them. Throughout the day they got a little bit more relaxed, one even sat down but they just weren’t that sure with all the noise from the kids. We had lunch with Granny & Pa, Little Grandma, Darren & Jen, Jacqui & Bruce and all the kids Luke, Will & Eloise, so a nice big group. The day was lovely so lots of running around the back yard and talking to Tammy the Horse and the occassional chicken that wandered up to the fence. They even had a turn with the tennis raquets and balls going everywhere in the backyard, Megan even managed to get one in the pool. All in all a fun day. I will hopefully get photos up in the next 24hrs so come back and check.

Happy Fathers Day!

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So today at Megan’s school we had a Book Week Parade. All the kids got into in the whole school and Megan went as Tinkerbell, we even managed to wrestle her hair into a single powder puff pony tail like Tinkerbell, not sure if it will last the day. Tony decided to come along although he didn’t dress up and sat with her class but then got all sooky as he didn’t get to walk around with them but quickly cheered up again. There were lots of great costumes and I took photos of Megan and her friends so go check out the gallery.

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We decided awhile ago that when the Cars 2 movie came out we would go see it to be our kids first movie cinema experience. Today we decided to do that, problem is almost every movie listing has 3D next to it and as we have been told 3D is not good for kids eyes, so we found a listing without 3D for 10am. We invited Megan’s friend Skye to come with us and jammed three booster seats in Mark’s car and off we went.

When we got there they had a $10 popcorn, drink and little car deal (the cars are usual $10 from the toy shop so bargain). We got one for each of the kids, Megan & Skye picked Finn McMissile and Tony picked Acer (he is one of the bad lemon cars). When we entered the cinema they were just finishing the commercials and started a little Toy Story film and then onto the movie, so yay no waiting and having to explain why the movie hasn’t started. The kids loved the film, even Tony was pretty glued to the screen, when it got a bit too talky he would ask to go play but once the action started he was watching. The cinema wasn’t full but the people that were there were all families with a lot of young kids round Tony’s age and not many of them sat for the whole film, so we were quite grateful for the good behavior of our three. We also got reasonably good seats, the back row of the front section and there was no one in any of the front rows, so no distractions and no one in the way of the kids.

After the film we went out to the playground area (we were at Erina) and thankfully the sun was shining so we let the kids have a play for awhile. We got them happy meals and after lunch we jumped in the car and headed for the big playground at Long Jetty and spent a good hour there enjoying the sun (avoiding the massive puddles and muddy areas) and just having fun. So all up a very enjoyable day with kids and Megan’s friend Skye.

All in all I think the kids had a ball, Tony was quite impressed with the big screen and Megan seemed to take it all in, although she did hide her head against Daddy when she got scared…lol…no one really gets hurt in a Disney film. It was Skye’s second time at the movies as she saw Tinkerbell last Christmas. Only thing is fold down seats are not good for kids, when Tony sat right at the back the front slightly lifted so of course he would rock it up and down (also heard quite a few other seats in the cinema doing this). So if your kids like Cars, go see it though this one is more Mater orientated with a spy twist, and lots of fun for the parents (spot the James Bond gadgets).

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Today we had costume day at school for Science Week. You could dress up as almost anything science related, we saw lots of scientists, robots, tvs, even a volcano hat! What the kids came up with were amazing. Megan just wanted to be a scientist so she wore a white shirt/lab coat, cool glasses, had a little clipboard with paper and pencil and a test tube (touchable bubble mix) in her pocket. One thing I have learned is that if you want to buy a lab coat costume it will cost you at least $30. White shirt cost $10, glasses and clipboard came out of a doctor kit for $3, and test tube was $2. So for half price came up with what Megan thought was an awesome outfit so happy

So head over to the gallery and check out the photos, its under Megan and School Stuff.

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Well today Chittaway Bay Primary had their Athletics Carnival. Everyone got a bus at school and headed over to the Mingara Oval. All family members were invited to come on down and watch, unfortunately Mark was in Melbourne today so I took Tony and Granny also joined us. Megan had a great time, did a race but didn’t win as she was too busy watching everyone run with her that she didn’t try her hardest, but she had fun. Then after they did all their races they played some fun games, hurdles, sack race, get the object into their own hoop, and of course the parachute is always fun. They were there from 9:30am till just after 12:30pm so it was a long day in the sun but thankfully not too hot. I let Megan go back to school on the bus and she said they got to play and watch a movie for the rest of the day so she had a great time with her friends that went back (you could take them home from the oval if you wished). Just before noon Tony had had enough as he wanted to have a turn with the races and of course wasn’t allowed, so Granny took him home with her so I could take a few more photos. So go to the gallery and check it out as I have Megan and her friends uploading shortly.

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The 25th of April is a big day normally, being Charmaine’s birthday and our wedding anniversary, but this year we figured why not also go to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. The kids have never been on a train before so we decided to catch the train and show them how much fun real trains are compared Thomas the Tank Engine.

We had a fun day watching the shows, eating junk food and not to mention the kids got a show bag each… We would loved to have bought some more, but considering how much everything cost, we ended up going though over $100 just in food and we didn’t get that much so unfortunately we only have enough left for the kids to get one show bag each and that still cost us $50.

We were pretty shocked at the price gouging going on at the show, they really need to half the cost of everything cause the way everything is priced I can’t see us going back anytime soon. There is much better ways to spend $300 in a day and a lot more fun for the kids.

Overall we did have a great day yesterday and most importantly the kids had a great time.

Today though we got together for afternoon tea for Charmaine’s birthday which was a good excuse to have a yack and eat more junk food!

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Last night the easter bunny came and ate the carrot we left out and drank the water. Megan was awake at 3:30am checking and discovered her bag of goodies and Daddy went out and found her. So she ended up taking her bag to bed. Tony was awake at 6:30am wanting milk not realising it was Easter, so I had to point out his goodie bag which he then enjoyed going through.
He then went to play with his train set, as he got the Percy Lego train, and discovered there was an egg under the bridge and an egg in the station! Well I told him he had to wait for Megan but my little boy was suddenly noticing everything in the rumpus room, especially the glittering eggs, so before long he had found them all. When Megan did wake up 15 mins later I had to hide them all again so she could find them, but we all couldn’t find the last one, took a good 10mins to locate it (how quickly Mummy forgets the hiding places).
Daddy has since gotten up and made pancakes for breakfast while the kids played with their new little Playdoh sets the bunny left, they also got colouring-in books and Megan got a Beados refill set where Tony got the Lego Percy, plus a new cup, soft bunny basket and a small chocolate bunny. Soon we will be heading round to Granny & Pa’s for lunch and another easter egg hunt with the cousins so it should be a fun day.
Will add photos later as I am sure there will be plenty more to take during the rest of the day. Happy Easter to all our family and friends out there.

Back from Granny & Pa’s and we had a very nice day there with lots of family, Granny & Pa, Margaret & Mark, Carey & Amy, Aaron, Tara & Scott with Jai & Caleb, Darren & Jen with Luke, Will & Elise and Little Grandma. Had a lovely roast chicken lunch with salad and potato bake. Lots of easter eggs as we had the big mini easter egg hunt for the kids and then later on Granny had some plastic eggs with mini chocolate eggs and little fluffy toy chicks in them hidden in the front garden, so that was a bit of extra excitement for the kids. And of course lots of toys and chocolate eggs for everyone.
Now we are home again and kids are playing with the play doh as I have confiscated all the chocolate to be handed out at appropriate times (should take a good couple of months to go through it all).
So hope you all had as nice a day as we did, Happy Easter

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