I've got teddies in my tummy!

Here is Owen "pregnant" with two teddies.





Oh yeah, for those who don't know yet, you can also see Jo pregnant with twins!

Here is Owen, doing extremely well after the uncomplicated birth of twin teddies. For those interested in details, it was a home birth, neck hole delivery, drug free, and over in less than 1 minute. Jo is hoping that the birth of the twins will be just as trouble free.

Around the World 2 - USA

We went through the USA on our way back to Australia.

First stop Philadelphia, where Owen's uncle Richard took a few days off work to:

1) Take us to the beach, where Owen got to try what they called "Pie" (looks like pizza, tastes like pizza...). Of course, it has to be bigger than anywhere else on the planet.





2) Take us to Sesame Place - a Sesame Street theme-park. Here Owen got to stand in queue to meet "Big" Cookie Monster, "Big" Bert and "Big" Earnie - in the felt, as it were.






For weeks after this, Owen's favourite song was "C is for Cookie" , which he would often sing at the top of his voice.


3) Let him play a drum game on Nintendo (Actually, he didn't need the game - it was fun enough without the technology).





4) Eat at a "diner". Where the food isn't any good, and they are very patriotic. Owen had to join in, or they would take him for a foreigner!






Next was Denver, where Nathan's cousin and family are living. Owen had lots of fun with his three second cousins - seen here having some jello (that's american for jelly).





We happened to be there at the time of the Democrats' convention, so there were quite a few crowds, and lots of merchandise to buy.





Nathan couldn't help himself, and purchased some Obama playing cards. Obama is pictured on all the A and K cards, and both George Bush and McCane are on the jokers. Other celebreties (presumably supporters) are shown on the other cards.





One down side of the convention was that many of the tourist sites were booked out with functions. We tried to see the "red rocks" - a natural formation of rocks - travelling quite some distance only to find that it was off-limits to non-democrats (okay, that's not quite true - to non-invited guests). Still, we had a nice view.

Around the world 1 - Leipzig

In August, the family went on a round the world trip (yes, we are a bit tardy - some explanations in the following posts). It was primarily a business trip for Nathan, but we fit in some holidays in between.





Owen had not been on a plane for nearly 2 years, and last time he went he couldn't walk. What a difference this time!










Up until this trip, Owen had not tried much ice cream. But lucky for him, he got one almost every day in Leipzig!






Owen didn't mind the change of scenery or language, and didn't take long to start mixing it with the locals. Click here for a video of him playing with the kids at Leipzig English Church - many of which were speaking German.



One day we went out with another two local families to "Woerlitz". It's an English Garden about an hour drive north of Leipzig. Here are all the kids resting under a tree.





We went on a guided boat tour of the waterways, and Owen had a run-in with the swans pictured here. Owen was (as usual) fascinated by the wildlife, and oblivious to any danger. One of the swans pecked him on the cheek! We are not sure what shocked him most - the peck, or being hurled off his seat by one of the mums worried for his welfare.






We also visited the Zoo again. Here is Owen on some of the play equipment. You would never find anything like this in a Sydney playground - much too dangerous!






And finally, Owen getting to know one of the local icons - the green Ampelmann. See here for our previous post on this.