We’ve tried to keep it pretty quiet, but the news is mostly out now, so we figured we’d share. (Because some people think this is totally blog worthy) Brit has an agent. He’s been in a couple of things, and his first appearance has aired!

Details:
What: Pilot episode of “Cougar Town” on ABC.
Who: Baby Stan, the main character’s best friend’s baby
Screen time: About 20-30 seconds
You can watch it here:
Britton on TV

We’re pretty excited about it. A little bummed his other scene– where they dressed him in cute clothes and he has an expression on his face–got cut, but whad’ya do?

We’ll let you know when his other part comes out as well.

He pretty much gets parts because he looks like a baby that was already used and they need a back up or fill in. There haven’t been lots of auditions–thank heavens–so it’s not too stressful. We figure it’s a nice way for him to get some college money socked away.

Wow, already 18 months old! I can hardly believe how the time has flown. His personality is so much fun and we have a great time together. He loves his daddy and is always so excited when he gets home–always runs over and gives him a hug.

Here is a random assortment of pics we’ve been meaning to post, but I’m super behind…

With these he brought me my camera, handed it to me and then posed. We have a cheeser on our hands.

He gets soooo messy when he has spaghetti, but loves it!

He woke up from his nap after church, and apparently wasn’t too happy about it.

We went to the park for a little photo shoot:

Walk with me...

Playground

Huh?

I don't think so!

So funny

And, his stinkin’ cute pics from the RockerRoos photoshoot

We’re all really excited for Sunday when he gets to go to nursery at church. He looks longingly at the kids playing in the courtyard every week, and he’ll finally be able to join them!

Lately he’s trying to say every thing and comes out with new words all the time. Like purple, yellow, cookie, book, bubble, water etc. Finding Nemo is his favorite movie and called him “MoMo” He still loves Signing Time, and we got a few more this week at the Expo–Thanks Erin!  We’re now practicing drinking from a cup. He does pretty well, but definitely needs help still.

When we read stories he always remembers if we do special actions–like reaching our arms out wide or our toes in the air, or giving Mommy hugs. It’s so cute. Right now we must read his Alphabet book with the animals/touch and feel every night. He loves the Bee and says it by name.  Maybe that should be his costume this year.

We just love our little guy. He’s soooo sweet and gives great hugs. Happy Half Birthday Baby!

For the last night of our trip we had to get a hotel because our time share time ran out. We found a place just south of town. Here’s the view from our room looking toward the city.

To get there, we took our 3 suitcases, laptop bag, diaper bag, toy bag and stroller with Baby from the hotel to the tram stop about 100 yards away. Rode the tram, unloaded said items with a great amount of help from the super friendly Aussies and dragged our stuff to our new hotel, about 50 yards away. We promptly decided not to do that again and take a cab to meet the bus for the airport.

Anyway, we spent the early part of the day looking at the War Memorial. It was built to honor the soldiers who fought in WWI, but has since grown to include the other wars as well.

Mark and Britton on the steps

Daddy helping

Ceiling of the rememberance room

I’m not sure what the official title is, but in the center of the big memorial they have a square room built to honor the soldiers. There is a stone cut out, so that on 11-11 at 11 a beam of light from the sun rests in the center of a memorial in the center of the floor. At certain times of the day, everyday, they hold a mock ceremony with an artificial light. It was pretty cool.

Balcony View East

Balcony View North/East

The odd-shaped thing in the middle-right is the entrance to the visitors center.

View North

It was sooooo windy up there! Brit was pretty excited about it though.

After that we went to the Botanic Garden. No, not botanical. It’s botanic, because it has a herbarium with it.

It is a really large area, with many walkways and differing landscapes. It was started just a few years after Melbourne itself was settled, so it’s about 150-160 years old or so. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the plants and the garden itself. She’s owns a landscaping business, so she knows a lot. This first part is by the children’s garden. It was inspired by a children’s fairy tale that take’s place under the sea–no, not The Little Mermaid. These are the seaweed and kelp

Under the sea

Lakeview Terrace

Where's the bird?

This bird just kept squawking and squawking, really loudly. It definitely wanted us to know it was there.

That's another lake

The terrain and foliage was varied. Sometimes you felt like you were in an English garden and others in the tropical forest. We saw people with picnics and just hanging out and we were sad it was our last day for touring.

After the tour, we got some food. Brit was pretty tired…see, he does cry.

Noooooooo! I hate it all!

But, then he found birds…

Oh my goodness! Birds!

Hi Shadow, nice to meet you

But, then he found a new friend and they followed each other everywhere.

That night we went to St. Kilda, a beach town a couple of miles south to see what we could see.

Sunset

After walking down their ridiculously long pier, we made it here to the rocky harbor and fishing area

Pretty boats

Harbor

Yes, I am cold. It was really windy and pretty much freezing. The only reason I don’t look miserable is because I have my hat. And, don’t worry, Brit is fine because he has some of Mark’s strange genes that prevent him from feeling cold. See, still smiling. Strange boys I have. =)

It is a really cute area with cute houses and apartment buildings. We ate dinner at a Thai place and then headed back to this view:

Where can you see dinosaurs, a forest and Aboriginal artifacts all n one place?

The Melbourne Museum of course. We seriously spent most of the day there. And, we don’t usually go on tours, but this time we did and it was pretty interesting. We learned things that we definitely wouldn’t have otherwise.

Dinosaur Walk

The Forest

Mark and his Mommy. Same smile no?

Human interaction with the forest

Please don’t ask why we’re posed like this. I know we look a little silly. The notches represent human impacts on the forests.

Where's the animal?

Blue Bird who likes blue things

Seriously, the guide said he would collect blue things and sometimes people would give them to him. The branches on the left are his house.

Walking Stick

There were so many different exhibit areas. There was a whole bug wing that had thousands of insects. Some are sooooo creepy!

The Aboriginal wing is interesting too because it had some of their artwork, and told about the history of “tribes?” in the Melbourne area. There was also a curator who had objects traditionally used by them. One was a possum skin ball. They sew pieces of possum skin together and stuff it with grass or something like it and play games with it. Brit loved it. He kept chasing after the ball and kicking it.

Royal Exhibition Building

Built for a fair or convention in the 1800s, the building isn’t used much anymore, but looks really cool.

View from the hotel

It was Karen’s last day. so we took her to the mall/casino/hotel too and we had dinner there at a place called Automatic. There was a mixture of foods, but we all really liked what we had. There was only one meal we had there that I wasn’t really thrilled with.

So, it rained again.

We wanted to take a river cruise, but they have to have a certain number of people to go and at the time, we were the only ones. So, an hour later we came back and took a ride with 2 different school groups. Teenagers and like 6 year olds. The cruise wasn’t too terribly exciting, but we did get the see more of the architecture of the city and learn about their bridges and buildings and history. Brit didn’t love it though. He wanted to climb all over the dirty stairs and things.

And, because we’re super awesome we didn’t take any pictures of it.

After lunch, we made our way to the that awesome looking Flinders Street Station to take the train to Spotswood, where the Scienceworks and Planetarium is. We enjoyed being out of the city a little bit and seeing what the suburbs are like.

We immediately went into the planetarium for a film about climate and how it’s been throughout the world’s history, and today. Very interesting. Then we got to see the Southern sky with the stars over Melbourne. We sat the Southern Cross and some of the constellations.

Then it was on to the science part. We had fun with the “body” section with various strength, endurance, reaction time and other physical tests.

Brit had fun in the Nitty Gritty Kiddy City

Playing with food

Signing Orange

Aye Aye Captain!

Steering the ship

Sadly, we weren’t there very long before it closed! It was one of the better science/interactive museums we’ve been to. There was a lot to do.

That night Brit and Grandma had a nice time together while Mark and I hit the town. Yeah…we went to dinner and a movie! But, it was in a really cool mall/casino/hotel complex, so that makes it better, right?

We ended up eating at a buffet place, but it was the nicest buffet I’ve ever seen and the food was fancy and fantastic! Then we saw GI Joe. It was nice having our seats chosen beforehand so we didn’t have to get there early. It was really interesting to see what movies are playing there now, and what is coming out. Like, “UP” is still not out there, but then some movies (I can’t remember which) come out the same time as the US.

Anyway, it was nice to get out without the babe hand spend time together. Thanks Karen!

If I were an animal that was being shipped to a zoo, I’d ask for Melbourne. It’s pretty big, and the enclosures look great. It was very clean and nice everywhere.

Unfortunately, the animals there like to sleep in, so a lot of them were hiding or asleep when we first got there. They had some interesting “large cats” of different types from Asia that I’ve never seen before. Even the lions in their huge enclosure were sleepy and non engaging.

Then…leave it to the reptiles to be up and naturally creepy. Due to my intense dislike for snakes, this is the only one I will post because it looks cool.

Mmmm tasty leaf

What am I? 100 points to anyone who guesses

boring kangaroos just eating breakfast

Would they walk around? Would they even look at us? No! They just paid attention to the food. Ugh.

I'm so cool I can lay around all day.

No, don't make me!

Brit was terrified of this wombat. It was a sculpture in a cave for kids to play with, but he wouldn’t get any closer.

The birds were awake too. Mark got a bird in flight!

Splash splash splash!

Brit loved the blue-billed duck splashing around.

Breakfast time!

I was there too

Meercat Pile! Everyone on!

Hello people

I love meercats! They’re so cute and funny looking–like they’re a four-legged animal trying out two.

I'd want to live there

So many thoughts, so little time

Chillin' in the tree

We met a Gorilla named Britton

Beautiful bird!

After the monkeys it was into the Butterfly House. There were hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand butterflies floating around us.

My friend

I even had a little visitor throughout the duration of our time in the house.

We felt like we were walking through India or something as we got near the elephant enclosure. It was huge and looked great for them.

Hi elephants

He was good, we didn't let him fall in...

My blankie!

This chimp was playing with his blanket, even putting it all over himself like a ghost.

Again, awesome zoo. We had a great time and would definitely go back.

But, the day was still young and we weren’t done yet!

But, unfortunately we were arrested and put in the Old Melbourne Gaol. Yeah. Gaol. How did you pronounce that? “Goal” or “Gay-oh-l” Even after our visit we weren’t sure, but then found it is JAIL! Oh Aussies. Mark stole something from a shop owner, but claimed it was his. Karen got caught with drugs and Britton was even caught counterfeiting! You think you teach them right and then…

Holding cell

Hallway

They decided Mark needed a padded cell

Exercise yard for women

Mug shot

No really….the Gaol really was the jail in Melbourne until the 1990s. Where we were was the holding area, or for just a few hours. Mostly until people made bail or saw a judge.

Then, this other part is the old jail built in the 1800s. This is where the infamous Ned Kelly Australia’s most famous bush ranger was hanged, and a lot of people were held. It was strange being in this old place where there was a lot of suffering with school children running around laughing and looking around.

Ground and 2nd floor cooridors

Inside each cell had an “exhibit” or sorts with a death mask and a story or a replica of what a cell would’ve contained or something like that. There was so much information and so many interesting stories.

The Gallows

In one cell there was a chart listing who was admitted into the jail, their age, and what they were accused of. One child age 3–yes, 3 was brought in for being disorderly and a 9 year old for vagrancy. Seriously?!?! a baby and a young child who were probably orphans held on such stupid charges.

Arched ceiling along the corridor

It was really interesting learning about their history. Outside in the grass courtyard was a football game among friends. Brit totally thought he was old enough to play too and was seriously upset he couldn’t have the ball.

While looking for the “Greek Precinct” since Melbourne has the most Greeks outside of Greece (yeah, who’d have thought) we stumbled upon the mall. It was fun walking around their stores and seeing their popular stores, and a few American ones. Brit was being a little difficult and couldn’t decide on a shirt he wanted from Grandma. But, finally he found one! I’ll post when we have a pic.

Little Greece was pretty disappointing. It was just one street with a few restaurants. But, did find one that ended up being pretty good. Brit loved the hummus and pita.

He’s so funny too. He could be practically asleep in the stroller as we go back, but as soon as we’re in the hotel room he comes alive and wants to play. Sometimes it took a while to get him to sleep!