My son can scream louder than a train whistle!

We had our yard sale on Friday and Saturday, and although each day seemed to be very slow, with people arriving in fits and starts, we did very well. And each day the clouds and rain rolled in just as we were packing things away. So it was all good!

On Sunday we decided to move the living room around. Our living room, dining area and kitchen are all one 'great' room - although not SO great by some American standards. A few years ago we bought a nice china cabinet at auction, moved the bakers rack to the basement and replaced it with the china cabinet so we could store more of our 'stuff'. After looking at things though, we decided we could easily fit the china cabinet in the living room area and reinstate the bakers rack, which we did. But of course, prior to doing that we cleaned the wooden floors, washed baseboards and generally scrubbed the place clean. I found three plastic spoons, two toy cars, and some pretend money underneath the sofa cushions, along with enough Cheerios to keep our dog going for a week! When the twins we just starting to crawl and walk we put the area rug in our bedroom and replaced it with a cheap off cut, then I didn't get upset that juice, milk, food, throw up and pee got onto it. But we decided it was time for a change and brought the carpet back downstairs, and the first child that throws up on it, will spend a year on his own in the basement! HA!

On Monday we decided to take a day off, and took the boys up to Cripple Creek to ride on the narrow gauge railway. It was a lovely drive through the mountains, although we really should have waited a week or two to see the fall colors. The boys were excited for the train to arrive although neither of them like loud noises, so I was really wondering how they would cope. But they were eager to climb into the carriage and chose the open one so we could all enjoy the scenery and sunshine. It seemed all the other passengers felt the same as no-one sat in the covered carriage, which may have been a big mistake.

The train set off, and the first thing the driver did was sound the whistle, and Oliver screamed and cried, he was very upset. Everyone turned to look at him - I told them all he didn't like loud noises and I could see them all thinking, "Then why did you bring him?" Chuck had the great idea of telling Oliver to scream as loud as he could when the whistle sounded and then he wouldn't be scared, and he did, and he CAN scream louder than a train whistle! All the passengers turned to look at us and when the noise died down I explained what he was doing and they all laughed. After that, everyone looked to Oliver when the whistle went and some even took his photo! Jamie spent the entire journey with his hand over his nose as he didn't like the smell of the smoke!

And sitting in the open carriage, why was that a bad idea? Because we all got covered in soot and had to spend the rest of the day walking around looking like we had just climbed out of a chimney!