On our ANZAC Day holiday we picnicked with Heather, Jason, Sarah and Hannah at Carss Park. The park is a popular picnic area and is located on Kogarah Bay. As soon as Sarah and Hannah saw the water, they were very keen to go for a "paddle". Jason and Heather let the girls run down to the beach with the instructions "just get your feet wet, NO SWIMMING!". The girls followed the rules at first, but then the paddling turned into splashing, the splashing into dipping, and the dipping into swimming. Jason and Andrew had been sent to supervise the process but even though they were mostly paying attention, it wasn't long before the girls were soaked. Luckily, Heather had brought a spare change of clothing for the twins.

For lunch we chowed down on burgers from Paul's Famous Burgers. The day before we'd eaten fish and chips from the best fish'n'chip shop in the universe. Australians just to love to make big claims! We're not satisfied with saying "we're pretty good" we have to be the best ever in the whole of the world. Enthusiasm is us!

After our picnic we headed over to the Sackville Hotel to watch our friends lose money playing two up. Our friends were up and then they were down; just like the pennies being thrown in the air. Being Mr and Mrs Competitive, you'd think that Andrew and I would love to gamble. However, Andrew and I like to win and there are no guarantees in a game of luck. We prefer to spend our hard-earned cash on better things (beer and chocolate!) (photos)

Yesterday we decided to show Sarah and Duncan what ANZAC Day was all about with an afternoon of beer and two up at our local pub. I must admit that I've never played two up (how un-Australian, quick call the terrorist line!) so luckily we had Andrew, our local expert, along.

We had to visit 3 pubs before we finally found one, the Sandringham, with a two up game in progress. It was all very exciting, the crowd cheering and shouting "head'em up!" or "tail'em up!", people calling for side bets (sometimes as much as $40!) and roars of approval or groans of disappointment depending on the fall of the coins. Andrew had a go as the spinner and lost money and Sarah and Duncan lost money on side bets. I guess that's what gambling is all about!

In the evening we visited Sue and J's house for a BBQ and games evening. The girls played Cranium and Reel Clues inside and the boys played a very rowdy and rude game of Hangman outside. The evening was completed with a Boys vs Girls game of Taboo. The girls got Gywneth Paltrow from "Skinny, blonde chick who is pregnant" and the boys got Geisha from "expensive to eat sushi off". The boys won the first round, the girls the second and the final round was tied. We are all equal... well, at Taboo at least. (photos)

Oh and here are some rules for two up if like me you're not sure how to play. I don't know how accurate they are as the pub seemed to play a slightly different version of the game. Oh and I completely disagree with their statement that "most young Australians have barely heard of the game". I've heard of two up, I've just never played it!