1. December 2011 Updates: Trip to Canberra, Day 3 We bought a special ball at the Questacon to use at Carly’s OT sessions, and Barak made a super-baby outfit for Alma

2. This morning everyone woke up quite tired, the Questacon was a lot of stimulation for all of us. Hahgoot finished to add details to her road map (right).

3. We went out to breakfast at a place that makes pancakes – at last; I was dreaming about this the whole trip! We even found artwork with a food theme on the way to the restaurant!

4. The girls got HUGE babycinos and we all had lots of pancakes

5. As we were all very sluggish we didn’t hurry to the next attraction, but rather spent a good half hour at a bookstore.

6. Then Barak and the girls went on the merry-go- round, which is an amazing Colonial relic, complete with non-PC pictures of Aborigines

9. At last we arrived at the rollercoaster shaped national Australian museum

10. Hahgoot was interested in the multi-sensory, turning “Circa” theatre, which gives an overview of the museum, but got completely disoriented when we got out. As she was in overload from yesterday’s adventures, it was little surprise that she was in half meltdown the rest of the day.

11. She explored the colourful cupboards and found interesting artefacts like a jockey's jacket and an old school’s chalkboard (which looks even more ancient to her, as she has a high-tech whiteboard in her classroom these days..)

12. She also found a boomerang, a box full of wool and a huge gold nugget replica!

13. Then Alma woke up from her morning nap and was happy to start exploring the cupboards, while Hahgoot filled up the kids’ activity booklet using the display for answers.

15. Far left, top: Barak putting on chains to feel like a convict... As Hahgoot kept having tantrums and meltdowns I decided it was time for a lunch break. This helped a bit.

16. Barak took Alma for a tour of the gardens and I went with Hahgoot to K-Space, where the theme was “imagining the future”. We got our photos taken and inserted into the system.

17. We each got a touch screen computer and had a very short time to design a Futuristic flying vehicle. Then we went into a small theatre and got 3D glasses. Our designs were put into a 3D animation movie of a funny Futuristic Aussie city, complete with flying wombats and robotic kangaroos (an example on left). Hahgoot really enjoyed this activity.

18. Then we headed to the National Library to see the manuscript exhibition. I spent about 5 minutes in it and decided to take the girls out as between wriggly Alma, melted- down Hahgoot and the silence of the viewers it was clear this won’t work. So while Barak enjoyed exploring solo, we went downstairs to an area set aside for kids to colour in worksheets relating to the exhibition.