Warning, this blog contains more Sun, Sea, Storms and Fun, Family and Friends!

G'day folks, we hope you are all keeping happy and well, despite the winter weather and festive mania. November 2008 had been an extraordinary month for us, with the highlight of having more rellies over from Blighty! Phil's brother Steve came to stay with us down under and as a fabulous surprise, he brought our beautiful niece Zaria with him. It was so exciting to meet her as we had left the UK before she was actually born.

Conor and Olivia couldn't sleep in excited anticipation of their uncle's arrival and despite the late hour, sneaked down to say hello. You can imagine their reaction when they discovered their little cousin had arrived too! Within minutes, Zaria had finished her supper and was running around laughing and enjoying all the attention from her cousins. Poor Ryan was tucked up fast asleep in toddler dream world and so met his little cousin at breakfast time the next morning.


Post breakfast snuggles.

Ryan getting acquainted with his cousin by playing with her in his sandpit.











Above, Zaria is exploring the sights with her cousins at Wellington Point - a local beach and catching a well earned forty winks on the bean bag.




Having a fabulous time at Raby Bay beach, chillin' in the surf at Surfers Paradise and enjoying some fries at the Hard Rock Cafe with Ryan.

As you can see from the photographs above, the day was hot, sunny and humid. Olivia hopped into Zaria's stroller for a well timed rest and a tasty ice cream from uncle Steve. Little did we now that the weather was about to radically change into this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISaocvi_aSw&feature=related

Ha ha, by early evening we were caught right in the middle of a cyclone, with the loudest thunder I have ever heard. The rain came down in a wall of torrents and the roadways morphed into rivers. It took a fair amount of whooping, clapping (silly dances and songs from Auntie Amanda) to convince all the small people that everything was fine and dandy. Unfortunately the event continued for 5 hours and so hanging around in handy store front doorways was not a real option so we decided to hot foot (wet foot it) it back to the City Cat. Thanks to Phil's great sense of direction and navigational skills he managed to locate the correct docking point and we boarded the next available boat back to St Lucia (where the car was parked) like seven drowned but exhilarated rats! Believe me, it this was no mean feat as visibility was very poor, the pathways were very slippery, steep steps and busy dual carriage ways had to be negotiated, with 4 small children to comfort, two pushchairs to lug around and Auntie Amanda praying hard that her contact lenses didn't wash away (let alone her slip-on sandals ha ha). A holiday never to be forgotten eh Steve?

Sad goodbyes at the airport!

Alas all the fun with Steve and Zaria came to an end all to soon. Thank you both so much for coming, we loved having you stay. A big thank you must also go to Keisha for making it all possible and for letting us borrow her beautiful little daughter. Below is a picture of another local who is resident in our back garden. These pics are especially for you Steve:

This is a St Andrews Cross spider - best left well alone.........ha ha!

November is also Swimming Carnival season in schools around Queensland and below are some photographs of Conor's endeavours last Friday.

And this weekend we met up with our dear friends Chris and Sylvia and their lovely children Monika and Sam. We had a lovely seafood meal at a local watering hole by the bay. These get-togethers are very precious to us as Sylvia is currently fighting brain cancer and as those of you who knew have asked me about how she is progressing, so I thought I would include some pictures. Today was a good day and she was in great spirits, please keep her in your prayers as the fight is fierce and desperately unfair.

In the spirit of that amazingly fabulous and intellectually stimulating show ' I am a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' (tongue firmly in cheek), being filmed up the road. I thought I would include a little something that Phil found in the garden whilst planting some Golden Palm Trees and a Jacaranda Tree in the garden recently.

A Witchetty Grub.

Hmm yummy scrummy for their tummy, that was supper sorted for the small people that night! Take care you bogan hoons and keep those emails coming.

Amanda & Phil xxx

Warning this entry contains Sunshine, Ghoulish Mayhem & Birthday fun!

G'day folks and happy Halloween!

We hope your weather was as good as ours for the spooky (Spring!) weekend ha ha?

We attended the 'Manly Annual Halloween Festival' again with friends (see blog entry for Oct. 07). Halloween fever seemed to be even more infectious down under this year and the wacky family event was bigger and better than ever!

We all participated in the street parade and the whole ghoulish evening felt very surreal. Amazingly again Ryan (our little pumpkin) was not fazed at all by the fake blood, gore or general population of hellish freaks, demons and the undead wandering the streets. We were again entertained by various bands on stage, intermingled with belly dancers, fire eating drummers, Casper the movie on a large open air screen in the park, scary bouncy castles/rides for the little ones and the obligatory firework display to bring the evening to a close. Below are some photographs capturing the fun and mayhem.

Making a pit stop for some amber nectar and seafood munchies!

A big thank you for all the birthday cards and pressies for Olivia who also celebrated her fifth birthday this month. I hope that you have received her thank you cards by now. She was very proud to sign her own name. Below are some pictures of her celebrations in which she is wearing some of her new birthday outfits.

Birthday fun in Musgrave Park (Suncorp's Kids BBQ) in the city.

This was then followed by a little fairy tea party and disco.

The next morning the fun continued and the children cooled down in Olivia's new pool.

As promised in the last blog entry our front garden project continues - albeit slowly because of the heat and lack of time etc. We are really pleased with the stones, what do you think?

And finally we will leave with a photo of yet another native visitor to Chez Chissell........

This beautiful but noisy feathered chap is a Kookaburra and has the most amazing chatter which sounds like a cross between a Monkey and a laughing Hyena. Sorry about the picture quality but the snap was taken quickly through the sitting room window.

Take care everyone, good luck with your Chrimbo shopping and keep in touch with all your news. Thinking of you always, love Mr & Mrs C xxxx