The Latest Exploits of the Chissell Family

Greetings from sunny Brisbane folks. We hope you and your wonderful families had a good Easter and are now looking forward to your summer hols. Phil’s mum Penny flew out to stay with us over the break and so lots of fun and laughter ensued.
  
 
Having a ball exploring beautiful Byron Bay
     
The delightful Coochiemudlo Island.

  
Penny getting her craft on with Olivia.
  
Ryan climbing into a giant cooking pot full of cushion veggies and Conor & Olivia having fun with the Architectural blocks in the state library.
  
  
 Having a great time at GOMA in Brisbane.
    

The exhibition at The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) was fabulous and such great fun. The Chisslets really enjoyed the hands on exhibits like the Lego table above. Such a shame Ryan was too little to go on the spiral clear slide in the centre of the exhibition, but at least we avoided the long queues too. We finished of this lovely day with with some yummy seafood nosh at the Greek Taverna on the South Bank.

  

Ryan’s Easter Bonnet Parade in the newly opened school hall.

The Easter hunt and choc chomping was a hit with the Chisslets again. So we headed for stroll around Point Halloran to burn of our guilty over indulgence (and make room for some more).

   

 Olivia looking very sophisticated in her mums sunnies!

The next day we met up with our dear friends Hazel & Steve for a fab Easter BBQ.
 
Little Molly and her proud mum Hazel.
  
The Chisslets playing with little Molly and Cooper

 
You can never have too much fun and sparkle eh Phil?
  

The Chisslets were thrilled that Granny was able to see them proudly march at the 2011 Cleveland ANZAC Parade.

      

As any visitor to Chez Chissell knows, there is never a moment to relax (until the Chisslets are in bed of course ).

   It is great that Granny is as mad about sport as the Chisslets

All too soon though, it was time to say goodbye followed by lots of hugging and tears. Thank you for making our Easter break so special Penny, we love and miss you very much. Come back and see us again very soon. xxx

 

Sad farewells at Brisbane Airport.

May arrived along with another birthday, ‘Mothers Day’ and a lovely BBQ with friends. Thank you for all the lovely cards and pressies folks, I am very lucky to have such caring friends and family xxx.

     

   Dave & Barbara cooked an impressive feast and the children had a ball playing sports in the huge garden. The big boys retired to the garden to join in the fun and left the ladies to gossip  and drink the evening away hic! 

The Australian winter has begun in earnest and Brisbane Council opened the annual winter festival with a temporary open air ice rink in King George Square. The Chisslets loved the pseudo alpine atmosphere. Marquees filled the perimeter of the rink with merchants plying various Bavarian delights.

      We were all thrilled to see the ‘Pink Lady’ at the QLD Maritime Museum.  This is the boat sailed by Queensland teenager Jessica Watson, to  become the youngest person ever to sail solo & unassisted around the world.

Ryan attended his first ever disco recently with his big sister and brother. The video footage is fabulous with all three Chisslets holding their own tripping the light fantastic. The event was a fundraiser for the district Scouts pack and was very well put together. It really was hard to sit and supervise and not get up and shake my booty too

  

 Olivia won a prize for dancing but was less than impressed with it (a bottle of Matey bubble bath!).  The hot dogs and popcorn went down well though.

The last day of term brought the all the fun of Cross Country at the school. Sadly Conor is recovering from flu and so couldn’t participate. But Phil was able to take the day off and watch Olivia and Ryan race.

    

      They both did so well and enjoyed themselves immensely.

Our little man turned 5yrs on the 26th June and we celebrated living in Australia for 4 years! Where have all the years gone folks?

         Ryan Elton John has developed a real taste for music and performing.  I cannot think where he gets that from…… He entertained us as we danced the night away (in between telephone calls from Blighty). Thank you to everyone who sent him such lovely gifts and cards. He is a very lucky boy indeed.

We are absolutely thrilled that our next lot of visitors will be my mum Breda and two of my lovely nieces Orla and Alanna, who will be jetting over in August - yahoo!

So what has been happening with you folks? Have you been/are going on your holidays etc. Keep sending those fab messages, emails and photographs, they are truly valued.

Best wishes to you all for a sizzling summer and do not forget to slip, slap and slop the sun block (eh Paul ).

With Love, Affection and Respect,

Amanda & Phil xxx