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Greetings folks, we hope you and your loved ones are happy and well, wherever you are across the globe. We are heading into my favourite time of year in Australia, with four months of fun and sun to look forward to before the New Year begins. In fact, we have experienced the driest winter in Oz on record, which bodes well for a great spring and summer.
I hope you all had a super duper break over the summer season and the start of the new academic year went smoothly for all your loved ones. Congratulations to all the big boys and girls who started school/college for the first time too.
So much has happened since my last blog update and I know I keep saying this, but the years seem to whizz by quicker than ever!
Ryan turned 7 in June and his birthday coincided with the end of term 2 school break. As part of his birthday celebrations he chose to visit his favourite Theme Parks on the Gold Coast and invite some special friends to his birthday party.
A view of Surfers Paradise in the background.
This Polar Bear recently gave birth to a cub but it was in the nursery during our visit to Sea World.
Olivia helping Ryan to see into the Shark tank
Above; more snapshots of Movie World, Sea World and Wet ‘n’ Wild
Birthday party fun!
We attended the EKKA Show in the city this year which is an annual event where ‘Bush Australians’ descend into Brisbane to showcase produce, live stock and all things agriculture. There is also a fabulous foodie hall where Phil I cruised around sampling unique foods (curries, cheeses, chutneys, breads and offerings from the various vineyards across Queensland). It is a foodie and drinkie! heaven.
Sideshow Alley (rides) was a hit with the Chisslets too and they each got to choose a ‘Show Bag’ full of treats.
Peppa Pig put on a show and then we visited the animal petting zone.
How clever is the above exhibit in the agricultural education zone?
Sideshow Alley, Dagwood Dogs and Strawberry Ice Cream!
There was Show Jumping in the Pavilion and a scaled model of the Love Boat as featured in the eighties T.V. show in the Exhibition Hall. The actor who played the Captain on the actual show autographed the model as shown near Livvy’s head.
Apparently we had just missed the Broncos meet and greet but Conor posed with a pic of them for posterity and was given a poster for his bedroom.
Ryan and Olivia got creative with the Arrow Energy PR team who are one of the featured sponsors of the Broncos NRL footy team.
Show bag heaven and time to head home tired but very happy
Springtime also means Scout Camp time and Conor’s first camp of the season was ‘Night Hawk’ at Pittsworth on the Toowoomba Ranges. Scout Leader Chil dropped off a car load of Scouts with Conor to the venue and then explored Toowoomba and the surrounding area with Olivia and Ryan and myself on the return journey.
The Chisslets celebrated the end of the annual ‘REDIT’ (reading competition) in costume as usual. This year, Sci-Fi characters were encouraged and proved to a welcome addition to the usual array of book character costumes. The creativity of students at the school never ceases to amaze me.
Conor as Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)
Olivia as The Silence (Dr Who baddie)
Ryan as a Cyberman (another Dr Who favourite)
The Von-Chisslets have been performing all over the term at various venues and events. I am so proud of their performance achievements this term.
Above, Ryan performing at the local shopping centre for Seniors Week and at a Chatter Matters event to encourage pre-schoolers to read. Below he is performing for the ‘Arts Alive’ showcase event at school.
The children had to be back at school early to prepare for the Arts Alive Showcase that evening and they had a picnic at the local beach before changing into their respective outfits. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and a great way to quell any last minute nerves.
Olivia performed with the Junior Band and sang a traditional Aboriginal song with her class. She sang and danced with Hot Vibes twice and performed with the ‘Year 4’ ensemble with her bestie Oliver
Conor singing Price Tag and Hall of Fame with ‘Hot Vibes’
The Chisslets have had a really great year so far and have earned a fair number of ‘Certificates of Merit’ for reading, maths, music, languages (French and Mandarin) and art.
Phil and the Chisslets gave a super duper Mother’s Day gift of tickets to see the brand new Aussie production of Grease. We sang aloud and jiggle bopped in our seats along with the cast.
Phil has been busy as usual. He achieved a new personal best time in the Gold Coast Half Marathon and after travelling to Melbourne and New Zealand for work, he managed to achieve his second best time at the annual Bridge to Brisbane event. He also got to see the Lions beat the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium
Despite working long hours, Phil and his colleague Alan managed to take these awesome photographs of Auckland
Out and about in Down town Auckland 
The trendy Viaduct harbour district and Ferry Building which is located near the Wharves and the Maritime Museum.
Above is the rather striking Britomart Transfer Centre which was formerly a post office. Yes, those are actual plants growing high up on the wall! It is situated at the foot of Queen Street and is where all the beautiful people like to shop, wine and dine.
Viaduct Harbour, Princes Wharf and Queens Wharf from the top floor of the office building where Phil was working.
It was Father’s Day in Oz recently and we all had fun at Swanbank and rode on a steam train. The rail route is over a hundred years old and was used to transport workers to work in the various mines. The Chisslets were invited to join the engineers in the engine cabin and Conor was given the opportunity to shovel some coal into the furnace. The experience reminded us of one of our favourite movies ‘The Polar Express’ and we hoped the waiters would come dancing and prancing through the carriage bearing cups of chocolate naughtiness. It was truly a lovely family escapade with a bit of science and history thrown in.
The Chisslets finished the current school term with the usual round of Sports Carnivals and wind down fun. Below are some snaps of Ryan competing in the Junior section. His expressions throughout the day was hilarious and I am so thrilled to have caught him in action on video too.
Ryan lining up on the start line
And he shoots off apace followed by a thrilling run in the Relay race!
Long jump fun; you can tell by his expression how committed he is ….
The Shot Put and Flying Chicken Event (bang on target in the video – who knew?)!
The Tug of War to finish!
The Chisslets continue to have a great time with Scouts and earning plenty of badges between them. In fact, Conor has just been promoted to Patrol Leader and he is currently away at a special camp to support disabled youths experience the joy of camping and scouting.
Olivia attended a Leadership Course last month and she is on track to become a Seconder in Cub Scouts. We all attended the ‘Western’ event at Olivia’s Cub Scout night recently and had a good laugh trying to lasso mock horses, and making rope whips etc. It was very funny doing these activities in the semi dark and Olivia was thrilled that mum and dad joined in with the fun.
Ryan earned his Adventure Badge recently. He is a great climber and enjoyed the opportunity to go rock climbing at the annual Joey Jaunt event in Samford and also at the Indoor Sports Centre in Loganholme.
He clearly has great ambitions to follow in his big brother’s footsteps
I recently attended the P and C annual conference, which was held in Brisbane this year. It was great to get the opportunity to reconnect with some like-minded and switched-on people. We were invited to a cocktail evening at the newly refurbished City Hall and had a private tour of the Brisbane Museum. The key note speaker was high performance Sports and Motivational Psychologist, Lisa McInnes-Smith, and she was very engaging. She offered us catchy pearls of wisdom and chocolate. You can catch her in action here: http://lisaspeaks.com/videos
Above, Dr Jim Watterstone the Regional Director General of Education QLD and Hilary Backus the State President of High School Principals.
Our newly refurbished City Hall in King George Square, Brisbane.
Champagne with the awesome Met East Gang inside City Hall!
Supper and more bubbles at the Groove Train with Leah, Liz B, Liz V and Liz K
The River of Light Southbank, part of the Brisbane Spring Festival
Well folks, that is all our news for now. We are very excited that Tim and Paul will be flying over to stay with us shortly. Olivia will be celebrating her 10th birthday in October and Halloween fun will be gathering apace. Supanova and the Ashes are coming in November followed by preparations for the silly season.
Keep sending us your newsy messages and gorgeous pictures as we value them greatly. Wishing you all a pleasant Autumn and we will of course send you some Aussie sunshine, upon request.
Lots of love, respect and much affection from across the miles,
