Fabulous Weekend!

We have had the most wonderful weekend filled with such excitement for the kids (and Phillip and I really enjoyed ourselves too).

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to South Bank in the city where there was a Hot Wheels (cars) event. We parked at the railway station fairly near to our house and took the train into the city.



The Hot Wheels promo was fairly small, but the kids had an absolute ball.



There was one marquee where they could play with hot wheels toys -- the cars that change colour when sprayed with hot and cold water, and other tracks that could be put together. They have really wonderful systems that fit together and you can set them up so that one car goes part way along a track and then sets off the next car, which goes along and sets off the third one, and so on. A little challenging in a room full of children, but great fun nevertheless.





There was also this amazing limo there as part of the promotion. Amazing inside -- a fancy bar like look to it! Seriously flashy!





The kids got given cars, and the absolute bonus was that when the event ended at 2pm, the organisers didn't want to pack up anything so the children could take any cars and all the tracks and other bits and pieces that they were playing with. Well we came home with a whole lot of stuff. The spray set, as well as various other bits and pieces of track that fit together, and a couple of cars!

We wandered around South Bank a little, mainly while walking between to and from the railway station. The kids played in a wonderful play area and we spotted this funny sign, which was in a covered area that was about 3m by 2m in size!



One of the most wonderful things about South Bank, and I am so looking forward to taking my mom to see this, is this beautiful bougainvillea archway.



Then today, as a special birthday treat for Kai who turns five later this month, we went to the Princesses Disney on Ice show. Kai was absolutely star-struck! It really was beautiful. We were at the huge Brisbane Entertainment Centre -- great venue, easy to park, and just off the motorway -- and we were sitting almost at the back (in the cheapest seats!), but we could still see quite a lot and managed to get some okay pictures.



The skaters were wearing great costumes -- I especially liked the Ariel scene -- the octupuses and sea horses, and in the Beauty and the Beast scene, there were skaters dressed up as cutlery wrapped in serviettes! The dwarfs had really great facial expressions.





It was wonderful to see all the skating. The show featured various princesses -- Ariel, Aurora, Mulan, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, and there was a dragon that breathed fire.



There was a beautiful carriage that carried Cinderella, and at the end of the show Tinkerbell got into it and fireworks went off around her. What a way to end!

ANZAC Day

Yesterday was ANZAC Day -- one of the biggest holiday's celebrated in Australia. And lots for us to learn and find out about. Many shops are closed, while others open only at lunchtime (except for outlets like Starbucks Coffee which was doing a roaring trade in the city in the morning). According to the Australian War Memorial website, ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and the day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

Slade had an ANZAC Day ceremony at school on Friday, and Kai also learned about ANZAC Day, including doing a march around the school play area saluting children in the other classes! Slade got to make ANZAC biscuits -- a crunchie type of biscuit. Kai got given ANZAC biscuits at school. We also had some shop bought ones that come in special packaging.



April 25 is a special day for Australians as a day to remember soldiers who had died in war. The website states:
"In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soliders formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed."

ANZAC Day was officially named in 1916 and marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt.

All states observed some form of public holiday on ANZAC Day from 1927. In subsequent years the meaning of the day was broadened to include Australians killed in all military operations in which Australia has been involved.

Commemorative services are held at dawn -- the time of the original landing -- and later in the day marches are held.

The turnout at the march was quite amazing -- and with all the marching bands and other groups, it reminded me of the American marches that I saw when I was there. There was lots of flag waving, and children and adults alike enjoying the march. It was really moving watching the people marching -- there were representatives from all sorts of regiments and divisions, some elderly people walking, in wheelchairs, in taxis and on golf carts, and adults and children wearing medals that belonged to relatives.











We had gone into the city on the train -- it was fun for the kids, parking in the city is expensive and it saved having to drive around amongst the throngs of people. After the march we walked across the Brisbane River to South Bank which is a wonderful area that was established when the World Expo was held in Brisbane. It has a fantastic man-made swimming area for the kids -- with sand beaches, water sprays, and a pebbled river-like area that's also great for playing. Slade had such fun building a wall of stones across the river!







After bumping into one of Slade's good friends we stayed at South Bank a little longer than we had planned, but we eventually persuaded the kids to head back to the nearest station and get the train back out of the city. We had parked at a really convenient station about five or 10 minutes from our house so it was fortunately a quick drive back home. We were all exhausted, but really enjoyed the experience of our first ANZAC Day in Australia.