A onesie kind of day

It is school holidays at the moment, I run a vacation care program at Minischool we don't get many days at home.
The kids today were content to stay at home and chill out.
My only pre requisite to a day at home was to get through a mountain for laundry to be folded and put away as it was taking over our lounge room..... we almost got there.... and then we got a little silly.

It got sillier and sillier

Then after a few silly dress ups, their pyjamas got stuffed with clothes and they bumped each other on the trampoline with their stuffed bellies.


Then things got ridiculously silly when they all changed into their animal onesies to shove as many clothes, towels and pillows as they could into their onesies.

The trampoline was funny, going down our long skinny slide was even funnier when they become stuck!

It was a good fun sibling time... but the laundry pile?.... It's back to square one again.

A late afternoon at Ball Bay

It is winter school holidays here but we continue to work at the preschool with a vacation care program. My kids have been amazing helpers (most of the time) and rarely complain that they don't get school holidays off to do whatever they want on the island.
I think they actually prefer school holidays at Minischool than being at home as they can complete plenty of projects as well as play with friends and the younger pre-schoolers in our amazing gardens. Plus it is so close to the shops that they can walk there if they want to.

This afternoon we looked down at Ball Bay as we arrived home from preschool (we live up the cliff and look down onto this amazing bay) and all decided on the spot that we needed to boil the kettle to take a thermos of hot chocolate down there just like we used to do often a few years ago.

10 minutes later we were down at the bay for the last rays of the day.

No.3 child was at a friends house, so it was just me and the oldest 2 plus the dog, we searched for driftwood, the smallest hihi (periwinkle), walked around the bay & up to the waterfall, raced to the waves and back and earned our hot choccy's.

What a great way to end the working (which is really playing) day.

 

 

 

The Big Bash 2015

It was a perfect winters day on Saturday the 27^th of June to hold The Big Bash, an indoor cricket match game day to fundraise for the children of Norfolk Island Central school going on the year six tour in 2 months’ time.

The Norfolk Indoor Big Bash is the brain child of Jason Ellem who devised the concept for the year six tour fundraising group in previous years, it has been a popular event each year since at the Cheryl Tennis club.

With the green mats rolled out and the 6 teams kitted out  in their matching team colours, the games got underway. In true Indoor Cricket format there was 10 per side in each team including at least 2 females. There were plenty of ‘interesting’ calls from the umpires as well as from the hecklers up on the ‘randa. Fines were given for player ‘issues’ such as dummy spits, dropped catches and running team mates out etc. We got to see to see the interesting side of competitive sports, but mostly it was great fun and loads of laughs.

Col after watching all afternoon got injured on his first run with the Queenslanders and had to pass the bat to the captain.

The Cricket run of the day went as follows NSW (blue) beat Raiders (gold), Barbarians (white) beat Raiders  and Barbarians beat NSW. Kiwi (black) beat QLD (Maroon), Norfolk Island (green) beat QLD and Norfolk Island Beat Kiwi.

The only time you will find me on a Queensland team, because I am married to the Qld Captain! I tastefully chose hot pink instead of Maroon to wear (and a sneaky blue cap) ;)

Before the grand final between the Norfolk Island team and the Barbarians was held, there was now a break to grab some extra food (the steak sandwiches and toasties cooked up by the fundraising group were divine) and to hold the ‘auction’.

Auction items were organised by the year six parents and included some very yummy coconut pies, boxes of vegies, NSW and Canberra Raiders signed NRL jerseys and hats, Cricket gear signed by Alfie Langer and a Framed & signed classic wallabies jersey which fetched top dollar of the night. The Queensland Captain had to be reminded to stop bidding against himself, but he got the pies he wanted.

After the Auction, play resumed at sunset for the BIG BASH grand final under the lights. This nail biting match was between team Norfolk Island and the Barbarians. The Barbarians eventually claimed a grand final victory.

It was a fabulous day that raised over $2000 for the children going on tour to Sydney, Canberra and Uluru. ($1045 during the auction alone. Thanks to everyone who made a bid or two.)

Extra special thanks from the 2015 Year six tour fundraising group to The Cheryl Tennis club for hosting the event, Jason Ellem for all your pre-work to allow smooth running during the day, The gas centre for your constant support, those who donated prizes to the auction and for the prize winning team. And thanks to all the players and your families who came, enjoyed, ate and drank merrily while cheering on the other teams.

Indoor Cricket on Norfolk Island. We don’t need a fancy schmancy purpose built centre. We have a community. When this community gets together for a common purpose such as fundraising for people who need it, this community shines!

Skits and Bits 2015

Written by my friend Rose Evans whose concept skits and bits was when we first performed it 4 years ago (see original post of skits and bits#1 here)  
 Rose brought it all together again this time. With thanks for sharing.

SKITS & BITS HITS THE SPOT!

Well if you missed the NATS production “Skits & Bits” last week you missed out on a night full of fun entertainment and bucket loads of laughs. This show could not have come at a better time to the Norfolk Island community. The main feedback from the audience was that they really needed a good laugh and “Skits & Bits” surely delivered more than bargained for.

The evening began with an audience intrusion from “Mrs Brown” who was played by none other than Hadyn (Teddy) Evans. And if you think seeing Teddy in a dress and wig was funny enough, you should have heard the jokes coming out of his fecken mouth!

Then the show began with those two colourful favourites “Kylie & Sharon” played by Bron South and Rose Evans. We were a bit disappointed when they didn’t actually do a tight rope walking act but were delighted to have them MC the whole night. Their corny jokes, bright wigs and rainbow tutus kept us giggling in between all the fun acts.

The “Red Hot Mummas” danced On The Floor and they were hot, hot, hot! Cristina McRitchie, Shelley Mitchell, Roberta Simpson Leha, Juliette Grant, Louci Reynolds, Michelle Hayes and Lisa Richards showed us how much fun it can be to dance (even if you are a Mum).
See red hot mama's rehearsal video here

Monica Anderson sang a great parody of “Memory” although after hearing about her memory problems I am sure she most likely doesn’t remember it.

Then there was a silent skit called “Cinema Dilemma” with Juliette Grant, Ernie Christian, Brandt McRitchie, Roberta Simpson Leha, Simon Brown and Shelley Mitchell. They didn’t need to say one word either because their actions and reactions cleverly entertained us.

see cinema dilemma video here

 

Next up was Ryan Dixon… as you have never seen him before. Ryan played one hell of a husband with some great jokes - but his song “Probly” was a huge hit and he really did write it for his lovely wife.

A skit called “Bedfellows” starred Tony Wilkinson as the husband who has everything, Cristina McRitchie played his wife who never complains and Rebel Greenwood played his saucy girlfriend. Even without his BMW he was still a very lucky man!

 

We were then made to believe that Brandt McRitchie and Hadyn (Teddy) Evans were actually going to play a piano duet. Little did we know that the “Piano Pals” had been practicing so much they were able to give us a “firm” performance!

See Piano Pals sidestage video here, listen to audiences reactions

“Addiction” was the name of the next skit which involved a support group for bubble wrap popping addicts. Yes it was as crazy as it sounds but this light-hearted entertainment kept up giggling. Monica Anderson played the group leader with Louci Reynolds, Sam Ford, Jeht Nobbs, Ian Anderson, Toppy Wilkinson, Rebel Greenwood and Shelley Mitchell as the addicts, and a Cameo appearance by Matt King as Security.

“The Computer Guy” was a skit cleverly written in the style of Abbott and Costello’s Who’s on First Base skit. Experienced thespians Ryan Dixon & Hadyn (Teddy) Evans kept us laughing at the clever dialogue about computers and software confusions.

The theatre erupted with laughter before the next act even began. The Creaky Ol Convicts Mal Tarrant, Brandt McRitchie, Gary Dowling & Russell Lowry were dressed in black lycra, saucepans and serving spoons to perform the “Chicken Pot Dance”. You had to see it to believe it… enough said!

Watch the chicken pot dance sidestage video here, listen to the audiences reactions.

The next skit “Open and Shut Marriage” showed us just how crazy an open marriage could be with Juliette Grant and Simon Brown playing the lovable married couple with a very open relationship. Simon now wishes he had a secretary like the one in the skit.

The last act for the evening was “Bohememum Rhapsody” in which Sam Ford had a Cameo appearance but Cristina McRitchie, Shelley Mitchell and Rose Evans rocked the stage with a parody all about the hardships that Mums deal with on a day to day basis. This song invoked laughter and even a few tears and was a great way to finish the night!!

 Rockin' on girls!

 Watch our version of Bohememum Rhapsody here

Thanks also go to the Stage Crew… Stage Manager Dinty Wilson, Stage Hand Jilly Doidge, and Lighting & Sound Technician Ben Hayes. And thanks to Front of House Crew… Rowena Massicks, Dick Massicks, Geoff Parslow, Kath King, Margaret Christian, Yvonne Robinson, Louci Reynolds, Ian Anderson & Monica Anderson.

Thanks NATS for entertaining us and thanks to all the performers who did such a great job enabling us to laugh so much. We are all looking forward to the next SKITS & BITS in 2016.

Audience comments:

" my face hurt from laughing, thankyou x"

 

"VERY well done to all involved!! Thankyou"... smile emoticon

 

 "Great show, well done to all involved, never stopped laughing!!!!"

 

"Yes encore please - by popular demand!"

 

"I just saw the hilarious Skits N Bits show last night - still laughing over some of the skits..."

"Another fantastic production by NATS. Wael dun yorlyi en thaenks f' the larfs x"

 

And THAT is the end!