CHLOE'S GRADUATION....

o so proud of our girl...

This was our child who always said she was never going to go to Uni.  The child who struggled at school and had to work pretty hard to attain the good results that she did.  However she was always good with her Graphics and in Year 11 took out the Graphics academic award..

So loved this subject and in Year 12 did some work experience in a civil engineering company.  They were so impressed with her work that at the end of the first day there they asked her if she would be interested in a job when she finished her schooling.   

Unfortunately just as she finished school the financial crash of 2008 took place and they were not able to put new staff on.  In fact they had to put some staff off as well.  The manager of the company though continued to keep in touch with her on a regular basis reiterating that he was still very interested in putting her on at the first chance he got.

Meanwhile she still had her part time job at Woolies and they were giving her plenty of hours so we told her that as long as she was getting over 25 hours a week she could wait it out until her dream job was available.  Because we lived so close to the Woolies store, she always had plenty of work, most weeks 40 hours or more, because if someone couldn't make their shift, they would ring Chloe...

By September, the Civil Engineering company could offer her 20 hours a week, and they were really very flexible, allowing Chloe to decide if she wanted to work mornings or afternoons.  She chose the mornings so that she could still do some Woolies hours in the afternoon to supplement her income until she could work full time at the Engineering company.

A week after landing her job at Cardno, she had a fall and broken her ankle quite badly, so was unable to work at Woolies again until it healed three months later.  The job at Cardno was an answer to prayer as she was able to still do this work as she was seated at a desk.  Also having to move around everywhere on crutches was hard work and tired her out quickly, so it worked well that she only had 20 hours a week and was only working in the morning, because most afternoons she needed to come home and have a rest or nap.

By the time her foot had healed they were able to offer her full time work and the rest is history.  She has done really well at her chosen profession and had lots of experience working in lots of different settings.  She was seconded to work in different offices including Sydney where she worked for 7 months, Townsville,  Brisbane, Hervey Bay etc...

Enough with the background detail,  but by the time she met her future husband, she was a civil designer without a degree which means she wasn't really getting paid for the work she was doing and being charged out at.  Her then boyfriend, encouraged her to go to Uni to get her degree as a Civil Designer, so she enrolled and the rest is history.  She started her studies back in 2015 and finally graduated in 2022.  

I also remember that when Pete graduated she wanted to wear his cap and gown and hold his certificate because she reckoned that it would be the only photo we would ever get of her in a graduation gown and cap.  Little did she realize that her day would come when she would rightfully be photographed in her own cap and gown having done the work and obtaining her own degree.  So so Proud of all your hard work Chloe.

The graduation ceremony was being help up in Toowoomba at the Empire Theatre right in the middle of town, so it was an early morning for us as we had to be on the road a little after 6.30am as we needed to give ourselves a good two hours to make the drive and we needed to be there an hour earlier than the graduation for Chloe to pick up her cap and gown and have the official photos taken.

Of course we took loads and loads of photos...

14 Years ago, our beautiful young daughter donned her brother's cap and held his certificate and joked with us that we should get a photo of her as this would be the only time she would get a photo like this...

 

 Today, she gets to wear her own cap and gown and hold her own degree. She has dreamed big dreams and absolutely worked her butt off, studying whilst working full time and today is acknowledged for all of her hard work. So so proud of you Chloe.

Proud photos with her husband who has supported her through this long journey.  In fact the whole of their married life so far he has supported her every step of the way...

And of course some proud photos of us her parents..

AFter we took the photos we wanted with our phones and camera it was time for Chloe to line up and have her portraits done with the official graduation photographers...

 Once these photos got taken, Chloe had to leave us and go and sit with the graduating students whilst, Steve, Dan and I had to go find our places in the auditorium.

Chloe seated ready to be called out to receive her degree.  

This session of graduation ceremonies were the first big ceremonies held since Covid.  I must say having been involved in many many USQ graduation ceremonies,  I was really disappointed in this one today.  The students did not receive their graduation certificates as part of the ceremony.  Instead they were given a USQ tube to store it in once it was posted out to them.  There were no handshakes by the Chancellor which was very disappointing.   It was disappointing as the graduates just walked up onto the stage stood about a metre away from the Chancellor and then just marched off the stage..

Chloe standing next to the University Chancellor

After the ceremony, they had a morning tea for all the graduates and their families in the hall next door, and again because of Covid we were all issued with our own little morning tea boxes with contained her food.  

We did get a bit of a surprise by running in to long time friends, Allan and Shelley Moss,   Their son TJ was also graduating today.  We haven't seen them for years so it was a very pleasant surprise.  It was nice to find out that they are also relocating to the Sunshine Coast, so it will mean that we will get to catch up with them a little more often in the future...

 

After our morning tea, Chloe wanted to grab some fun photos outside in the garden.  Some Legally Blonde graduation photos as well as some family photos..

Chloe and Dan

A kiss from her Dad...

A cuddle from her husband

Yah - a graduate.... How very proud we are of you sweetheart...

A little bit of Elle...

A cuddle from Mum

After taking a heap of out door photos, it was time to head back to our car as our parking time was almost up.   Still we didn't want to end the day without celebrating Chloe so we decided to go out for lunch to the Chocolate place out at Highfields.  I had visited here on one of my Uni trips when I worked for the Uni and it was good then, and we had also heard since that it was still a pretty popular spot.  

It was a good 15 minute drive across town to the place...

 

The Chocolate Cottage Cafe is a licensed cafe with great wholesome food, coffee and cakes and the most beauitful handmade chocolates.  It is also a beautiful gift shop with a range of different sorts of giftware as well as local products.    It is set in a beautiful location where you can relax on their beautiful green lawn, sit under the  flowering wisteria arbors where you get to enjoy the amazing views across the escarpement.

The Chocolate Cottage and Cafe began back in April of 1997 from lifelong dreams of Kaye who wanted to start a chocolate shope and teahouse and her husband Colin owning his own restaurant.  Their idea was to create a haven from the stresses of the outside world.  They restored the original Highfields school house and it is just perfect. 

 

Which much hard work, producing all the chocolates in house, the cafe now seats 230 and serves meals 6 days a week from 8am in the morning until 5pm.  Over the years six other cottage businesses have been set up to add to the many things you can explore there..

 

The cafe was busy.  We were lucky to get a table.  We were seated near the back of the cafe near their fireplace which was really appreciated by us as the day was quite cold.

Lovely lit fire kept us warm...

Dan, Chloe and Steve checking the menu..

Out for lunch to celebrate Chloe's graduation...

Lunch menu...

 

 We loved the interior, it was bright and colourful with their lovely hand-painted chairs, and their quirky giftware.  Their handmade chocolates looked absolutely amazing..

Amazing hand made chocolates..

 

Amazing hand made chocolates...

 

 

Beautiful homemade deserts..

Enjoying a beautiful meal celebrating Chloe's graduation...

Amazing hot chocolate drink..

Dan & Chloe's lunch

Steve and I shared this amazing salad..

I enjoyed a cold drink...

Steve and I shared with amazing pancake stack...

Dan and Chloe shared the tart...

Dan enjoyed a coffee...

Just some of the quirky table settings in the cafe.  So bright and colourful. 

Colourful chairs

 I am not a souvenir collector these days.  I doithoutn't need more things to dust and clean in my house.  Instead I chose to take Photos of the things I like and then I can go back and look over the photos and appreciated their beauty without ever having to worry about the upkeep of such gifts...

These cute dogs

Owl plant holder

These clocks were really quite quirky..

Lots of games for kids

More lovely plant holders

Local produce

Love these funky clocks...

By 2.30pm it was time for us to head home.  We didn't want to arrive back in Brisbane during peak hour traffic so we couldn't afford to leave much later otherwise we would hit the traffic...

Our day didn't end here... Chloe arrived home to find a beautiful boquet of flowers from her brother Peter and his wife Maria congratulating her on her graduation.  It was a very unexpected surprise and Chloe was very touched that they would do this for her...

Chloe with her lovely bunch of flowers from Pete and Maria

Spoilt with flowers...

Steve decided to spoil her and cook her favourite meal for dinner as a further celebrations, so we enjoyed a lovely feed of curried prawns...

Lovely meal of Curried prawns for dinner

To finish off the day, we enjoyed a game of "5 Crowns"after dinner.  Chloe was making the most of her special day and her graduation cap stayed on all evening...

Playing "5 Crowns".

So so proud of you our darling girl..

It's been a very full on day but one we will remember always... So so proud of you our darling girl.  You have worked incredibly hard over the last 5 years and today we got to celebrate that...

Love you to the moon and back...