Greetings from Queenstown!
This year has been a growing and learning experienced around parenthood for Bonnie, Karl and Molly. It has certainly had its challenges. At times stressful but at the same time a fun, loving experience that has been very rewarding as a family.

We really enjoy living in this beautiful corner of the earth and are very grateful as it has been really helpful for us to unwind and “stop and smell the flowers” when life seemed to get too busy.

Last Christmas we spent with the family in Rotorua, having Mum & Dad, Clare & Joshua, Kevin, Teresa, Ella and Amelia and Alex and Thomas altogether was a great time. We did a trip to Auckland to see Alex and Thomas off to France, and introduced Molly to a a few of the Lynch rellies who were great to catch up with.
We returned to Rotorua for as fairly relaxed New Years with the family.

Bonnie started a new job mid January at a medical recruitment agency called MedRecruit which is a up in coming company that she has really enjoyed working with. They have a great team atmosphere and held monthly challenges for the best staff member which has been great for the prizes as Bonnie won a few 🙂

Molly started daycare part time at ABC Daycare in January as well. This has been a great place for her to learn and interact with other children and we have really noticed how she loves being a social butterfly with all her classmates and she definitely has Karl’s competitive streak!

In February we drove up to Mt Cook to meet Karl’s parents – its a spectacular place to visit if you haven’t been there – right amongst the huge Glaciers which you can walk right up to. We also went on up to Christchurch to meet up with Pearl and Bonnie’s sister Chelsea for a long weekend.

In March Karl did the Mount Alfred MTB challenge , which is labelled “the most scenic mountain bike race in the World” – this takes place around Mount Alfred in Glenorchy each year – also famous as a Lord of the Rings location. He didn’t win but he had a great time and came back really muddy. He is looking forward to doing it again this year.

In June we made a special trip down to Dunedin for the grand opening of Bookworm – a second hand book store in Mosgiel (www.bookworm.net.nz) that Pearl Alexander owns (Bonnie’s mother) which was a great affair, so from now on everyone this is where need to look for your books :0)

Molly has come along in leaps and bounds this year – she started walking at 10 months, saying her first words other than mama, dada and water at 12 months. She likes to be the “Queen Bee” which is great entertainment for us, insisting she feeds herself, showing off her hair, and loves the slide!

Karl was able to get a few days snowboarding for the snow season – grateful that Coronet Peak is only 15 minutes drive up the hill! A few good powder runs were had with some epic days in August. His eyes have been pretty settled this year which is good news – no operations and not being affected by exercise has been a bonus! View Molly’s videos for 2008

We are expecting another little miracle in February and are very excited! We promise to keep everyone updated with pictures when bubbs arrives.

Merry Xmas from Karl, Bonnie, Molly (17 months) and Bubs (++)

Related Images: