Karl and Bonnies Wellington Adventures 2010
Xmas Greetings to you all
As always we’ve had a busy year! We started the year reflecting on our future as a family and decided a move north was best for us – The Queenstown market was becoming too small for Karl to stay in business on his own and so we decided to make a change and move to Wellywood.
This meant that Karl was in job, house, and daycare hunting in Wellington for 5 weeks while I stayed home with the girls and packed up the house ( fun times). We managed to get it all done with some help from Bonnie’s mother Pearl and sister Chelsea who pretty much moved in for the final couple of weeks.
Karl made it home for Lilly-Anne’s 1st birthday in February which was a small picnic celebration with friends and a cake at home with family. Lilly Anne had started walking around Christmas time which as most of you already know, makes life very interesting (and busy)!
Since Lilly-Anne has become fully mobile Molly and Lilly-Anne have become best buddies spending all their time together causing mischief :0).
The move up to Wellington itself was a real adventure, with 2 cars a truck and trailer. Bonnie’s sister and the girls were in one car, while Pearl had the trailer and as much of the overflow house items as they could stuff into the car, and Karl drove the big moving truck. The whole trip took 2 days and ended with a damaged trailer and car :0( . Never leave 3 women in charge of turning around in a car with trailer attached….
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We made it Wellington in one piece though and moved into a house in Karaka bays. On first sight the house was a dream, large enough for us all, beautiful views, new carpets, the works.
Pearl and Chelsea had made the move with us and were going to stay with us until they found their way in the windy city, which meant that Karl was living with 5 females …
We celebrated Karl’s 40th birthday in 70’s style! The girls dressed up Karl in style in a big pink tie, a hoola skirt and sparkly glasses, the dining room became the dance floor and everyone danced away the night :0)
Within 3 months we could not wait to leave, the house was cold, damp, mould infested and had rats brave enough to come into the house at night. Our poor cat could not keep up.
Pearl and Chelsea moved to a place in Lyall bay and we found a sunny spot 6 minutes away in Island Bay, we still have a great view which overlooks the sea and over to the South Island, in a smaller house with plenty of sun and a heat pump for winter :0)
Karl has continued working with his Web Marketing skills to new clients in Wellington and picked up IT consultancy work with Inland Revenue for 5 weeks in May and then placed a good contract with the Ministry of Economic Development as a Business Analyst with Business.Govt.nz which he is really enjoying – the focus of the portal is improving business for Small to Medium Enterprise Business in NZ.
Bonnie found a new job working for another medical recruitment agency – Mercury Consulting Group. Whiel not as challenging or fun as her role with Med Recruit in Queenstown it keeps her busy.
On August 6th Molly turned a big 3 years old! We had party at her creche with all her friends. Pearl and Bonnie made a 2 layer chocolate cake covered in lollies. Every child in the room had a drool on. Molly ever protective, did not leave the cakes side 🙂 Bonnie unfortunately had to apologise to every parent as they picked up their sugar crazed child….
Nana Marie and Poppa Jay came down at the end of August for a visit, they stayed with Clare and Marco for the first week and with us on the second week. We had a birthday celebration on their last day for Marie’s birthday. Molly helped made the cake and it was delicious.
In September Molly, Lilly-Anne, Bonnie and her mother had to fly out last minute to Canada to see my 90 year old uncle who had a major heart attack. The doctors feared the worst and they were told it would be best to come straight away. So $350 for emergency passports and 4 last minute airfares, they were on our way.
The girls had a wonderful time sleeping on the airplane and Bonnie had to admit were better behaved than she ever could have imagined them to be. They loved meeting my uncle and my brother David in Montreal for the first time. It was the end of summer and we had beautiful weather.
The girls got to play with the friendly squirrels who thought nothing of eating out of your hand. We also took time to go Park Safari which is an outdoor safari style zoo where you drive through and the animals come to your car for feeding. The girls loved the zebras, bulls and deer. We walked through monkeys and played in the oversize playground at the end. Bonnie’s uncle survived his ordeal and is now living in care home and doing well.
Now that the weather is getting nicer we’ve all enjoyed exploring the beaches, Karl is surfing regularly and we spend many afternoons /evenings with a picnic listening the crash of the waves. Both Bonnie and Karl keep up regular practice in Ashtanga Yoga.
We have really enjoyed how the girls have grown so much this year and become the best of friends. Lilly-Anne loves to wear only skirts and things that are pretty, how Molly talks so grown up and non stop and she is learning to read her letters and write. The quirky side of Lilly’s personality etc..
Molly is starting swimming lessons in the new year and we are planning a pony party for Lilly-Anne’s upcoming birthday.
The Wellington zoo, Te Papa museum and Zelandia Nature reserve are other favourites for the girls. Molly the scientist loves looking at insects through the microscope and playing games on the computers, while Lilly just loves running wild !
Bonnie recently completed a long time goal of hers. She is now certified as a qualified yoga teacher with the Knoff School of yoga in Cairns. Every few years Nicky Knoff comes to Wellington to a 4 weeks intensive training program and Bonnie was lucky enough to be accepted in November. It was a hard month for her and she appreciated the support from Karl and Pearl who took over the running of the house and the girls.
All she could do was study and bathe in anti-flamme for her sore muscles! Bonnie starts officially teaching in January, for now she is practicing on whoever will let her :0)
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Love from Karl, Bonnie, Molly and Lilly-Anne Menzies
XXX