January-April 2012 Here are beginnings of the new year... Dear Friends,

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "January-April 2012 Here are beginnings of the new year... Dear Friends,"

Hollie McGee
5 years ago
Views:

1 Dear Friends, Here are new photos and stories from our end. Considering the first few months, this is promising to be another exciting year Enjoy the photos as we have less and less time to write stories we believe many of you will understand us Just in case you wonder who Adriana looks like, I have included a photo from 30+ years ago

2 Trip to the Southern Alps with Enrique New Year 2012 started with a family trip to the Southern Alps to show Papacito Enrique more beauty of the South Island New Zealand. On our way to Wanaka (and on the way back ), we stopped in the town of Roxbourgh to pick cherries. Did we ever pick (and eat) enough cherries! Wanaka offered lots of summer fun for all ages

3 Playgrounds were not missing either Enrique also went for a day trip to Queenstown, and we took him to the nearby Lake Hawea with a phoenomenal combination of tourquise blue water and surrounding mountains. So Papacito Enrique experienced the summer magic of Central Otago before flying back into the Canadian winter a few days later. At least we warmed him up a bit!

4 We continued to hike and bike in the area in the following months We enjoyed the bike to Otago Pyramics, on Otago Peninsula (to Tairoa Head) and to the village of Aramoana on the other side of the Otago harbour. Adriana had lots of fun

5 We also explored Taieri plains our nearby zoo with tons of domestic animals. Philip and Adriana also went also went on a biking adventure alone in this area. Philip has a great helper for fixing a flat tire on a bike on that ride and had to search for tools in nearby tall grass A few more biking adventures

6 Walks in the area: Dunedin s St Claire Beach on the open Pacific Ocean

7 Macandrew Bay our favourite walking destination (and now also playground destination) along Otago harbour

8 And a few more walks in the area and views from our neighbourhoods And some (unplanned) hiking adventures Oh, no, Edmontonians, it did not snow in Dunedin at the end of the summer. We do not have such adverse weather conditions. It was long enough summer storm with hail just to show Adriana how it looks like when the ground turns white

9 And new beaches within 30 min drive from our home that we finally found the time to explore (Long Beach, Waihola Beach, Warrington Beach)

10 Hiking and biking on the Otago Peninsula This summer we joined again Peninsula Challenge event - Philip mountain biking 40+ km and I hiking 15 km. Even though we have already seen these views, the beauty of nature along the way was simply amazing

11 A few more fantastic views from this hike/bike ride January-April 2012

And participants after crossing the finish

his personal biking records and maintained

12 And participants after crossing the finish line. Philip managed to beat another of his personal biking records and maintained the title of Speedy legs among his biking friends. Traditionaly, we celebrated this event with pizza party at David and Wendy s. A few days later, Philip again visited my research laboratory and performed a fitness test unbelievable 30% improvement compared to already great results last year at that time! At least someone in our family is in a good shape (and bringing up our average)!

13 Get-togethers with our Spanish-speaking friends January-April 2012

14 And a few more different get-togethers with dear people from near and far away places, birthday celebrations

15 A few planned and unplanned meetings (It seems that we finally know a few people in our little town it was about time too (after 3.5 years) ).

16 And get-togethers with our little friends most of the time on playgrounds

17 Here area a few action photos of our little darling January-April 2012

18 And a bit more action January-April 2012

19 Adriana loves daddy s bicycles (more correctly: spinning pedals) and mommy s shoes And she likes swimming (or, more correctly, jumping into the swimming pool) By now she learned to say bike, wheel, running shoes, socks (all in Croatian ) - all most important words in getting ready for action

20 And unavoidable beach fun And other joys of life But nothing happens without a left thumb in a mouth in spare time

21 And, of course, there is also an unavoidable feeding time fun climbing on a high chair and unforgettable meals that ended with a bath And then finally mom and dad realized that it was maybe time to put away a high chair and buy me my own chair and table so Adriana can climb on them now!

22 And fantastic sunsets views from our windows January-April 2012

23 A few more incredible sunsets that we enjoyed this summer January-April 2012

24 A few more Dunedin sunsets this sumer and one orange morning (upper right corner)

25 Magic sunsets above the Otago harbour January-April 2012

26 What do you think, which of the photos below is a real one left or right!? A few more scenes Our home

27 And home fun new views, new garden and lawn, and new 300 heads of lettuce! And there were also some potatoes and carrots And our new (kitchen) friends. (We have not taken a photo of Kate yet )

28 And a few more views from our neighbourhood from the town that cruise ships visit regularly

And sometimes we manage to take a brief break This is how it looks like in rare moments when angels are sleeping That is a quick update from our end.

adventures in our schedule. We are excited about our trip to Canada in a few days. It will be a party!

In the next letter, I will tell you all about a 13-hour flight with Adriana from Auckland to Vancouver.

29 And sometimes we manage to take a brief break This is how it looks like in rare moments when angels are sleeping That is a quick update from our end. If it was not for photos, I would not have remembered much of the last few months between work responsibilities and parenting adventures, but it seems that we managed to squeeze in a few other adventures in our schedule. We are excited about our trip to Canada in a few days. It will be a party! Adriana and I will jump on a plane (or, more correctly, on several planes) at the end of next week. Philip will join us in Edmonton 2 weeks later. In the next letter, I will tell you all about a 13-hour flight with Adriana from Auckland to Vancouver. When Philip joins us, we will spend 2 weeks together in Edmonton (and the area Canadian Rockies are already calling me! ). Then Philip and Adriana will fly back to New Zealand while I will spend 10 more day in San Francisco to visit friends and attend a conference. More about our northen adventures in the next letter! Tons of sunny autumn greetings from thefar south! Edmontonianas, see you next week on the sunny side of the road! Sandy, Philip and Adriana Dunedin, New Zealand 20 April 2012

November-December 2011 Sun, beaches, bike rides, friends... Dear Friends,

November-December 2011 Sun, beaches, bike rides, friends... Dear Friends, Dear Friends, Here are new adventures and photos from the far south. Adriana has mastered running, climbing and balancing and increased her vocabulary to What s that? and Why?. Oh, lucky mom and dad In