Christmas Greetings to all,

Summer seems to have arrived and we are enjoying pleasant walks and cycling around the Kapiti Coast. The garden, unfortunately, is also soaking up the moisture and warmth, encouraging the weeds, but we try to ignore it most of the time.

We hope that this has been an enjoyable year for you. We have continued to appreciate a relaxed retired lifestyle with regular walking and cycling groups. Ian remains in the Kapiti Chorale but was able to relinquish the president/secretary position earlier in the year. Allison seems to have acquired the position of caterer for the Chorale-providing afternoon tea for up to 30 people after their concerts. Allison has been playing bridge once or twice a week-still very badly. She is also on the Probus committee and publishes the monthly newsletter.

Trips have included walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a few days camping on Great Barrier Island with Kaye and family, cycling in the Molesworth (a real challenge), the Orienteering National Championships in Hawkes Bay, another Outback Spirit tour in Australia-this time from Cairns up to Cape York and Thursday Island, the Tora Coastal Walk with six others of our cycling and walking groups and a recent weekend in Palmerston North where we found a number of cycling tracks for the group to enjoy.

The trip that moved us most was to Christchurch in early November to help celebrate Ian's brother Peter's 80th birthday. We spent four full days there. The buses had only recently been back on reasonable schedules and so, apart from doing lots of walking, we used our gold cards on the buses to get out to Brighton, Sumner, Lyttelton and many other areas. We were also able to hear about and see how the earthquake had impacted on other members of the family-and gained a powerful insight into the effect that it will have on them for many years to come.

The younger members of our families continue to grow-it would be a small worry if they did not! Kaye has gained her Fellowship in the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners and will now concentrate on her work in palliative care at Te Omanga Hospice. Rachael has finished College, becoming the proxime accessit and will study Maths and English at Victoria University next year. She and Tom were both awarded the top all-rounder prize for their year. We are proud of them. Next year Tom will move into the senior school, Joey will start College and Dominic goes to Intermediate.

David and Trudy have, as yet, been unable to sell their Palmerston North house so are now in their second rental property in Ellerslie. It looks as though Auckland will be their home for some time to come. Trudy's son, Josh, has a baby daughter so they are enjoying being Oma and Opa.

Susan and Bill took their family back to England for a holiday in the middle of the year and enjoyed orienteering events in Scotland and France. Both Kieran and Oliver are now competing. Larissa, now four and a half, can't wait to join the boys when they catch the bus to school each morning.

Graeme and Rachael have re-adjusted to life after Rachael returned to full time work once Jack turned one in April. Harry and Charlotte go to Ian's old school in Northland, Wellington, and Graeme organises his work so the he is free before and after school. Harry thoroughly enjoyed following the RWC- an event that the rest of the extended family tried to ignore!

Best Wishes to you all for an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas and we trust that you look forward to the New Year with pleasurable anticipation.

Ian & Allison