We started the year with our family camping trip which for a lot of years has been to the top of the South Island near the Abel Tasman national park.
The beaches up there are amazing and the combination of blue water, native bush and golden sand is unbeatable for summer holidays.
Easter was spent with friends Nikki and Andrew and their three kids, Josh, Hannah and Toby at their family bach at Kaikoura.
It's a great place for outdoor fun like walking, fishing and snorkelling. Some mornings you can see the dolphins leaping out of the water while you eat your breakfast.
Lucy turned 7 in May.
I suppose we should also mention Scruffy our Wheaten terrier who drags us off to the beach at every opportunity.
We've had a couple of weekends up at Castle Hill this year. Castle Hill is a great bouldering area and base for skiing just an hour away from home. Our good friends Joy and Iain go there often and Ian is a great guide for finding stuff the kids can have a go at. I manage to hide behind the camera rather than show myself up.
Akaroa is another day trip and weekend destination that is about an hour from home. It is on the coast so is more of a boating and fishing venue. Mark and Jo Morris have a bach there and Mark always gets the set net out which guarantees a few fish and the excitement of pulling the net up.
Martin, Sally and Tom came to visit us in May and had a great time doing a tour of the South Island.
Karen (my sister), Steve, Alex and Natasha came to vist for a couple of weeks in August. The kids get on brilliantly together.
We got out skiing with them and then had a weekend in Hanmer. They also managed to visit Queenstown (and got snowed in there!!) and Kaikoura. These visits always seem too short.
Both Lucy and Chris were again playing football for Halswell United. I've been coaching Chris's team for a few years now and really enjoy doing that although it takes a fair bit of time as I now need to watch two premiership games a week to stay current with tactics ;-) We had a great bunch of lads this year and they won their division.
In September we had a ten day camper van trip round Northland which is the area north of Auckland at the top of the North Island. The climate up their is a lot warmer than in Christchurch, they get 18 degrees in winter, so in spring we were in the sea every day. There are beautiful beaches everywhere so the camper van was great for just staying where we wanted to. This was also ahead of the tourist season so everywhere was nice and quiet. We made the pilgrimage to Cape Reinga which is the northernmost point in New Zealand. Just near there at the top of the ninety mile beach are the Te Paki sand dunes, these huge dunes are great fun for toboganning on a bodyboard!! On the way back down the east coast we passed through the Kauri forests, some of the old trees there have a girth of over 5 metres and are 1200 years old.
The school sports are always a big event in our family as both kids seem to be fairly talented at athletics. Lucy won the 50m sprints in her year and Chris had places in the 50m, 80m and 1500m. He had to go to represent the school at the zonal competitions. 
Chris also played chess for his school this year.
Dee has been getting out on her bike with friends and singing in a choir group which she really enjoys.
I'm not a fancy dress fan but Dee did a good 'Darth Maul' job on me for a Halloween party.
We managed to get a nice fishing trip out on Lake Coleridge with friends Nick and Cindy and their boys Alex and Joseph. The lake is about an hour from home and Chris caught a 2lb salmon which we had on the barbie at tea time. Fortunately Nick is a keen fisherman and actually knows what he is doing!
Early December brings Chris's birthday and that made him 11. He and his friends are starting to seem quite mature these days. Most of his presents were sporting kit as shown here with a Liverpool shirt and his cricket gear.
Chris had his final day at Primary school last week. Fortunately all of his friends are heading to the same Intermediate. They are a great bunch of kids. 
Regarding the old man, I've been running again (up to 90 minutes) and am finally getting out in the hills a bit more with some mates. There always seems to be too many things I want to do! The last couple of year have seen me getting very keen on my photography again. If you don't want words and want to see pictures check out this site.
http://petedawson.zenfolio.com/
It needs a bit of an update but I should get that done in the next couple of weeks.
Have a brilliant Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Pete, Dee, Chris and Lucy.
