I’m not doing the best job of posting things here, but we’ve not done anything really extraordinary. Life with Aurelia is pretty much just attempting to find a routine and make sure the boys’ routines stay roughly the same. Aurelia is 8 weeks old today. She’ll be 2 months old on the 5th of November. She’s changed a lot already. There are tons of pictures on the picture page of the site. You can also check out my Picasa page for those family members that want to download or send pictures somewhere for printing. It has some built-in links for that stuff. The link is over there on the left of the home page.
A few of the things we’ve done over the past couple of months…
Back in June I took Rowan to the Tulsa Rocketry launch and watched them set off a bunch of rockets. The next weekend Chris, Rowan, and I bought a kit and built a little rocket. Then the burn ban went into effect. So we waited until finally the had a rocket launch again in October. We went to the launch site and launched our rocket 3 times. I thought it was very cool. Here’s Rowan with our rocket before it’s maiden voyage.
16-Oct-2011 13:46, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 10.0, 39.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100
Hopefully we will get a chance to build a bigger rocket and launch it at the next rocket launch.
We took some time during the boys’ fall break to travel over to Siloam Springs so that Aurelia could meet her great-grandparents for the first time. It was her first big trip in the car and she did really well. We took a few photos there.
20-Oct-2011 16:21, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.5, 37.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
Aurelia also got to go to church for the first time yesterday. She wore a dress for the first time. Of course, she was very popular there and she behaved very well being around a bunch of new people and a very loud organ. She slept right through a lot of the music during the service.
30-Oct-2011 10:26, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.5, 25.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
After church and lunch, we headed home for a little rest and then it was back to church for Trunk or Treat. Rowan got to dress up in his Captain America costume and we dressed Aurelia up in her costume (I say she’s a snow leopard). I took a few photos at the event. Aurelia slept all the way through it.
30-Oct-2011 17:47, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.0, 21.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
Finally, today was Halloween. We usually trick or treat in Ali’s parents’ neighborhood because it is nearby and larger than our neighborhood. We met up there with the Gorman kids and after dinner went out for some trick or treating. Rowan did really well. I had to dump his candy bag in the bottom of Aurelia’s stroller once because it was getting too full for him to carry around. The Gormans all dressed up this year. They had a Star Wars theme going, except for Lilli who was a very cute little angel. Here’s a few of the photos I took tonight.
31-Oct-2011 18:52, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.5, 30.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
So I think that brings me up to right now. I’ll be surprised if I get another post on here before Christmas. But I’m always updating and adding photos to the online albums. That’s what I think is the most interesting stuff on this site anyway. So check those out often. I am always taking pictures of the kids. Until next time…take care!
Our daughter, Aurelia Lee Knight, was born at 7:33am on Monday September 5th, 2011. Labor Day was literally that for Ali! After this hot summer we have had, Ali was ready for Aurelia to arrive as soon as she was full term a week ago. Ali started having a few contractions off and on during the week before Aurelia was born. So we had started getting things ready. About 2am on Monday morning, Ali woke me up and said she had been having pretty strong contractions since about 10pm. They were getting closer together – when she woke me up they were around 6 minutes apart. So we called Ali’s parents to come over and stay with Rowan. Chris was out of town with his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Missouri. We then headed to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, I was timing contractions and we were already around 5 minutes apart by the time we got to the hospital. We walked into the hospital around 2:45am and it was a ghost town. We finally found some people on the labor and delivery floor and told them we were ready to have a baby. They determined that we were indeed ready and moved us into a delivery room. Now they have done some remodeling there since Rowan was born, but I’m almost positive we were in the same delivery room that Rowan was born in.
After about an hour and a half of very rough contractions, Ali finally got her epidural around 4:45. From there things slowed down a bit but it was pretty much smooth sailing from that point on. We watched some Married With Children episodes and Ali ate some ice chips. I stood up then I sat down again and repeated that for a couple of hours. Then the big moment – Aurelia was born at 7:33. She was 19 inches and 7 pounds. She has dark hair like her mommy. She is perfect.
I took lots of pictures. I posted a few of them online.
So the day after Rowan turned 5, he hopped on a bus and rode away from home. The first day of kindergarten had arrived! He was pretty excited about riding the big school bus that first day. Although for a few days after the first he didn’t really want to have anything to do with the bus. Rowan said he got a little sad at school because he missed us but I think the days are getting better for him. It’s gotta be tough being as young as he is. Some of his classmates will be turning 6 soon! Here are a few of the photos I took the morning of the first day.
Rowan turned 5 this year and was very excited to do some kind of party with superheroes. So we did a little superhero party with the Knight family the weekend before his birthday. We left the dinner menu up to Rowan and thankfully he picked . . . cheese pizza! So we cooked up some Papa Murphy’s pizzas and had the family over for some cake and ice cream too. Rowan of course got a bunch of great toys. He still loves dinosaurs, superheroes, and Transformers. He also loves drawing and doing artistic things so he got a lot of stuff that fell into one of those categories! Here are a few of the pictures from that event.
13-Aug-2011 18:12, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.5, 32.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
The weekend after Rowan’s birthday we did a Gorman family birthday party at Nana and Frumpa’s house. This birthday party was for both Rowan and his cousin Lillian. They were born on the same day so his birthday is doubly special for our family. Those 2 are very close and it’s fun watching them play together. The theme for this party was the Smurfs. Nana had taken all the kids to the Smurfs movie recently and they all thought it was a good flick. Nana even made up a special birthday cake for the kids. Unfortunately, as soon as I went to fire up my camera the battery died so I was forced to take pictures with my phone. Thankfully, Carla took several pictures of Rowan at the party and emailed them to me so we have some decent photos of the party.
We just got back from spending 4 nights in Branson, MO with my mom, sister, and niece. It was a very good time and we are very lucky and happy that my mom planned out the trip. As usual I will try (and probably fail) to not bore you with too many details around the pictures of the kids having fun. After getting there on Wednesday evening, we just unpacked and the kids went swimming and we vegged out.
We got up early Thursday morning to go to Silver Dollar City. My GPS had an epic fail getting to SDC. It led us to some guy’s front yard way on the east side of Branson. So after figuring out where it was we finally got there and I took Chris for his first real roller coaster ride – the Wildfire. We sat in the front row with Laurie and Alyssa so we could have a good picture. It turned out to be a classic!
After that, we rode another coaster and then met back up with my mom, Ali and Rowan for lunch. After lunch and some much needed air conditioning, it was off for more rides. This time we first headed over to the log ride to cool off. Rowan was tall enough to ride so we all climbed in and took off. He was very excited and loved going down the hill! Here’s the moment of impact!
After that we made our way over to the one BIG roller coaster that Rowan was tall enough to ride with me, Thunderation. I was worried that he would change his mind or get scared as the coaster climbed to the top of the hill, but he had a great time. Every time I looked at him he had a big smile on his face. After several more rides we decided to call it a day. We were all exhausted. Here’s a few more photos from the day there.
Proof that every now and then, they like each other.09-Jun-2011 17:15, Canon Canon PowerShot SD750, 4.9, 17.4mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 80
Day 2 began with an appointment for me, Chris, and Rowan at Adventure Ziplines of Branson. We had a couple of great guides and the guide who Rowan was attached to was really good with him. Rowan was quickly spreading his arms and flapping them like a bird. The ziplines were all around 70 feet in the air and the ranged from a few hundred feet to a quarter of a mile long. The final zipline ended gradually so Rowan was able to go down by himself and after watching Chris go down upside down, he decided to go down upside down too and hung that way all the way to the bottom, “just like Spiderman” as Rowan said. Here are a few photos that Ali took from the ground:
Crossing the rope bridges was the toughest part!10-Jun-2011 11:39, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.0, 55.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 125
After that Ali wanted to visit the Titanic museum. Unfortunately, because of some lame federal law, we couldn’t even have our cell phones on let alone take any pictures. Of course the museum staff could take pictures of us and try to sell them to us for $17.99. But other than that, it was a pretty cool museum. The highlight for me was seeing how long I could stick my hand in 28 degree water (not long) and Ali liked seeing the actual things used on the boat like the silverware. It was pretty impressive how many artifacts and mementos from that boat have survived almost 100 years.
After that we met back up with Beeta, Laurie, and Alyssa at the wax museum. They had no restrictions on taking pictures so we took a bunch. Here are a few:
10-Jun-2011 14:55, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.5, 32.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
At that point, Rowan was starting to act like he needed to rest so we went back to the hotel to hang out for a little while. Then we went to the Dixie Stampede for dinner. That was a very impressive show and the food was good too. We all had a good time. Then it was back to the hotel where Rowan and I went swimming while Ali and Chris went to the Outlet Mall for some shopping.
Saturday was another day to hit some museums. We first went to the Dinosaur Museum and Haunted House. Rowan loves dinosaurs so we knew he’d like that. The Haunted House was actually very good and creeped us all out. Ali and I were worried about Rowan but he did really well. Here’s a few photos from the dinosaur museum:
11-Jun-2011 11:07, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.0, 25.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
Then it was off to the Branson Auto Museum. Chris is a huge fan of classic cars and the museum there was very cool. They had lots of classic cars as well as unique cars, such as cars used in movies. Almost every car we saw there was also for sale, so it was fun to see the asking price for the cars from Men In Black and Fast And Furious 4 as well as souped up Chevelles and other classics. A few of the photos from that museum:
An old pickup owned by Steve McQueen.11-Jun-2011 11:54, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.0, 18.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
Rowan was clearly ready to rest after that so we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel. After a while Beeta took Alyssa and Rowan to the Noah’s Ark musical. Rowan was very impressed by all the animals there.
That pretty much covers what we did on the trip. There was a little more outlet mall shopping (I got new shoes!) and there was some more swimming as well. It was my first time in Branson in a very long time and I have to say it was a very fun place to take the family. I was also very excited that both of our boys enjoy the thrill rides. I’m already trying to figure out the next roller coaster that we can ride.
Despite the usual Easter weekend monsoon here in Tulsa, the rain paused long enough on Saturday for Rowan and I to go to a pretty cool event. Over by Rowan’s old 3-year-old program building, they held the Big Truck event. I believe parents who have jobs that allow them to drive some cool vehicles volunteer to show their vehicles off to the kids.
I think because of the weather the crowd was pretty small, which was great for us. There was very little waiting to hop in the driver’s seat of all kinds of vehicles. Rowan (and I) got to check out an ambulance, fire trucks, police cars, semi, cement truck, bulldozer, dump truck, and even a bookmobile! Needless to say, Rowan thought it was pretty cool, and I did too. To top it off, we got to take a long school bus ride around Jenks which was a first for Rowan. Hard to imagine he will be getting on a bus every morning next year!
We just returned home from a 2 day trip to Oklahoma City as a little mini-vacation during the boys’ Spring Break. It was a very full 2 days and we all had a lot of fun. So much fun that Rowan slept from 3-8pm for a “nap.” It began Friday morning when we set off for my old stomping grounds: Norman, OK. We went to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. It was excellent. Rowan is very in to dinosaurs and fossils so he was in heaven. We had a very hard time keeping up with him. He bounced around that place from exhibit to exhibit. I don’t remember reading about any of the exhibits. The museum was very well done. I really liked that on the wall behind each skeleton arrangement was a mural depicting what they think the animals actually looked like. Here are several pictures I got at the museum.
Rowan and Mom pose with a Pentaceratops and the largest dinosaur skull ever found!18-Mar-2011 11:19, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.0, 18.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
The upstairs shot of the Apatosaurus skeleton and the “dinovator” that takes you to the 2nd floor.18-Mar-2011 11:36, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 3.5, 20.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
Rowan and Dad with the buffalo statue outside the museum.18-Mar-2011 12:31, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 10.0, 25.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 100
After that I gave the boys a mini-drive-by tour of the OU campus. Showed them a few of the places I lived, the dorms, and of course most importantly the football stadium. I wish I had thought to check out the Switzer Center – that’s a place I have wanted to see for a long time, I can’t believe I didn’t think about it until today. We were a little early for check-in at the hotel so we decided to park in Bricktown and walk around to look for a place to eat lunch. After eating we navigated through some horrible traffic and construction to check in at the hotel and rest for a while. We then headed to the OKC Thunder game against the Charlotte Bobcats. I was very excited for my first NBA game. We got to the arena early so we could watch some players warm up and hopefully get some autographs. Rowan got 3 autographs: Dante Cunningham and Tyrus Thomas of Charlotte, and Nick Collison of the Thunder. After that we headed to our seats near the roof of the arena. It would have been hard to get further away from the court than we were. It was a good game and the experience was fun. Hopefully next time we will have better seats.
This morning we checked out and decided to go to the Omniplex which is now called Science Museum Oklahoma. It was still in many ways the Omniplex I remember from 3rd or 4th grade when I first visited it. It was awesome! I had a great time and I think the rest of the family did to. Rowan was again bouncing from exhibit to exhibit, despite being a very worn out little boy. We watched a cool live explosion show and checked out lots of old and new exhibits. Here are a few of the photos from that:
This was Rowan’s favorite train.19-Mar-2011 13:16, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 4.0, 24.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400
After that we were homeward bound. So I transported 3 exhausted sleeping people back to Tulsa. And I think we are all very happy to be home. Hopefully we will back to OKC for some more events in the future. It was a lot of fun.
Well it has been a long time since I’ve posted and I’ve missed posting about quite a bit of stuff. I have kept up with uploading the photos to the photos page of the site, so check that out to see photos from the last 6 months of non-posting. In there we have photos from Rowan’s various 4th birthday celebrations, Chris’ 13th birthday celebrations, a few trips, and Christmas with all the family. Unfortunately school has kept me pretty busy doing things on the computer unrelated to this website.
I have had a little break in the action with the recent blizzard in Tulsa. It’s been unbelievable. Of course yesterday while the blizzard was still happening Rowan wanted to go outside. So I got a few photos of him from the relative safety of the garage (safety for my camera that is).
01-Feb-2011 10:16, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 7.1, 55.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 100
Today was a much nicer day to go out in the snow. Even though the temperature was about 5 degrees, at least the sun was out and the wind was not coming out of the north at 30-40 miles an hour. So Rowan did his best to walk around in the snow that was easily 2-3 feet and higher in some places and found big chunks of snow that he threw at trees. Unfortunately the snow is very powdery so despite his very intense desire to build a snowman, that was not gonna happen.
02-Feb-2011 12:05, Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i, 10.0, 100.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100
So that’s about it. Maybe we will be able to get out of the neighborhood tomorrow. We shall see. Be sure to check out the other picture albums on the Picture page from the last half of 2010. Maybe I’ll do a better job of posting here in 2011.
Well, classes have started to get the better of my time so my posts have gotten very infrequent. I did want everyone to know that I added some new albums to the Photos page. I’ll go ahead and link them all in this post but they are all over on that page also.
The first album is from Easter. Yeah I guess that was a while ago. We had a great time at church. Rowan hunted Easter eggs and really tried hard to only get blue ones. After church and lunch and naptime we did a little family Easter egg hunt for both the boys in the backyard.
Next up are some photos from our family bowling night at the end of April. I got the day off from work for my birthday and Ali was off that day as well so we decided to have a “family fun day” and Rowan wanted to go bowling. I think Rowan saw bowling in a Tom and Jerry cartoon and thought it looked totally awesome! He still had a lot of fun it just wasn’t the crazy fun that Tom and Jerry had when they bowled! Afterwards, we picked up some fantastic subs from Bellacino’s and watched Avatar. It was definitely a great “family fun day.”
Now more recently, Auntie La-La invited Rowan to go to the circus with her and Alyssa and Ali and I had to tag along. It was Rowan’s first time at the circus and he was in awe. I think his favorite part was probably the elephants. I snapped a few pictures, but to be honest, I was in awe too. It’s been a while since I had seen a Barnum & Bailey circus.
Finally, for this post’s sake, are some photos from Alyssa’s birthday party with her friends. Ali’s parents were kind enough to let Laurie have Alyssa’s party there. Rowan had fun just swimming around. Ali enjoyed the chit-chat with Laurie and the other kids’ moms. I enjoyed the food and sitting inside watching the Red Sox. Fun times! There are also a few photos of swimming later that night with all the kids. Lily brought over her tea set which Rowan thought was the greatest thing ever. Chris even got in on the tea party for a few minutes.
