Lots of new photos uploaded today. I've put up some of Hazel having fun making cookies the day before Christmas, lots of photos of (mostly) the girls opening their Christmas presents and a few random shots taken on the 26th while my parents were still in town. Other than that pretty uneventful here, we've mostly stayed at home since it has been a litte cold as of late.
What a difference a week makes! After dealing with an early season ice storm last week-end, the weather did a 180 this time around and it got to be quite warm. Today we enjoyed a record high of 84 degrees (29 C) - which is only 60 degrees warmer than last Saturday's high of 24 degrees (-5 C). We took advantage of the good weather and took the girls to the Denver Zoo. I'm not sure how much Bea got out of it but Hazel liked it a lot. We got to see the penguins being fed and the tiger roaming around its cage but most of the other animals were asleep - must have been the warm weather. On the way there we took a detour to visit the world's first Chipotle. It was pretty cramped inside (much smaller than the newer ones) but the employees were very nice: when they found out how much of a fan I am they gave Stevi and myself a new T-shirt. Bea even had some of the rice and beans - her first Chipotle at the first Chipotle :)
Summer has pretty much come and gone already...wow, that was fast. Nothing too major going on here. We celebrated Hazel's birthday on June 22 - we had her favorite treat, chocolate cake. Beatrice is growing up fast - she is already eating solid food and is crawling around on the floor. In July we took a pretty long trip which took us to Texas and North Carolina to visit the respective grandparents. Texas was hot as usual - 100 degrees+ every day; at least we were able to chill out at the pool in the evenings. Colorado had much better weather as we only had a few days of 90 degrees or higher. However, we had our fair share of rain, which was good for the wallet (less lawn watering needed) but took away from some evening outdoor activities such as eating on the patio.
This past Wednesday (May 13) was a very special day for me, since it was the day that I became a naturalized U.S. citizen. The event took place at an auditorium in Denver, where 238 people from 72 different countries became new citizens. Following the ceremony, there was an opportunity to apply for a U.S. passport (which I took advantage of) and they even passed out Voter Registration forms (2010 Elections - here I come). We took a lot of pictures at the event - please click here to view them.
The rollercoaster known as spring has arrived here in Colorado. After having a gorgeous week-end with temperatures well into the 70s (20s Celsius), this week's weather will be much colder than average with highs only in the 30s and 40s (around 5 C) - with some snow possible! We certainly need some moisture as we got almost nothing this winter but I'd much rather it be rain than snow this time of the year :) Anyways, at least we had a good time Saturday and Sunday, especially since my parents arrived for a conference in Denver and thus had the opportunity to visit us for the first time since we moved. On Saturday afternoon we visited the Garden of the Gods and took a stroll around the nice little town of Manitou Springs where we had some yummy buffalo burger at a local hole-in-the-wall. Hazel had a lot of fun at the Garden as there were many dogs around - she had a ball running after them and yelling 'woof-woof'. We took lots of pictures that day and they are all shared here. I also shot some video of Hazel running around which will be posted shortly. Stay tuned!
Time really flies when you're having fun, doesn't it? I can't believe that Beatrice is already over a month old. Things are still going well, Hazel is still a little jealous at the attention-stealing infant but not too much so. It also helped that her grandmother Brenda has been visiting us for the past week which meant one more person to play with during the day. I have put up tons of photos taken this past week in the Photo Galleries - feel free to browse around. Have fun!
The first few days back home with the baby have gone by without major drama...Hazel seems to have gotten used to the idea that she is no longer our sole concern and has behaved quite well. Beatrice likewise is doing fine, today she was the most awake since she was born (we had about an hour of her having her eyes open). Here are the latest photos of her and Hazel, as well as some taken earlier in the week right around the time we brought Beatrice home.
I am very pleased to announce the arrival of our second daughter, Beatrice Rose Kovalik! Beatrice was born yesterday, January 8, 2009, 10:42 AM at Saint Francis Medical Center in Colorado Springs, weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz. (3382 grams) and 20 in. (50.8 cm). Mom and baby are doing very well and will be coming home soon. Here are some of the first photos of Beatrice :)
You might wonder why there have been no updates to this site for quite a while...Well, updates there have been here and there but I never actually had the time to list them here. Between a two-and-a-half week vacation in Germany (some of the pictures of that are scattered around the galleries), a very busy summer and a cross-country move, you can image that site updates weren't very high on my list. But now we are finally settled in beautiful Colorado Springs, CO, and more regular updates should be the norm from now on. Our old digital camera disappeared during the move so we had to get a new one - we finally had it delivered today and I snapped a few pictures of Hazel just to try it out. What came out was a pretty nice pictorial which I posted right away (after all, it's the first time since September that we were able to take pictures of our daughter!). I have also posted some videos lately which are fairly amusing - such as Hazel baby-dancing and her playing in packing peanuts with our new kitty Tommy.
Last Sunday we got back from a week-long trip to Colorado. It was primarily a business trip for me, but that didn't mean that I couldn't have some fun while I was off. Some of the places that I visited in the Colorado Springs area include: Pike's Peak, the Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy (including the Cadet Chapel). I also did some skiing at Copper Mountain and Winter Park. Stevi and the baby joined me one of the days we were on the mountain; they did not ski but instead took some pictures of Winter Park during a SnowCat tour. After we got back, life returned to more or less normal. Hazel is still cute as ever - good evidence can be found in this video of her playing with her blocks.
Today we celebrated our first Easter together with Hazel. It was pretty nice although the weather made it seem more like Christmas (we had 7 inches of snow Friday night into Saturday). Grandma and Grandpa Kovalik came to see us for the holiday and had a great time playing with the baby. Hazel continues to discover new things to do - such as opening cabinets, throwing books off shelves and pulling down toilet paper. She also uttered her very first words: 'ma-ma' and 'da-da' (although she does use them interchangeably for now). Here are some photos that we took during the past couple of weeks (including quite a few today!). Also, I posted more photos some time ago that were never mentioned on this page, so here they are as well.
It really is amazing how much Hazel has changed in the past few weeks. A little over a month ago she had barely started to crawl; now she is crawling without difficulty throughout the house and even lifts herself up to her feet (holding onto something, of course). She can also sit for as long as she wants to without falling over to her side. Here is a video showing her doing all of the above, as well as another video of her playing with her bowl and spoon set. She has also been very happy to have her picture taken the past few days: here are some funny faces that she has made to the camera with some bonus family pictures included as well.
Lots of new photos today! Most of them show Hazel laughing or otherwise acting happy - life seems to be good when you're seven months old. Her first tooth came out a couple of weeks ago and the second made its appearence yesterday. We now feed her solids almost every day - pear seems to be her favorite. I also posted more photos a couple of weeks ago that were never mentioned here: the last few photos of our Christmas vacation as well as lost of photos taken during January (including a photos of her now-famous tooth).
I realize that no video updates have been made in a while, so over the past week or so I have been quietely posting new clips in the Video section. Most were taken during our two-week Christmas trip to Texas, such as the video of Hazel 'opening' her Christmas presents, Hazel's first time eating solid food and her playing on the floor by the Christmas tree. Also posted were some videos taken after we got back: Hazel crawling on the floor after her toy as well as a video of her having some jarred peas (by the way, she doesn't like the peas very much but she has been eating them anyway).
The last few days of the year 2007 brought around some more firsts for our Hazel. This past Saturday we travelled to Padre Island near Corpus Christi where Hazel had her first glimpse of the ocean (or more correctly, the Gulf of Mexico). The next day, she had her first 'solid' food meal - a tablespoon of soggy organic oatmeal. As always, we took lots of pictures of these milestones and more. Enjoy!
Archive: 2007