December 2011

Kowalski family relocates
...across town

COVER STORY: Rapid City, SD. Increasingly cramped for spaced with two rapidly growing little girls, the Kowalskis put their home up for sale at the start of 2011, looking for a home with a little more space to spread out (and closer to some better schools, what with Lili staring kindergarten; see Column 2 story). After a bleak winter of subzero open houses, they finally sold their home in April and moved to Red Rock Meadows, a new housing development in south- western Rapid City.

Their new house is bright and spacious, although at the time of the move was missing some minor details, including a basement, a functioning garage door, a yard, or any form of privacy (or at the very least, window coverings). But after a summer of continuous work by builders, painters, plumbers, and landscapers, the Kowalski home is now (more or less) complete.

The new house includes a number of features for the entire Kowalski family. For the girls, a huge basement playroom that includes a fully stocked toy restaurant (thanks, grandparents!); for Kristin Bailey, a bright open kitchen/living space idea for entertaining guests (thanks to the home builders!); for Travis, a personal office (thanks, crippling mortgage!); and for you, a guest bedroom, so feel free to stop by the next time you're visiting Mount Rushmore or the Badlands.

Those who can can, do; those who can do more, teach

There's never a moment's rest for an educator, and 2011 has kept Kristin Bailey and Travis extraordinarily unrested.

Kristin Bailey has been extremely busy in 2011. In addition to her busy teaching schedule, she has taken extra time this year to work with students outside of class to prepare them for their proficiency exams. She also continued working on the school's Building Leadership Team until her term ended in June. Despite the long hours, she still manages to find time for some truly lovely photography, examples of which grace the Christmas Chronicle and her website.

Travis has kept busy in 2011. He published two papers this year, a pedagogical paper in PRIMUS and a mobile-learning review for FIE 2011 with Dr. Ziliang Zong. He was an invited keynote speaker at the Rose-Hulman Institute Undergraduate Research Symposium in March, and also spoke at the Frontiers in Education conference in October. On the teaching side, Travis is wrapping up advising his tenth undergraduate senior dissertation this winter, while his previous 2 students went off to Purdue and Teach for America. In addition, he was been elected to the Faculty Senate, where he has been busy with various committee assignments.

Merry Christmas
&
Happy Holidays!

Liliana starts kindergarten; everyone else starts feeling old

Perhaps no one has had a busier 2011 than Liliana, who might be best described as a flesh-and-blood version of the Energizer Bunny: she just keeps going and going and going and going.

In May, Liliana had her first ballet recital, as part of the grand finale of Copellia, an updated version of the ballet classic. She was one the "kite dancers" who redeem the story's pro- tagonist, and most re- viewers agree Liliana stole the show.

In June, Liliana flew to Florida for three weeks with her grandmother Judi , and her aunt Heidi, uncle Gene, and cousin Sara. Upon returning to Rapid City she announce the goal of riding her bike without training wheels, which (with the moral support of her mother and father and the hottest in Disney Princess helmets and body pads) she mastered in two days.

The biggest event for her, however, was the start of kindergarten in September. Liliana has loved everything about it, from riding the bus, to learning to read and add, to being in charge of the class mascot Mr. Banana. If there was any doubt as to Lilian's destiny to become a nerd before...

Feliz Navideja vu!

Older issues of the Chronicle are now online!

2010 Christmas Chronicle
2009 Christmas Chronicle
2008 Christmas Chronicle
2007 Christmas Chronicle

Terrible 2's not so bad; Number 2's much worse

Upon turning 2 in April, the Kowalski family braced for full assault of Maia's Terrible 2's, which early indicators suggested would be ghastly. However, with Liliana in Florida (see above story), Maia had almost a month of pure one-on-one bonding time with her parents, which was just what the little girl needed to finally feel 100% at home.

In addition, Maia's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds, and she is now capable of talking in complete sentences and, more specifically, in highly detailed requests for toys, apple juice, and various forms of sugar. Consequently, the Terrible 2's have been short-lived.

Maia also continues to develop physically, showing no signs of being handicapped by her "little hand" at all. She's capable of dressing herself, swinging and climbing at the park, and playing on the Wii with her sister. More recently, she's mastered the skill of "tinkling" on the potty, although the other typical bathroom act is still (shudder) a work in progress.

Summer vacay = staycay

In an unusual break for them, the Kowalskis spent this summer at home, partly to enjoy the sites of the Black Hills and partly as a change of pace from their typical hectic summer travel plans, but mostly because they didn't have any money leftover after buying their new house to go anywhere else.

2011 was noteworthy for having a lot of visits from grandparents. Travis' mom, Patty Schuler, visited in March to celebrate Liliana's birthday, and then returned a month later with "Papa Bruce" and Great-Nana Dorothy to celebrate Easter in the new house, and again in October just to spoil the her granddaughters rotten.

A month after that, Kristin Bailey's mom, Judi, visited to see the new house and spend time with her grandchildren before running off back to Florida with the eldest one (see story in Column 2). Fortunately, they both returned in June for more Black Hills sightseeing, including an 1880s train ride and a trip to Bear Country.

The Kowalskis rounded out the rest of summer in the woods, taking two week-long camping trips to Custer State Park. There, they had fun playing at the beach, canoeing, hiking, and learning how to pilot a wagon down a steep incline without sustaining serious injury.