2010 Christmas Letter

For those of you who didn't receive our letter in the mail (I probably don't have your address), or for those of you would like to re-read our yearly letter, here it is.

Knight 2010 Christmas Letter

“DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG.” A deep bell sound rolls down from the chapel, through Cadet area, across The Plain, moves to the Hudson, and disappears with a hint of sadness hanging in the air. Then in unison but monotone and dreary, “Six bells and all is well. Another week shot to hell. Another week in my little grey cell. Another week in which to excel. Oh hell.” In the old days, my plebe year at West Point (1997), we had formation every Sunday evening at 6 O’clock and if you weren’t in formation by the time the bells chimed you were late. The plebes marked another week down with this recitation. And now I mark another year down with this. I wish I had exciting stories to tell, or life lessons to reflect on, or humiliating experiences; I don’t. I have the daily drudge that is life with three children (from here forward to be referred to as “little monsters”). “DONG.” I started off the year leaving my wife to battle the little monsters while I spent the month in Houston on a pediatric rotation. With an odd schedule she was left doing the traveling and drove multiple times out to visit. This adventure consisted of convincing the girls that their room in the 1 bedroom apartment was the walk in closet. They each created their “beds” on the ground and loved it. At least we got to see some of the sites – I went to San Jacinto and we all hit up the Space Center and the natural history museum – otherwise known as an infomercial for “Big Oil” as it teaches all about the oil business and how great/clean it is. “DONG.” After a month home I again packed up and left Kristin with the little monsters for a pediatric rotation in Cincinnati. Being the longest time I’ve been in Cincy since moving away in 1997 I took full advantage. I got to catch up with family and friends and even made a guest appearance at a UC residency function. Joy (my best friend’s wife) is probably about now no longer sick of me. The highlight was Kristin and the little monsters coming to visit – Lizzy rode uncle Austin’s motorcycle with training wheels, Ava drove a Powerwheels Jeep endlessly, and CJ was in heaven with a real farm tractor. “DONG.” After briefly being a family again Kristin said her “Good-byes”, took off for Estonia for a month with the Marine Corps Reserves, and left me with the little monsters. It was fantastic. Kristin got to be a Marine again and I got to create two daddy’s girls and one daddy’s boy. “DONG.” I started as Chief Resident in June and this dominated my time through October. If I wasn’t working, I was working. We took some time to explore some of Texas by going through the state parks and hitting up the Hill Country. In October little CJ (barely 2½) completed a 6 mile hike through one of the parks. He may have whined, he may have tried to refuse, and he certainly needed bribing with food every ¼ mile but he made it and impressed me. Lizzy essentially ran the 6 miles and asked for more. We also found out that we would be welcoming a 4th to our crowd of little monsters - a brother for CJ. “DONG.” The fall was marked by Lizzy starting true Kindergarten at the local elementary school and Ava having to cope with the loss of Lizzy and her 1 friend going to different schools. This forced Ava to make friends and be sociable. Lizzy learned to ride a bike, is doing great with reading, and impresses the world with her fashion sense (yes, cowboy boots go with everything). “DONG.” The end of the year has ended with a flurry of activity after an overall boring year. It started with a rejection after a job interview. I’m pretty good at it by now – I applied to 7 medical schools and decorated my wall at West Point with 6 rejection letters. I love the standard lines – yadda, yadda, we chose to go with someone else, but please be ready in case something doesn’t work out because we’d still love to have you in the unit. In other words, you were, at best, second best and we are hoping everything works out so that we’re not stuck with you. My second interview went well enough and I accepted a position working at Ft. Bragg, NC. So, we are headed back to where everything started for us 10 years ago (it was 10 years ago that we found out I was going to Ft. Bragg and Kristin to Camp Lejeune). Immediately after getting back from my interview we flew out to Sedona, AZ for vacation with Kristin’s family. Opa (Kristin’s grandfather) celebrated #88 and we put some miles on the little monsters’ shoes. This included 1 mile into the Grand Canyon (and back – once again much whining by CJ) and many other trails. Now we’re back to the dredge and hoping the grey period doesn’t set in. As usual, we hope this finds everyone well. Maybe next year I can produce something humorous and entertaining for your bathroom reading pleasure. Until then, we hope to cross paths. Do you hear it? That’s the sound of the wind whisking the bells away down the Hudson.

Sedona, AZ

In December after numerous trips where at least one family member was missing, we finally escaped San Antonio for a family vacation. We were invited to join in the celebration of my grandfather's 88th birthday. When you turn 88 you can have your birthday wherever you want, and he chose the beautifully red rocks of Sedona, AZ. Casey was very impressed with the massive rock formations on our drive in and appropriately "oohed and aahed." However, Elizabeth's response was "they are just rocks" along with an eye roll, such attitude from a 5 going on 6 year old. Our week in AZ gave us plenty of time to explore a lot of what Sedona had to offer. Not only are the red rock formations gorgeous, we also enjoyed exploring Sedona's majestic canyons.

The kids even got to experience a little ice and snow. Plus, Ryan managed to dunk Casey's leg in the freezing cold creek. During the week, Elizabeth did learn to appreciate the beauty of nature. While Casey, Ava, and I went with Grandpa and Miss Linda to an old mining town, Ryan took Elizabeth on a hike to the top of Cathedral Rock. It was a long and challenging hike for her, but the views were spectacular.One of the highlights of our time in AZ was visit to the Grand Canyon. I had been there as a teenager, but it was wonderful to return and share it with my own family. Tightly clasping children's hands, we ventured about a mile down into the canyon, but even from that vantage point it tough to grasp the magnitude of this wonder.

Overall, it was a wonderful week that brought together four generations of family for adventure, fellowship, and celebration.

The oldest, Opa (88), and the youngest, Casey (2).

Who am I?

If you guessed Ava, you would be wrong. However, I can't fault you because she looks strikingly similar to my paternal grandmother, Eva.

Thanksgiving

No pictures but lots of memories. My mom, Grammy, joined us for 5 days over the Thanksgiving Holiday. She easily adapted to our crazy life, starting off with picking the kids up early from day care and dragging them to the clinic to get their annual shots. Eight shots between the three kids, however Ava ended up with 5 of them. On Wednesday, I convinced my mom that she would have plenty of time to visit with the kids over the next few days and that we should drop them off at daycare and have a grown-up day. We took a road trip up to the quaint town (and birth place of Admiral Nimitz) of Fredericksburg, TX to pick up some fudge, Christmas wine, and do some window shopping and lunch. I had a really nice time away from work and the kids. I think my mom enjoyed it as well. Thursday was full of feasting. Ryan's stepmother, Gerlyn, hosted the whole family again at her place. I have to say that I have gotten off easy the past few years. I have not made a turkey, ham, pie, or other holiday dish since moving to Texas. The kids kept my mom entertained with "watch this," "come see this," "please, help with this," "read this," "come play," and so on and so forth. We were stuffed and exhausted by the end of the day. For the first time ever, I awoke at 2am on Friday morning to partake in a Black Friday Deal. Leaving the rest of the family in bed, I put on a couple of layers of warm clothes to stand in line at the H-E-B Plus (similar to Walmart) for the next couple of hours. Other than a cold front coming through and it being 44 degrees, it wasn't too bad. I met some nice people, didn't get trampled, got a great deal on a X-mas present for the kids, and was back in bed by 4:30am. After sleeping in for a few extra hours, I rejoined the world of the living and went with my mom and the girls to see the movie Tangled. It was a cute flick, but I was more impressed that Ava sat still for an entire movie. I don't think I have ever seen her sit still for more than 20 minutes prior to this event. Saturday came too soon, and it was time to put my mom back on the plane. The kids were already to go with her, and I would have gladly shipped them off for a week. Perhaps in the future.

Pumpkin Patch or Fair Grounds

It is October, so you take your kids to the Pumpkin Patch. Right? However, I am not even sure they grow pumpkins in Texas. Funny thing is that the Pumpkin Patch was at a Christmas Tree farm about an hour outside of San Antonio. We saw no patch, just pre-picked pumpkins set out for sale, but they had lots of activities for the kids to do. Which is good because they charge $8 per person to visit. I am really glad that I had a coupon for half off and two free ice cream cones, otherwise it would have been a very expensive day out for a family of five.

Elizabeth started with "dress a scarecrow."

We moved onto a little fishing. Ava was the only one who caught anything.

The kids also did some bike races, took a tractor ride through the Christmas tree farm, ran throught the hay maze, and checked out the farm animals.

Some relief from the heat. So much for fall weather, I think it was about 90 degrees.

The kids had a blast and wanted to stay twice as long as we did, but it was super hot and we had to get Ryan home to work that night.

P.S. We did get a little family of mini-pumpkins.

Government Canyon State Park

I had to work on Columbus Day, but Ryan and the kids had the day off so they decided to explore Government Canyon State Park about a 30-45 minute drive from San Antonio. Ryan tried to take the girls a few weeks ago, only to find out the park is closed mid week. This time they met with success and hike a good six miles through the park. Little Casey even made it the whole way, but I did hear that he was begging to be carried the last mile. Not bad for a little guy. We are officially stroller/back pack free for a few more months.

The adventure begins.

Rest stop.

After some lunch.

Little pet frog. The long walk home. I wish I could have joined them. It looked like a fun day.

If I forgot to tell you...

Ryan and I are conducting a little scientific experiment on a person's sanity limits. Baby #4 will be joining our wild crew in February. Casey and the girls will have a new little brother to torture.

We thought it was a better idea than a puppy.

Adventures in Texas

Temperatures were actually moderate on Saturday (mid 80's) and Ryan had some time off, so we decided to venture into the Texas hill country to do some exploring. Our first stop was Hamilton Springs. The kids took off running the moment the car doors opened.

Casey was a wild man, jumping off of rocks and running down steep paths. Luckily, he made it through the day unscathed.

Hamilton Springs has two main attractions. The first is the springs which consists of a waterfall and a swimming hole. The second is the river that the springs feed into about 3/4 of mile away.

After a snack break and some play time at the river it started to rain, so we figured it was a good time to hike back to the car and move onto our next destination. The sky cleared up within the hour, perfect timing as we had just arrived at Pedernales Falls State Park. Here we enjoyed scampering over the rocks and admiring the falls for the next few hours. Unfortunately, it is to dangerous to swim in this section of the river, even during low water conditions.

We even attempted a family photo.

The kids were wiped by the end of the day, but they had a great time. It was pretty cute to hear the girls thank us for taking them on such a fun outing.

Three Ring Entertainment

How do you resist the girl who begs you for a week to go to the circus, and go so far as to present you with circus coupons that she has found in the mail, at gymnastics, from school, and the grocery store? After I had about 15 coupons from Elizabeth, I finally took the hint and bought some tickets for the family to the Shriner Circus that was passing through San Antonio. Saturday couldn't come soon enough for the kids. A food standoff with the kids did put a slight damper on Ava's and Casey's enjoyment level. They didn't eat dinner on Friday night (macaroni and cheese, chicken, and peas- really, what is wrong with that?), so they saw it again for breakfast and still didn't eat it. All I heard from Ava during the first half of the circus was "I'm hungry, I want to go home." Casey just pointed at every snow cone and cotton candy vendor and said "bite."

Lizzy was on the edge of her seat the entire show. She loved the tigers, bikes, and motorcycles.

Ava decided she like the pony act, and the girls with hula hoops.

Casey went for the bikes and motorcycles of course.

Mom and Dad enjoyed 3 well behaved kids and seeing the giant smiles on their faces.

I don't have any really good pictures of the circus b/c of the lighting, but I figure you would rather see the kids.

Casey's "cheese" face.

P.S. The kids finally caved by dinner time and ate either the mac and cheese, or the new fish dinner I prepared.

Take me out to the ball game

On Friday, I had a mandatory work event in Austin. The conference center was co-located with the Dell Diamond, a minor league baseball stadium. After suffering through hours of boring lectures, families were invited to join you for a BBQ, baseball game, and children's activities. Ryan had a rare day off, and drove the kiddos up in the evening (battling Austin traffic) to meet me for dinner and the game. I can't say we saw much baseball but the kids had a really good time and Ryan was placated with frozen margaritas.

Ava and Casey couldn't get enough of the moon bounce.

The girls attempted the rock wall. They still have a ways before reaching the top, but I applaud their efforts.

I can't believe how fast our time in San Antonio is coming to an end, so I am glad we are taking advantage of many of the things that Texas offers before we leave.

New Year Trip

We traveled east over the holidays, so that we could welcome in the New Year an hour earlier. Actually, I just wanted to visit with friends and family. I gave Ryan the option to stay home with all the kids while I went by myself or travel as a family. He weighed his options and choose the latter. I guess he realized that staying home alone with three kids would be more stressful than airport security and family dinners. We really had a fun time, or at least I really had a good time and I think the kids enjoyed themselves as well. Well...except for Casey who hates the cold (born in NC, then moved to TX @ 1 month old) and caught some virus. Ryan even got to attend wrestling practice with the team he coached while he was in medical school. The first stop on our journey was my best friend's house to see Crystal, Jon and their two girls Dani and Joey. The girls had a great time playing together, even outside in the freezing temperatures. Elizabeth loved the snow and had to play in every little pile she could find. Casey just shivered in my arms, despite having on multiple layers and hand warmer shoved in his pants' pockets. Ava's favorite part was the hot chocolate. I just loved seeing all four girls play so well together. It was super cute at bed time with Dani and Joey sharing the top bunk, Ava and Lizzy sharing the bottom, and all 4 girls talking and giggling.The second stage of the trip was a quick visit with my Dad's side of the family in Pennsylvania. We got to spend time with Oma and Opa, my two uncles, my dad, brother and cousin. It was great to catch everyone in one place for a family reunion. The only folks we were missing were my cousin Liana (in New Mexico), and sister (in Germany). Everyone took lots of pictures, except for me. Consider this post a reminder to please email the pictures so that I can insert them HERE ->. After our quick jaunt to PA, we headed back inside the beltway to spend our last two nights with Ryan's brother, Andrew and family. The girls were enamored with cousin Milo and new cousin Oliver. Check out this link (Crumb Bums) for pictures from our visit. While we didn't make it to midnight on the 31st, we did celebrate on the 1st with French Toast and mimosas.

2009 Summary

Sitting in a circle with the local Imam and village elders of Musa Kalay, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in February 2003, a bucket was passed around prior to starting talks about security, village needs, and concerns about American presence. My interpreter explained that the yellow, curdled jell with the putrid smell in front of me was actually goat’s milk allowed to sit in the bucket for days (in the sun) and was an offering I should not refuse for fear of insulting the elders. The taste and texture of that will never leave me, but as I look back I realize that it wasn’t all that bad, and I am thankful for that unique opportunity of talking politics with Afghan elders and sipping old goat milk. Welcome to 2009 for this Knight family. Sit back and enjoy the comedy, sadness, but most of all hope and lessons learned. The year started with Kristin really starting her new job in earnest and our family adjusting to the kids going to daycare everyday. Many tears were shed with the start of daycare. True to their personalities, Elizabeth quickly became a favorite amongst all the teachers and could go into any classroom and name off 5 “friends” regardless of the kid’s age. It was a chorus of hellos and goodbyes when Lizzy walked through a room – she still went through her spell of tears when dropped off. Ava on the other hand had no friends except her teachers. It wasn’t that she didn’t get to know other kids; she didn’t like them. I could name any kid in her class and she had a reason why she didn’t like that child. Ava latched on to her teachers – Ms. Patsy and Ms. Alice – and we are thankful for their kindness in helping with that adjustment. Casey was simply known as the happy baby. Of course he worked his delightful personality and exploited it. I would walk it to pick him up and watch him cruise over to another kid, take their food/toy/pacifier, cruise away and watch the teachers chuckle about how cute he was. Meanwhile the other kid was left in tears over the loss. Daycare wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined – it certainly didn’t have that horrific aftertaste I remember from goat milk in 2003. For me, the first part of the year was dominated with residency and trying to spend time with my dad. Gerlyn held dinners every Sunday that we tried not to miss and I would attempt to visit on my day off. Things started changing rapidly at the beginning of March and we all knew the time was near. It was the first time I had an extended time period to prepare for death and yet nothing prepares you. I was expecting a sour taste, instead now all I remember is a family that came together, grieved together, celebrated life together, then began moving on. Tragically, a week before my dad died Kristin’s Grandmother suffered a fall, rapid decline in health, and an untimely passing. Once again the kids came through for us. Kristin headed to Pennsylvania with all three kids by herself and was pleasantly surprised. Our young monsters listened in the airport, played nicely together, stayed under control, and even helped others cope with the loss. Little did they know they’d be asked to do it again the next week as they said goodbye to “Bub”. It didn’t taste good, but it could have been much worse. As the bucket came around to me again I found myself in the summer and this time the drink was sweeter. The girls learned to swim, Lizzy began T-ball, and I worked my tail off. One foul taste was one of Lizzy’s first game when an overzealous back swing connected the bat with the back of her head. The tears eventually stopped, but not before the game had ended and she had sworn off baseball forever. Another summer event was our trip to Canyon Lake for a mini-vacation. For the first time in 8 years I saw an ill-planned trip by my wife. The lake was actually a mud puddle after one of the worst droughts in Texas history dropped the lake to historic lows. The “cabins” turned out to be doublewide trailers. The beach was 50 yards short of the water and the weather was a mild 105 everyday making the swings at the playground too hot to even sit on. The girls still talk about wanting to stay in the trailer again – so they must have enjoyed the taste anyway. In August the bucket produced such a disgusting drink the curdled milk had to be chewed prior to swallowing. Ava finally made a friend, one friend. At her friend’s birthday party I marveled at Ava interacting with someone other than her sister; and then tragedy. In a split second Ava fell through my field of vision, landed on the back of her head, and let out a cry that will echo in my nightmares forever. A fall of about 8 feet produced a large skull fracture and two brain bruises in my precious A-V-A. In the end I reaffirmed my decision to be an ER doctor, learned how to challenge fear from a 3 year old, and learned the value of friends and family as so many people helped our family during her hospital stay. Thank you Beau, Allie, Gerlyn, Andrea, Billy and everyone else. Probably the best taste of the year came in September after a long summer of ridiculous hours at work when Kristin and I escaped on a vacation. Somehow Kristin convinced her Mom and recently retired step-dad to fly to Texas and watch our kids for a week so that we could escape to Costa Rica. I gave Kristin the green light to plan a vacation and the library ran out of “books-of-fun”. The end result was a classic Knight trip. Some highlights include Kristin nearly stepping on the most dangerous snake in South America (in sandals), me moving said snake with a stick (Crocodile Hunter style), running up/then down a volcano in a rainforest as darkness set in, standing on the side of the world’s 2nd most active volcano as it spewed lava, and finally relaxing in a luxurious resort. So, that’s a trip through the many flavors of 2009 for us. Even the bad tasting times didn’t leave an aftertaste and we all look back at the year as a time of growth, change, and learning. We hope the year was the same for you. Don’t forget to follow our (mis)adventures at http://panandtink.blogspot.com/. (bookmark it!)

Last (K)night

Last night, Andrew and mostly Lauren were busy having a baby. This morning they welcomed Oliver John Knight into their family. Congratulations! Big brother, Milo is estatic, and the "Cousin Clan" now stands at 4 boys, 3 girls. Gina-Mom and Michael-Dad are going to have their hands full when they open up Cousin Camp.

Look What the Wind Blew In

Michael had family event in Houston last week, so the Melink\Strickland clan hopped in their plane and made the 8 hour trip down to TX (better than 20+ hours of driving). Katie and Austin enjoyed a trip to a water park and hanging out with their cousins. However, what trip to TX is complete without a trip to San Antonio, so despite a very tight time line, thunderstorms, and too much traveling, they hopped back in their plane and took a detour to visit us. I think they were in town a total of 15 hours, but we made to most of the visit. Dinner at a local resturant with lots of picinic tables, a giant playgound, and astro turf field for the kids to play on. Austin was in heaven. Stayed up late talking. Then breakfast tacos brought back medical school memoires (or maybe nightmares) for Michael.

Gina-Mom and Katie got their baby fix.

Elizabeth got her plane fix. Ava found a new doll, "Little Katie." She made the real Katie carry around "Baby Ava." Austin ended up with minor surgery with a K-bar for a splinter. The time we had together was too short, we certainly wish we lived closer to all the grandparents. We enjoy their company, and I know they love seeing the kids grow up.