Family time in the park

We had a nice day here in Boone today, with temperatures in the upper 40s F (about 8° C). This is the first time that Yukari and Ian have had much time outdoors since he was born a couple of weeks ago.

Wind, mud, and puddles

Luke and I (Paul) go to the Boone Greenway Trail quite often. Of course, it is a great place to walk or watch the ducks, but also I am working on an educational project there with one of my Appalachian State courses this semester -- so I am out there 3 or 4 times a week.

We were over at the Greenway today, and with the melting of snow this week, the ground is very muddy and wet. Luke loves to play in the puddles, and always manages to fall face-first into a puddle or slick of mud.

What to do on a snowy day?

Like most of the country, we have had quite a bit of snow here in the mountains of North Carolina this winter. In fact, I don't believe we have seen the grass in our back yard since early December.

What to do on a snowy Saturday in January? Well, this morning we all got up early and the two boys enjoyed some time together in the living room. Luke loves Ian's "hippo" rattle, so he keeps a close eye on the bassinet -- more for the rattle than for Ian's sake ;)

Then Luke helped me (Paul) outside with some snow shoveling. We snapped a couple of photos, just goofing around in the hallway putting on our gloves and boots. Luke has been wearing Ian's little newborn hat that we got from the hospital last week. Yes, it is too small for Luke's head, but that doesn't stop him from wearing it anyway... He also has a car rear-view mirror that he likes to carry around the house:

We finally did make it outside to shovel a bit:

Ian Wallace

We are so pleased to welcome our son Ian into this world. He was born on January 18th at around 5 in the afternoon. Just a few photos here from his first couple of days:

Fall Colors

The autumn has been beautiful here in the mountains of North Carolina. Luke and I (Paul) often go to the Boone Greenway, where there is a trail and fields for running and kicking the soccer ball around. There i nothing like a sunny fall afternoon for capturing a few photos of a 2-year-old:

Poznań, Poland

Paul (that's me) was in Poland for about 10 days in October, in and around the beautiful city of Poznań. I was traveling with two other faculty members for the College of Education here at Appalachian State University, and we were able to find funding to bring along four teachers and administrators from local schools systems here in western NC. The goal of the trip was to meet with counterparts at the university and local school systems there, to organize cross-cultural projects. We also helped organize a conference at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where we offered workshops, and I presented one of the keynote talks.

I wan't really expecting Poznań to be such a picturesque city, and very European. In October, the days were clear and dry, with plenty of sunshine. Here are some photos from around the old part of the city:

The K-12 schools we visited were also surprising, in that they seemed to me to be more like museums! Can you imagine going to school in building that are inspirational? With natural light, plants in the hallways, and hardwood floors? We had a chance to talk to many teachers and students, and in particular I remember one student who remarked, "we love our teachers".

Here are some of the photos from K-12 schools we visited in and around Poznań:

Retro Camera

Luke and I (Paul) have been playing around with the "retro" camera app on my Android phone recently. Here are a few examples...

Surprising visitor

Our neighborhood has a few hummingbird feeders. But I have never seen a hummingbird yet, actually in my whole life -- only in photos.

When I was get ready for dinner today, I heard a really loud noise in the living room. I saw a black shadow flying around the glass door. I thought it was a beetle which I saw quite often come into the house when I was young. But when I looked at it carefully, it was a little bird! A hummingbird!!! I screamed to ask Paul to come down stairs to help the bird. I was afraid that the little thing would get hurt. But maybe the bird got scared because of my screaming, and he found a way to get out by himself!

I can't believe I wasn't able to take a picture of my first hummingbird sighting --- hahaha
But I'm so happy to have finally seen one!

Playground with Dada

Paul is always spending time with us on Saturday! And today, we decided to go to the playground and walk around the park in the morning. It was a cloudy day, but it was perfect weather in the summer to spend time at the playground (this playground doesn't have any trees or shade around).

Luke is getting really good at climbing. He likes to use the "rock climbing" wall to get up to the big slide now. I always wanted to take picture of that, but I need to watch him carefully -- so as not to fall off the climbing wall. So, I didn't have chance to take photo until TODAY! Thanks to Paul, coming with us.


It is always makes me nervous when he reaches the top. But he has been successful in climbing up there every time (so far...)!
And after he reaches on the top, he love to slide this tube. But he still can't go by himself. So, I slide this tube with him A LOT! It's pretty fun actually. In this picture, you think that Paul went slide with Luke today. No, no. Paul asked Luke to go another slide, but Luke wanted to go in the tube... I climbed up (not the rock wall) the stairs on the other side and slid down with Luke as usual. But something was wrong today... I was wearing something that made extra slippery... I couldn't stop the end, and end up in the mud... Luke and I got really wet. Paul, you made a good decision not to going on the tube slide!

After the play ground, we walked around the park for an hour or so. And we a nice lunch before coming back to home (^v^) What a wonderful day!

Beaker

This morning when Luke woke up, his favorite friend was out side the door. His name is Beaker, our neighbor's cat. Luke made a crazy noise to tell me he want to go outside! So, I let him go play with Beaker.
Luke likes him a lot, but once Beaker come close to him, he will get scared and asked me to come outside, too.
And Luke love to follow Beaker everywhere. We spent a little while following beaker around and playing with him. And while we were doing so, I burnt an English muffin... our fire alarm was ringing... good thing that Paul was inside, and he was dealing with the smoke... Luke was not happy to go inside, but he will see Beaker soon again (^-^)