They love the beach!

Luke started to enjoy the beach and ocean last summer, when he was 2 years old. Ian had really taken to water from the time he was born! We had a few days of warm 70 degree weather over the break while in Virginia, so we spent a few afternoons at the oceanfront. It was difficult to keep the boys out of the water, particularly Ian -- who ended up a sandy wet mess everyday.

Visiting Mom and Dad

We enjoyed a few days of spring break at Mom and Dad's house in Virginia in March.

Light snow

We had a couple of inches of snow here today. Luke didn't waste any time, and was out making snowballs and sliding on the back hill in no time!

I can't do it!

After the original idea of going to the park to ride his bike, Luke had a melt-down, "I can't do it!" Typical 3-year-old. So I persuaded him to take a walk and just relax in the stroller next to Ian. It turned out to be a wonderful day, the boys really have a lot of laughs together!

The new office

The College of Education moved into a new building which was completed just before the start of this fall semester, in August 2011. As a result, for the past few months I have been enjoying a new office with lots of sunshine!

Thanksgiving at the beach

We had a nice Thanksgiving holiday at my parent's house in Virginia Beach, and enjoyed a few days of warmer weather. We stopped by the beach last Wednesday afternoon and had a walk on the boardwalk, and Luke played on the beach for quite some time. Next year we need to pick up a surfboard to keep at Nana's house for days like this :)

Ian is walking!

Over the past couple of weeks, Ian has been going through a lot of developmental changes. We had a feeling that he would start walking around the same age as Luke did, and sure enough, it was within about a week -- with both of them starting around their 10 month birthday.

Here are a couple of photos of him walking last week while visiting our family in Virginia:

Tyko

I'm not sure what it is, but Luke has a character he likes to play called "Tyko".

Halloween 2011

What blog doesn't include photos of the kids at Halloween? Okay, so here we go... We all dressed up as skeletons this year -- a skeleton family.

Osaka

I was in Osaka, Japan for a few days in October, working on a research project with partners at Osaka University. There wasn't much time for sightseeing -- none, in fact. But I did ride the Osaka Monorail a few times, and passed a station called Banpaku-kinen-koen 万博記念公園駅 (which is quite a mouth full). This was the site of the 1970 World's Fair Park. There is a famous landmark here, the the Tower of the Sun monument, which I enjoyed seeing from the height of the monorail riding by.