Valentijnsdag

Alright, so I have been a bit busy this past week or so. Here is a really big post to try and catch up with things. My parents are here for 3 weeks. They arrived Jan 31st and it is so great to see them. We have been trying to see a lot of sites while they are here, but at the same time provided help to Mindy with the new baby. Needless to say I have lots of pictures, so I will post a few of them, but know that you can click on any one of them, which will take you to the album they are in and you can see a lot more pictures there.

Here is our first outing as a family of four (Mindy and Carmen not pictured) the day before my parents arrived. There is a YMCA type place near our apartment that Mia loves to go to. SWIMMING!



A few days later we all went to feed the ducks. Mindy's dad was in town too between business trips in Italy and Denmark.


Henri-Chapelle American WWII Cemetery, with an amazing tour provided by one of the staff, what an amazing sacrifice by so many thousands of men, just at this cemetery.

The weather for about 6 days in a row was amazing! The temperature has been in the upper 50s and there hasn't been a cloud in the sky. It is very unBelgian.

During this time we have enjoyed numerous walks. My mom and dad went to Brussels on Thursday morning last week, on Friday we spent the day in Leuven getting Carmen registered and going to her doctor appointment, Saturday we went to the big park, and Sunday we went to church and a walk to the small park. Alan, Mindy's dad, was back through again this weekend on his travels, this time between Denmark and Italy.

Some more pictures of the little ones.


Raise the roof!


Slumber party


Daddy time


"Spring is here and I look cool." Sunglasses actually needed in Belgium on rare occasions.


"Spring is here and I am just laying here."

That is a quick update of about 10 days give or take. I am now teaching a class at Tabor for a few students with the help of powerpoint and an mp3 recorder. I think it is working pretty well. It is one of my favorite subjects (Chemical Instrumentation) so not being there to teach it in person is a drag, but these are the trials of spending a year in Belgium. Research is progressing slowly. I have missed a few days with Carmen's birth and my parents visit. Next week things will get a little more back to normal. I did manage to submit an abstract to the national ASMS conference in Denver for June. That will be fun, my brother is in Colorado, so I will enjoy that time. If there are any students interested in mass spectrometry and they live near Denver, there are funds available from the conference if you are willing to work a few hours at a booth. It is a great opportunity to hear some good talks and see thousands of posters. Let me know.