Out and About: Sunday

This morning began with church, at Christ Church Episcopal, which, shall I mention again, is walking distance from our house? We really like it so far. The liturgy is a bit different from what we're used to, and it's MUCH more solemn and quiet (during services) than we're used to. But we like the sermons, and the congregation has been very welcoming and tolerant of Miles' occasional noises in church. Today a woman held him for me in the lobby so I could take communion (he was having an unusually fussy morning. cutting another molar.) We're planning to go to an event in a couple of weeks geared toward visitors interested in the church. We want to make sure before we join that we aren't being overly biased by its proximity or beauty! Or the fact that so many international residents seem to attend there.

After church, I wanted a little nature, and Miles really needed to blow off steam. While Jon got some reading done for his class, therefore, Miles and I went to Heritage Park, which is about four miles away, so we drove. But it was also free! Nice view, huh? It's actually not even as pretty as the drive to Miles' daycare. I'll have to get some of y'all down here to camp in the hills.

Out and About this weekend: Saturday

We ventured out this weekend to do some more Blacksburg exploring. We started out like last week, walking to the farmer's market. I have no shots of the glorious time we had at the farmer's market, replenishing our stock of apples and peaches. But believe me, it was resplendent. Angelic weather, wholesome food, lots of dogs and children for Miles to watch, and we scored some serious free samples which made a satisfying mid-morning snack.

Next, we walked a block over to the library. Finding it closed for another hour, we decided to kill time discovering the Huckleberry Trail, which winds from Blacksburg to Christiansburg- just a few miles.

We are back in a land of abundant FREE parks and I am overjoyed!

Once the library opened, Miles enjoyed the spacious children's section.

Cars say "pbbbbbbbb." Just ask him.

His new favorite game: catch me if you can! I've got something I know you want!

On the way back, we took a shot of my office building. I'm only there three afternoons a week, whenever I'm not on campus, but it's still pretty marvelous to be within 15 minutes' walk of it.

And here's the turn to home! Turn right onto Lee Street and proceed about three quarters of a mile. Mostly uphill, but it goes quickly.

A view from about half way home on Lee Street:

Pictures of the Newest Digs

It was a bit over a year ago that one of my first posts one this blog introduced our Pasadena apartment as the new digs. It's hard to believe in such a short time we've seen so much change. It staggers the imagination :-)

I have given up on the house ever looking... gleaming and perfect. We live in it. But, here are some shots of our Lee street house!

First, to my great joy, we have an eat-in kitchen. The kitchen got me at hello.

Below is Miles' room. It's modest, but we got him a new play mat to dress it up a little. He gets the window unit ac.

Our bedroom. Pretty standard and unexceptional.

...And the living room. notice the green paneling and built in bookshelves...

The oriental rug we found in the attic and cleaned.

Notice the fireplace. We'll remove the picnic basket and make use of it once the weather cools.

Good old classic Grunert furnishings.

Here and There

We're still here! Doing well! I'm delaying pictures of the house just a little longer because I'm trying to shut down early tonight in preparation for my first day of work tomorrow! I caption my first class at Virginia Tech tomorrow morning at nine. It's one of the three engineering courses I'm in (seems to be the most popular major, unfortunately for me). Wish me luck!

Jon is at the library working his first shift now (he works until midnight Su-Thu) and Miles is asleep. I am enjoying the quiet and trying to be as ready as possible for my first day. We had a lovely, glowing weekend in which we went to a yard sale at the Episcopal Church down the street, walked to the farmer's market and got peaches that are just to die for, met new Blacksburg friends (connections of the Browns, who seem to have a network of friends-and-relations that spans the country, or at least the East Coast), walked to the same Episcopal Church, went to a new park, and got new shoes. Right now, I can see the mountains from between the pine trees out our window. We are so blessed!

The pictures above are Miles, last Sunday, in our yard. This last is a video of a trick he's been doing for about three weeks but until now has refused to do for the camera. You know how Ray Charles does that rocky, swaying... thing when he's singing? Yeah. Here you go.

Steppin' Out Festival

We arrived in Blacksburg just in time for the 30th Steppin' Out Street Festival! The streets were full of booths representing crafters and artisans, local businesses, churches, clubs, and organizations of every kind. It was the absolute perfect way to be introduced! We were recruited to sing in the choir and help start a children's museum and we won tickets and free concessions at the local antique theater by answering trivia.

Miles got a new wooden car from a gentleman who makes these wooden toys:


And Lissa even got to hula hoop with these designer hoops for free!

We're so blessed to live here! I'd like to point out that we walked here, then to the farmer's market, and then to the public library. Miles was pretty exhausted, but a good time was still had by all.




Virginia Tech pride is EVERYWHERE! Even the monkeys caught the fever!

Splashdown in Blacksburg

No pictures of the house because I don't want to proudly display the clutter and boxes. It's getting better! We're close! But the combination of the fact that I've started work (8-5 all week!) and we still don't have internet at home makes it hard to clean the house and move in properly OR blog.

We have been HUGELY enjoying our new deck and relatively private yard. Miles has benefitted hugely, especially as a result of the splash pool Grandma and Grandpa provided. In an apartment without central air (for the first time!), this is a huge blessing for all of us! Now if only we had a hose...

Here are some pictures of us with Tita (Aunt Michaela)!







Here, too, is a video of Milo showing off some of the animal noises he's learned. Let me know if you can't hear it due to the air conditioning roar; he's pretty consistently able to reproduce the experience and I can just make a new one!

Homo Erectus

He walks!! As of July 24, Miles walks. Here's a video, and a few shots of him just a couple days after he started walking. We took him to Kinderfarm Park in Pasadena. Too bad we only just discovered this place the week before we moved; the goats and Miles are close friends. As a result of our Kinderfarm visit, Miles knows how to bleat like a goat. He looks at you blankly if you ask him what a sheep says, though.





This last one is an example of something of which we're hoping to see more...