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...

4th of July!

Back from Blacksburg, we come home to find the internet signal we've been pirating all year has gone and left us. Rats! The minutes spent at the public library with Miles on my lap are not particularly blog-friendly minutes. However, we're being allowed to freeload at my in-laws (we will sorely miss the many advantages of being near family:-) ). Here's a few moments from the beginning of this seemingly never-ending heat wave. I mean, from 4th of July :-)

Birthday!

Miles turned ONE last week! We are so astonished. There are so many things that babies are allowed to do and to EAT after 12 months that we feel we are in a new world with our little boy. Our baby is becoming a mere memory. Oh sentiment and nostalgia!

We had a LARGE party, probably inadvisedly so, but Miles humored us and didn't have any major breakdowns. He had a ball playing with... I think it was six other kids under two. Until the Hibbards arrived and it was nine kids under four. Cindy (Jon's mom) claims not to have had enough of babies yet, but it did get a bit zany.





Jon made the cake. It's Noah's Ark, can't you tell?