Dispatches from Blacksburg in late August

We are marching on here, in the second week of the fall semester. I'm quite glad to be back! I had forgotten how much I enjoy my job. Some new things:
-Jon doesn't work 8-12 pm anymore! I get to see him every evening, even when he has night classes!
-We have to employ a babysitter one night a week for just over an hour between my night class and Jon's. Miss Seren and Miles are great friends, though he loves to see what he can get away with when she is over...
-We are enjoying the new acquaintances and friends we've gained through the young adult group at our church. More people to run into about town, more events to look forward to, and even a buddy with whom I can see Harry Potter 7.2 at the 2nd run art theater. We will enjoy these things as long as possible, and resume enjoying them as soon as possible after Pockets arrives.
-I'm officially in the third trimester! This is good, in the sense that it means I only have 12 more weeks of all pregnancy's various discomforts to experience. It is bad because I now know I am in the home stretch, and this makes me more impatient and psychologically I think it also makes me more uncomfortable. Between the two... I'm trying to take it one day at a time.
Here are some silly shots Miles wanted me to take, even though he can't keep his eyes open during camera flash....



He was saying "Cheese!!" however, which does count for something.
Here we are getting ready to leave at our church's Parish suppers, held in small groups in peoples' homes.

Figured I'd get some more use out of his Chinese outfit before he outgrows it.

The whole fam, minus only a bit of Jon's head...

I just had to take a shot of the view as we drove to the home where we were assigned to dine. These views are so CLOSE, but downtown, you hardly ever see them.

A few pictures from my recent foolish decision to skip the bus and walk to campus... I only walked from the parking garage, it was about a mile, but that combined with the rest of the walking in a normal day of this job was too much for this prego. I will not be doing that again. The bus is my friend.

Here is Lee and Draper, one of my more frequented intersections. My office building is across the street, the library is just a block one way and campus starts a couple blocks the other day. Also, as you know, we live on Lee Street.

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood.

Across the street, at the very beginning of campus.
We love the Art Deco appearance of the old Armory, which is now the Visual Arts Building at Tech.

On Saturday, Miles and I walked by here and discovered with pleasure that they have a public chalkboard and chalk out front! Miles spent a very happy 45 minutes decorating. You can still see some of his circles, which he now calls "suns."

Below is Bollos, a very hip cafe.


And I've always been intrigued by SheSha. Have not yet entered, though.

Here's the university's theater, where we saw The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged this summer. For free.

I enjoy the silly quips on Jimmy John's signs:

How much do you love this sign with the dwarf? Since 1978? I expect to find hobbits when I finally venture inside. You can also see the Graduate School in the background.

I conclude with a weird image, but it strikes me as so Virginia Tech. Fancy drinking fountain. Front part for drinking, back part for refilling water bottles...

And a little meter to tell you how many plastic bottles this machine has saved so far.

I kept number 435 out of a landfill. Well, to be fair, I was only going to fill my bottle at the cafe if I hadn't seen this, but I still felt heroic. :-)

Everyday heroism, that's me.

Moving right along

26 weeks, big as a house, and still having fun. We've started a new school year, with orientation activities this week and classes beginning next week. So I'm back at work and really looking forward to being back in classes. The nice thing about a 10 month position is that you're grateful for the change of pace in summer, but really quite pleased to return in the fall. At least, I was.

Part of my eagerness to return to work probably corresponded to our decision to spend the last week of summer potty training Mr. Miles! He's actually made incredible progress. I want to tentatively say that as of two weeks, he's potty trained, barring a few accidents. He went from not being willing to sit on the potty at all to running to it when he needs to use it and being extravagantly proud of himself for being a big boy who wears "Ud-ies."
See how well they fit? :-P (He's helping make pancakes, below:)

Still, despite the surprising success of this endeavor, it was hard work, mostly involving staying at home ALL DAY, following M. around, praising success and cleaning up failure. For days at a time. And those of you who know me know I do NOT cope well with staying home all day. So it was rewarding, quality time that I am very glad to have spent and to retain as a memory.

But we're OUT now! I'm back at work, Jon is back in classes and M. is back at his day job, daycare. And we are successfully using the toilets of stores, restaurants, church, etc as well as the ones at daycare. Again, barring a few... incidents. Miles spends a lot more time pantsless these days. Here he is in the rain, enjoying one of his first puddle stomps. Mum took pictures from inside the screen door, thank you :-)

It seemed like a Good Idea (and It was)

If taking a four-mile hike with a 2-year-old doesn't seem like a terrific idea, you're right, because it's not a good idea. It's a good practice, for all of us.

So, that's what we did this weekend. We ventured into the wilderness of Jefferson National Forest and hiked the Cascades Trail, near Pembroke, Virginia. It's two miles to the falls, and two miles back. The Lower Trail was more difficult, but it provided good views of Little Stony Creek, despite being narrow at points and very rocky. The pregnant one managed well, and she's rather heroic for it.

M did well, too. Just look at him, all happy to be on a walk outside.

And he was happy, too, to be on my shoulders. He was the lookout, since I was busy carrying him, so he knew to say "Papa! Bear!" or "Papa! Deer!" if he saw either of those. In the case of an elephant he knew to say "What?!"

So on we walked, looking at nice flowers and learning about a spiderweb, since we've been reading The Very Busy Spider a lot lately.

Finally, the falls!

And lunch, though the falls were more interesting.

And a trip to feel the cold water spraying us.

Lissa and Baby made it, too!

The trip back started with a climb up many steps, but it was all downhill afterward. It was a welcome relief, and not too difficult to walk the two miles back. As you can tell, we all survived.

And we might do it again...someday.

Muggle Born

This delightful shirt was given to me by my friends Melissa and Josh in celebration of our viewing of the very LAST Harry Potter film, together, as we have viewed so many important films in the past few years. I am so proud of my little Hufflepuff and we're awaiting his Hogwarts letter with great anticipation :-)

Here we are about to leave for the film!


Melissa, Josh, Jon and I were joined later that evening by our friend, Ann, and the geek-out lasted late, late into the night. It's a bittersweet time for hardcore fans. I'm fighting the urge right now to buy more tickets! We will never forget you, Harry!

Maryland Safari

Okay, get ready. This is a long one.

We left Rochester on Wednesday, feeling refreshed and satisfied, though sorry to leave. I love that city so much. Anyway, we realized we had few pictures of Miles with Morai and Grandpa Jim, so we snapped a couple while we were on our way out.

They're a photogenic bunch :-)


Miles knew a long road trip was commencing. He tried to look like a garden gnome, hoping we wouldn't spot him...

Didn't work.

However, he got to do some driveway steering, and that seemed to mollify him. (BTW, that is NOT me in early labor, there. I'm just... sore)

We couldn't wait a day: the very next morning after we arrived, Thursday, we went to the Baltimore Zoo to use our zoo pass. This zoo is so underrated! It's beautiful and has some really creative exhibits that let you get really close to animals, without feeling like they're cramped and restricted. Go if you can!

Yee haw!!

There's nothing like a penful of goats that can be freely touched. This toddler's dream just came true :-)



A whole pile of goats!! Just for me!!

Also, after climbing the inside of this tree and seeing the animals within... we get to slide down it? WHAT???

We totally sprang for some giraffe food.

I mean, look at that face!

The elephants were on parade. They have a baby African elephant and an excellent exhibit! You get REALLY close!

REALLY.

I just liked this bird. He looks pert.

After a long wait, the polar bear finally took a cooling dip. See my son's face in the reflection?

See it now? Entranced!!

I took this partly for the bear bootie, but partly for the PAWS. BUSINESS PAWS.

Miles is ecstatic when we'd linger by one of these fans. Sweet end to a really solid morning at the Maryland Zoo.

Our trip to the D.C. zoo on Saturday was hard to photograph. For starters, it was HOT. Also, it was CRAWLING with people, and it was hard to get close to the animals due to the park's design and the crowds. That does not mean that we didn't have an absolutely brilliant time. It just didn't end up being too photographable.

Aerial view of Asian elephant:

The great thing about the crowds, though, meant there were a lot of kids for Miles to frolic with during lunch:


We saw a lot of exotic animals that we weren't able to see in Baltimore: a gorgeous male lion, a tiger, gorillas, a panda, and orangutans. But Miles' clear favorite was

The meercat.

You can witness his delight below, if you want.


Naptime was a bit late after our epic D.C. trip. We all had some recovery to do.

Ooh, look, I don't look so huge under these conditions! I assure you, however... I AM huge. :-)

We're so grateful for the adventures this trip has afforded!