Visit from Grandma Terrie

My mom recently stayed with us for a couple weeks. We loved having her around. 

 These two are really into hugging in photos lately.

This little tram takes you down the slopes of Pipestem State Park, which is only about 15 minutes from our house. 

At the bottom of the tram. Gathering leaves for...

…leaf puppets. (If you look closely, you'll see some deer in the background.)

At the farmers market in Blacksburg VA. Simone wants to go to Blacksburg everyday. The fm here has some great eats. Simone especially loves the Brazilian sausages (it was love at first bite), fresh yam biscuits served with warm apple butter, and blackberry kombucha. Yeah, I want to go to Blacksburg everyday too.

Playing "run around." 

 We are apparently eager to post pictures of us eating out in Blacksburg VA, since Athens WV has only one restaurant, which isn't that great. Concord U's cafeteria (not pictured), however, is actually pretty good, so we count it as Athens' best restaurant.

 Inés' Chipotle meter had been getting pretty low.

Inés mimicking grandma. Don't worry, she can't really read yet.

Ok, the restaurant pictures are over, this is a picture of fake bear poo. Mom won't say "poo" or "poop," but she'll hold it.

 "Red light - green light," a pretty close contender to "run around."

Mountain Momma

 This is our new house. We downsized.

Actually, we live in a townhouse set in this purdy park across the main road from campus.

 Simone has picked up a new verb from her new friend. Now she likes to 'spy' animals. In our backyard there are two rabbits and eight deer that we spy almost every day. There are also blue jays, skunks, and frogs. We average one frog catch per week. Inés seems to keep the bear away. I took her on a little walk down a trail near here, and when I told her to watch out for bears, she started growling, so we never saw any. No sasquatches yet, either.

 Harrison's boots hike on. Thanks for breaking them in for Inés.

 Simone geared up for a hike.

 Inés geared down on a 'hike.'

 Hmmm, better take a canoe instead.

 The cheddar goldfish population increased by about five. And they're not organic.

Hi. 

 Hi.

 Hi-ho.

Hmmm, better take a skateboard.

See yinz later, hi ya'll.

This summer we had the opportunity to move to Athens, West Virginia. Our time in Pittsburgh, six great years, came to an end pretty abruptly. Many of our good friends had left before us, some are still there, and some other good friends even moved to Pittsburgh just before we left, and now they live in our house. We miss our yinzer friends and neighbors and our 100 year old 'haus' (Pittsburghese for 'house'). For all you sad suckers who never came to visit us there, here's a last glimpse of our now former digs… 

 Art credits go to Jill, Kelly, English, Noël, Brian. We love having pieces of (from) you in our house.

 Just about emptied out. 

 A little shout out to Tamra who masterminded this fence! And to Jon for putting down the sod. And all the missionaries who stained our fence and hauled huge rocks for measly popsicles.

 And a huge gracias to Bryan who whipped our kitchen into shape.

Thanks to all our great friends and neighbors who made our house and Morningside such a hard place to leave.

Happy first bubday, Inés!

Alba Inés just turned one. Some buddies came by for some cake and a mini dance party (so mini that we don't have much footage of it here).

She's the cat's pajamas.

Amorette made this Inés-face garland. We like it so much that it's still part of our decor.

She had to rely on some bigger kids to blow out the candle...

...and when the flame was out, she knew just what to do with her very own cake.

Happy birthday, Nezzy! We love you

Aunt Nena's visit

We had the pleasure of having Aunt "Nena" in the 'Burgh in June. Simone loved having a roommate for nearly 2 weeks. We did all sorts of fun stuff around the city. Here are some of the highlights:

 Simone and Nena on an adventure at the Science Center where Sim got to see robots playing basketball and learned about other sciency things from Bert and Ernie. 

 Playing "school". Having Aunt Nena around is like having a professional teacher at your side all day. Her aunt is always teaching her new songs, stories and doing cool activities with her. 

 We spent a fun day at Idlewild. The Doodlebug is Sim's favorite ride. 

 With her buddy, Linus. 

Strong man.

 Good thing Simone came ready with her tattoo. 

 The Children's Museum was celebrating their somethingth birthday. The kids got to make party hats and get in for free. 

 Screen printing!

 This was a cool water wall. Sim got to manipulate the water flow with magnetic tools and shapes. 

 Blowing yourself dry is an activity in and of itself.

 Hula-hoop class! The woman on her right is some kind of hula-hoopin' evangelist. We see her all over Pittsburgh hula-hooping. 

 Hiking in Frick Park with the littles. Inés kept bending her head back and looking up at her aunt. 

We spent the last afternoon of Lalanya's trip at the Phipp's Conservatory. It happened to be a hot day and, needless to say, it was like a sauna in the greenhouse. So that made for a mandatory stop at Dave and Andy's ice cream on the way to the airport. Too bad it was all gone before we got there because after Sim said goodbye to her aunt she cried all the way home:(