Well, we're beginning to get settled into St. Louis. So far, it's really great minus missing all of the people we love in California and Virginia. Though there's no way to replace our children's grandparents or the Iowans, I think we will make great friends here. The only problem is that people will be moving in and out all of the time when they finish degrees! Hopefully we can make some good friends with people who will be here a while. There are loads of toddlers in our strip of Gulf Drive and every time we go outside there are more little ones for Nathan to play with. It's a very communist setup with the sharing of toys and space outside, so that's nice.
This summer was absolutely wonderful. We spent the first part of the summer in Buckingham with my parents the second part with Jimmy's parents in Falls Church and then a few more days in Buckingham before heading out for St. Louis. Here are a few highlights from our time in Virginia:
Buckingham:*Nathan watering plans every morning with GranGran (my mother)
*Visiting with Aunt Laura and Uncle Matt
*Playing with the cats, Gilbert and Leon
*Seeing cows on Grandpa's farm
*Nathan driving the truck on Grandpa's farm (in Grandpa's lap while mommy held Isaac in the back seat...not something you can do on the streets of Long Beach!)
*Going to Virginia Beach for a few days with GranGran, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Matt
*Seeing relatives at Nathan's birthday/Isaac's welcoming/Independence Day Party
Falls Church:*Going to the pool with Brock GranGran and Papa
*Playing with Samuel (Nathan's cousin) at Papa/Brock GranGran's house and at Samuel's birthday party
*Going to the Baltimore and National Zoos
*Saying "Papa come" and Papa comes or "Papa play" and Papa plays (You can insert "Brock GranGran" or "GranGran" or "Aunt Laura" in for "Papa" and get the same result...if you're Nathan, that is.)
*Going to Luray on vacation for a few days with Papa, Brock GranGran, and Great Grandma
*Riding Great Grandma's chair up and down the stairs
*Playing with Aunt Sally and Ryan
There are probably lots of other things that we did that I'm forgetting, so please forgive me and at the same time remind me of what they are! Pictures will come shortly. Right now we don't have the best internet connection (borrowed wireless from a neighbor) but once we get ours set up it shouldn't take as long to upload them.
In St. Louis news, we have visited New City Fellowship again (the church we visited at Easter) and we still love it. This week we sang two songs in Swahili. Pretty cool. Our neighbors are all so nice and it's really refreshing to be in a place where we know our neighbors and they don't just avert their eyes when they see us, like our neighbors in Long Beach did. Not quite sure why they did...maybe we smell and we don't realize it. We definitely love our deck here. Much smaller than the one in Long Beach but it has stairs down to where we have to keep our big trash cans (not all of them do...some people have to walk all the way around the building to get down there). It's big enough for a grill and faces southeast so there's plenty of sun for flowers and herbs! That's really exciting to me. Maybe something will live here. :) We have acquired two couches and a recliner thanks to my Craigslist addiction and Jimmy's willingness to haul furniture. We have bought a washer and dryer and are planning to get a portable dishwasher. I'm really excited to have my own major appliances. :) The boys are sharing a bedroom, and last night was the first night we tried it. It went really well! We bought a baby monitor so that Isaac will wake us up before he has to get loud enough to also wake up Nathan. I had no idea how sensitive to sound those monitors are so we hear him even when he begins to stir. He woke up twice during the night, which is pretty standard now, and Nathan didn't wake up either time. We are looking forward to being completely set up. Jimmy's classes start next Thursday so hopefully by that time things will be looking better! He will also be looking for part-time work, as will I, and hopefully it will be so that we don't have to pay for any daycare and that we can also see each other occasionally. I mean, we do like each other. :)
I will update soon with pictures...as soon as I need a break from unpacking!
So I thought I would post some more pictures of our apartment. I put some things on the walls in the boys' room so I thought I'd show it off. :) To the left is Nathan's half of the room. It's hard to see with the glare of the flash, but that 10-foot long poster is all animals. I bought it when I was teaching a unit on animals and kept it thinking I might have a child one day who likes animals. Boy, was I right!
This picture is of the back of the room obviously where the windows are. Those little squares all over the walls are actually postcards I bought at the St. Louis Zoo. They are--you guessed it--pictures of animals that they have at the zoo!
This is Isaac's half of the room which includes the changing table. The only part you don't see is the wall with the door and the closet but that's just not that exciting.
And THIS is perhaps my favorite part of our apartment. it's the corner of our bedroom. Our bedroom here is huge. Not by the standard of many of you (I've seen your bedrooms--they're much larger than this!) but compared to our bedroom in Long Beach it is really big. This is my little reading (or whatevering!) corner. To the right you can just see the bottom corner of the closet. The only thing on that wall are the two closets. To the left you can see the edge of the curtains. So that wall is just window. The wall opposite the closets is where our bed and dressers are and the wall opposite the window is just the door. Eventually we plan to put things on the walls in here (other than what you see) and possibly even paint but this is it for now.
