A&W

Middlebury, Vermont is where you'll find the only remaining drive up eatery in the state. It is perported to be in fact, the last remaining drive up A&W root beer stand in the US. Bug and I have made at least one pilgramage a year to drink from its dark, syrupy waters. Here, unlike any other fountain soda made anywhere else, the concoction is blended on the same fountain machinery used in the 1920's, giving it an extra bite. According to old timers who have dined here over the last sixty years or so, the root beer has the same taste it did in their youth. Today, we introduced Tua to the treat. We even let her sample a drop. She seemd to enjoy the experience. She particularly liked the fact that every time she leaned on the horn, the waitress would appear.

flick

Bag Lady

Tua found her way into one of Bugs tote bags this afternoon and wouldn't get out when requested (even after we threatened her with posting pictures of her in said bag online). Below is the record of our mischievous Tua being carted out of the room. The mess in the background is our mess by the way, not hers. Her room is clean as a whistle. We haven't figured out how she keeps it so tidy.

House- part 1

There have been a few requests made for a pictoral introduction to our home (i.e. where is it, what does it look like on a sunny day in August, do you have shutters on your windows, do you have electricity in Vermont etc). All valid questions. So here is the first installment.


The short version of our place is this. It is one of the oldest houses in Bridgewater Vermont. It was built by a guy named Abner Atwood in 1798. Abner moved to Bridgewater following the Revolution and built this home in the decade following. He built it well using timber felled from a nearby spruce grove. He cleared the two hundred and fifty high mountain acres granted to him under the statehood land grants and turned it into pasture. He raised sheep. His flocks helped turn Bridgewater into the woolen 'capitol' the East coast by 1850. Decades turned into centuries and the house fell away from glory. By the time we got to it it looked like it does in this picture below. The guy playing the piano is my brother Justin. We were getting ready to tear the interior apart in preparation for the restoration and the 2 ton, out-of -tune piece had to go.

Here is what we made it look like. Everything is new. Even the baby.

Backyard

Frontyard

Permit Now Required For Reincarnation in China

If any of you had any doubts about China and its breakneck march into the enlightened halls of Western thought and culture, consider this headline from earlier this month. For Beijing it seems, Christians are not the only ones to keep an eye on. Like all governments though who have attempted over the course of history to quench the movements of any organic genesis with a censure on excersise, they have only given creedence to its existence by outlawing its practice.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2194682.ece

Confidence

Tua has been much more confident now that she can stand up. We come in to her room to find her in this pose, sometimes happy, sometimes crying. We are now teaching her to bend her knees so we don't always have to rescue her from her new activity. We will see how that goes. Any one have any other suggestions?

Family Reunion

My Grandmother and Tua

Tua snatching Jaedyn's shoes (notice Tua's already worked on her own!).